An Post 'commission free' foreign exchange

OmegaRed

I converted some euro to american dollars last week and the whole thing is still annoying me. At the time the exchange rate was 1.31 from XE.com but An Post gave me an exchange rate of of 1.28.

Today the rate is about 1.30 on XE.com but An Post's rate is 1.26 (http://www.anpost.ie/AnPost/MainContent/Personal+Customers/Money+Matters/Foreign+Exchange/An+Post+Foreign+Exchange.htm)

Is this really 'commission free' foreign exchange?

Doyler92

Yes it still is commisson free. They can choose their own exchange rate and use that. xe.com is the recommended exchange rate.

dudara

xe.com is a listing of exchange rates - it is not THE exchange rate. In reality, banks and institutes are free to set their own exchange rate. If An Post wanted to set 2:1, then they could.

Moved to Banking & Insurance & Pensions

dudara

chris85

XE is quoting the mid-market exchange rate, The midway between the buy and sell price. A search on XE will confirm this.

http://www.xe.com/faq/rates_buyorsellrates.php

So you will not get the XE rate in any bank, will always be lower when buying a currency.

nlgbbbblth

Mid-market rates are misleading.

coylemj

nlgbbbblth wrote: »

Mid-market rates are misleading.

They are not misleading. The mid-market rate is the midpoint between the buy and sell rates, nothing more.

Every deal invloves exchanging currency at a point somewhere off the mid-rate, the bigger the deal the closer you'll be to the mid-rate, the smaller the deal the further away you'll be since relative costs will be higher. Electronic transactions such as wire transfers within a bank will be reasonably close to the mid-rate.

The difference between the mid-rate and the actual transaction rate is the profit, commission is just another layer of profit.

nlgbbbblth

coylemj wrote: »

They are not misleading. The mid-market rate is the midpoint between the buy and sell rates, nothing more.

Every deal invloves exchanging currency at a point somewhere off the mid-rate, the bigger the deal the closer you'll be to the mid-rate, the smaller the deal the further away you'll be since relative costs will be higher. Electronic transactions such as wire transfers within a bank will be reasonably close to the mid-rate.

The difference between the mid-rate and the actual transaction rate is the profit, commission is just another layer of profit.

I know what they are.

The problem is that many of the general public don't. They come into the bank, request to buy or sell currency and then complain that the rate offered is "a lot worse than the one in the paper". Would be far better if the media quoted both buying and selling rates.

chris85

nlgbbbblth wrote: »

I know what they are.

The problem is that many of the general public don't. They come into the bank, request to buy or sell currency and then complain that the rate offered is "a lot worse than the one in the paper". Would be far better if the media quoted both buying and selling rates.

Thats fair enough but the buy and sell rate is very clear in the bank itself.

The issue being is the paper cant just publish buy and sell rates as these change between banks, albeit only slightly, so that may be misleading if done also.

I get your point though but possibly a fact of the consumer informing themselves of the rates.

unclebill98

The other thing is rates are set just prior to branches opening and can change throughout day if markets dictate so. So it would be impossible to print the daily rates in newspapers.

Also, all branches a regulated to display the most up to date rates in their banking hall.

BrianE

unclebill98 wrote: »

The other thing is rates are set just prior to branches opening and can change throughout day if markets dictate so. So it would be impossible to print the daily rates in newspapers.

Also, all branches a regulated to display the most up to date rates in their banking hall.

I'm looking for some dollars myself and waiting to see if this european situation lends itself to a better exchange rate. Every day, I google "an post dollar exchange rate" which brings me to a page which tells me whether it's worth my while visiting the post office. This is much better than visiting XE.com a couple of times a day and ending up dissatisfied in the end.