Best FX rates: selling GBP buying USD
 

I presume most of us buy a pack of USD for travelling as it is universally accepted everywhere!

I had a look around for competitive rates (in the UK!). I overlooked most big banks as they surcharge wildly!

Here are my findings and compared with market rate (source Bloomberg).
I based my calculation on GBP 1000 and result is converted in USD in the result column. The column "difference" is the result vs market rate, i.e. how much we are being overcharged.

Source - Rate - result in $ - Difference
Bloomberg (market rate) - 1.9568 - $1,956.8 - 0
M&S - rate: 1.893 - $1,893.0 - $63.80
Post office - rate: 1.8716 - $1,871.6 - $85.20
Thomas Cook -rate: 1.86 $ 1,860.0 - $96.80
HSBC - rate:1.88891 - 1,888.9 - $67.89

So it seems so far the most competitive rate is with M&S (no commission if paying with cash) followed by HSBC.
Anyone knows of better rates?

Hi Maria,

Can't be long before you are both on your way, when you organise your currency, make sure its in 20 Dollar notes or less!
Of course you may allready know this, being in banking, that these are the maximun normally accepted on the streets of S.A.

Best wishes Alec.