Airport bureaus remain the most expensive place to buy your travel money, adding mark-ups of more than 10% according to a mystery shop conducted this week for MyTravelMoney.co.uk.

By contrast, the web remains the best place to buy travel money with one provider, Travel FX, adding mark-ups of just 1%.

High street banks also have poor exchange rates, adding mark-ups of between 4-6%, a significant amount on top of the true mid-market exchange rate, according to the survey. The best value travel money deals are typically offered online.

For press enquiries or comment: press@mytravelmoney.co.uk
 

Key Findings

- The cheapest and fairest way to obtain your currency is by comparing deals with an online currency specialist. They will only tend to add markups from as little as 1% away from the interbank exchange rate giving you the best deals.

- When buying travel money, the exchange rate is the key indicator to obtaining the best value on your chosen currency

- It has been proven by our desk research that Airport Currency Bureaus remain the most expensive place to buy travel money adding mark-ups of over 10%

- 0% commission should almost always be ignored as high mark-ups are added instead

- Travel money mystery shop data was collected between 1.00pm and 1.15pm on 5th November 2013

Web Editor at MyTravelMoney  Sofia Kluge comments:

”Airports once again appear to be the world’s most expensive place to buy travel money. As you are a captive customer, our research and data shows that you lose around £70 on every £600 you exchange. Remember, 0% commission doesn’t mean free travel money. The true, hidden cost of converting currency is within the exchange rate.”

http://www.mytravelmoney.co.uk/articles/travel-money-mystery-shop-1-markups-buy-online/