Sterling

Karen23

I'm living in Dublin and I'm going to Liverpool in a few weeks. A friend of mine has Northern Ireland Sterling and she'll give me a straight swap for Euros , I know most UK shops wont accept the NI currency but will the banks just give me a straight swap on it for UK Sterling and will they charge commision / handling fees. An Post are now doing commision free sterling , if I went there do you think its as handy as just swapping it with no fees?
Thanks In Advance.

Toots

I can't comment on other banks but I know BOI will do a straight swap of NI Sterling for UK Sterling without charging you. I've only ever seen it done for account holders though, so they might not do it for you if you don't have an account.

As regards swapping Euro for Sterling, some banks will waive the commission if you have a student account or have an 'over 60s' account, for example but there's still an exchange rate, so you won't get £1 for €1 even if you go to the post office. I'm not sure if the post office will accept NI sterling though.

Karen23

Thanks Toots , I'm an AIB account holder so I wonder will they do the same. I'm sure they will but I'll check with them.
I'm doubting the Post Office will take the NI Sterling.

coylemj

Karen23 wrote: »

I'm living in Dublin and I'm going to Liverpool in a few weeks. A friend of mine has Northern Ireland Sterling and she'll give me a straight swap for Euros , I know most UK shops wont accept the NI currency but will the banks just give me a straight swap on it for UK Sterling and will they charge commision / handling fees. An Post are now doing commision free sterling , if I went there do you think its as handy as just swapping it with no fees?
Thanks In Advance.

'Commission-free' means nothing, the gap between the buy and sell rates is what matters, don't be fooled by that carrot.

I believe most of the main high street banks in GB will exchange NI notes for Bank of England notes on a one for one basis.

Karen23

I know its the rate that matters but if you can save a little bit it helps. I'd rather have it in my pocket to spend ha ha.
I'll try the bank here and if they wont change it note for note , I'll bring it to change over there , thanks coylemj

daithijjj

The post office in england will change NI sterling for you. In my experience most of the banks wont even look at you if you are not an account holder with them.

By the way, some shops/pubs will accept NI sterling but its not worth it to waste time looking around. I managed a business for a few years in the uk, i accepted NI and Scottish sterling over the counter but i know plenty who dont.

Is your friend living up north?, if they are a very good friend they could just change it over up there and pass it on to you for your euros. Or if thats not the case, you could go across the border yourself and change it at the post office before you go for peace of mind.

Just for your info, i used to travel between the uk and ireland about 5/6 times a year for 12/13 years, it really made no difference to me whether i changed currency at my bank or the post office in the uk. Im fairly sure its still the case. I think the post office (uk) won an award actually in 2010 for best british travel money retailer or something like that. Opening hours are the usual mon-fri with only one office open on sat morning until 1pm in a certain locality.

Enjoy the trip.

coylemj

You could also try the banks here, they might be prepared to swap NI sterling for GB sterling, I guess it depends on how much currency they sell to people going to NI, obviously anyone heading to GB won't accept the NI stuff but if they didn't have a huge amount of the NI stuff they might be prepared to swap.

Remember that 'First Trust' NI notes are produced by a subsidiary of AIB and Bank of Ireland NI notes are produced by Bank of Ireland so I'd march into their branches down here and shame them into exchanging their own NI notes for Bank of England stuff. Similarly, Northern Bank notes are printed by a subsidiary of Danske Bank who own NIB bank in the Republic, go for it!

Karen23

Thanks for the replys

Theres a mixture of notes , Bank Of Ireland , Ulster Bank and First Trust , wouldnt you think they'd just have one issuing bank.
Anyway , I'm an AIB account holder , I'll go in there tomorrow and see what they say. if theres any problem I'll just bring them and change them in the UK.

Thanks again for all the advice

Karen23

AIB did a straight swap for me