Author Topic: Buying currency for cheap + coin exchange question  (Read 1051 times)

PoutineLover

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Buying currency for cheap + coin exchange question
« on: April 09, 2018, 12:56:01 PM »
Just wanted to share the great deal I found for my upcoming vacation to Europe. I got a $25 loblaws card from the price fixing scandal (Canadians know what I'm talking about) and I traded it for some euros and pounds that someone had leftover from their trip. $44 exchange value, for a gift card I got for free.
Then, someone else was getting rid of euros and loose foreign currency, I paid him $60 cad and I got $120 worth of euros, pounds, swiss francs and polish zlotys after sorting through the huge pile, plus a bunch of other mostly worthless but cool looking coins from around the world. I can use all that money, only problem is that a lot of it is in small coins so it might be a bit of a hassle to spend. Does anyone know if you can walk into a bank in France and exchange loose coins for bills? Otherwise I'll probably just carry it around in small amounts and spend it as I go.

meghan88

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Re: Buying currency for cheap + coin exchange question
« Reply #1 on: April 09, 2018, 01:29:03 PM »
Lucky you!!

I placed a free local ad before travelling in February and managed to pay $25 Canadian for 25 Euros in coins.  Even though about 10 euros of that were the smaller coins - mostly 10 and 20 cents - it was a fab deal.  I'd suggest hanging onto it and spending it as such.

Banks in France, and probably elsewhere in Europe, only tend to serve their own clients.  Maybe if you get friendly with a small merchant/restaurant, you can exchange the coins.

Worth mentioning:  I'd had 20 British pounds hanging around from a trip in 2011.  Last fall I just happened to read an article that said that those particular types / age of notes were going to be retired, so I ended up cashing them in at the bank.  Just something to keep an eye on so that you don't get stuck with worthless older currency.  Probably more likely to happen with paper money, but you never know.