Travelex goes into administration, most UK retail outlets to close

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• LukeM says:

  7 Aug7 August 06:01

  Is it:

  “all High Street Travelex shops and all airport branches that remain shut have been closed with immediate effect”

  Or:

  “all High Street Travelex shops and all airport branches, which remain shut, have been closed with immediate effect”

  ?

  • Jim says:

    7 Aug7 August 09:32

    🙂

  • Rob says:

    7 Aug7 August 10:41

    Neither 🙂

    It’s actually ‘all High Street Travelex shops, and all airport branches that remain shut, have been closed’

• TGLoyalty says:

  7 Aug7 August 07:47

  Travelex and Mr & Mrs Smith?

• Jon D says:

  7 Aug7 August 09:11

  I always found Travelex hard work getting miles accrued and stopped using that option when I found they were charging a poorer rate if you wanted to earn miles. To be honest I have hardly used Travelex since I have discovered the Transferwise border less bank account which has served me well in most places.

  It does look like Travelex has been having a worse 2020 than most of us though and for the people who have lost their jobs over this I feel genuinely sorry for.

• Matthew says:

  7 Aug7 August 09:37

  I stopped buying as much currency when I discovered the Revolut card. This is a simple safe and cheap way on making small purchases overseas.With contactless becoming the norm, cash will become less widely used, clearly in some countries cash is king, but on the whole so many FX branches means oversupply and some will go. Sad for staff though.

• RussellH says:

  7 Aug7 August 09:52

  These days, I really do not understand why people buy currency in the UK.
  a) In my experience, the exchange rates are always worse than exchanging locally
  b) You normally get only high(ish) denomination notes, when you may well need a few coins or lowest denomination notes for taxis etc on arrival. For that, you need to exchange a **small* amount of GBP / EUR / USD / CHF at an exchange booth on arrival.

  • John says:

    7 Aug7 August 10:03

    Most bureaux de change worth anything will allow you to choose your denominations.

    To some people there is value in not wasting time when they arrive (either at an ATM or a counter).

    • ChrisC says:

      7 Aug7 August 18:16

      The B de C I use in Brighton will take pre orders for specific denominations and even has bags of 5 € and $ coins if you need them.

      I used Travelex twice a long tome ago and felt ripped off (my own fault for being disorganised) so never used them again.

  • Paul74 says:

    7 Aug7 August 10:22

    Yes, a lot of hassle.

  • Cam says:

    7 Aug7 August 10:41

    Or just go to a bank machine and withdraw cash–the additional fees/mark up are still less than the spread from Travelex etc al. Between credit cards (which even at absurd UK 2.75 – 3% commissions are still more cost effective), Curve/Revolut/et al, and ubiquitous Bank machines, I’m surprised the business has sustained this long. The retail operations were overdue for downsizing.

    • Lady London says:

      7 Aug7 August 11:18

      unwise to arrive anywhere without potential small cash expenses in your pocket to get you as far as your hotel and basic refreshments/light meal. exiting the same – exit visas demanded at airports and other places (official or unofficial) may have to be paid in cash.

      Machines may not be working, sometimes only cash is accepted still. I usually carry a few dollars as well as those can help out in all sorts of places where the dollar is not the currency. I’ll overpay to get starter cash especiallt if I dont know the currency.

      And I’ll bet there are still a few remote petrol stations in Germany and further East that wont take cards – not even for the amount it takes for a full tank.

      • Bagoly says:

        7 Aug7 August 18:15

        I agree with the bundle of small denomination USD (and EUR) notes.
        But then I regard no need to have the actual local currency.
        For the last few years when I go to Switzerland for a few days I do not bother with getting any Swiss notes, even from ATM on arrival.
        For tips I use those EUR/USD notes.

  • Andrew says:

    7 Aug7 August 13:39

    I’ve never had an issue with getting low denom notes from either M&S or John Lewis.

    I don’t carry more than £30 equivalent of Euros, CAD or US$ and use cards everywhere – so it’s hardly worth worrying whether commission is 2% or 3%. (The only place I carry more currency notes is Germany.)

• Dominic Barrington says:

  7 Aug7 August 11:25

  Do we know how this impacts VAT reclaim at the UK’s airports? Was that not a Travelex-operated ‘concession’ they had from HMRC? If anyone knows what those of us who are eligible to make such claims should do, I would love to know.

  • pking says:

    7 Aug7 August 11:55

    There are several companies offering VAT refund services you could use, or direct with the retailer.

• Max says:

  7 Aug7 August 14:56

  On arrival, withdraw cash using a Monzo or Starling card.

  Pay in hotels, restaurants etc. using a Halifax Clarity card.

  No fees, sorted.

  • Rob says:

    7 Aug7 August 15:05

    Except when it goes wrong. I landed somewhere in the US a couple of years ago like that, only to find that the only ATM in the terminal was dead and I couldn’t get money for a taxi anywhere.

    • Brighton Belle says:

      7 Aug7 August 15:48

      +1 It’s happened to me too. Arrive at a small airport after 20.00 with just 2 ATM’s. Either broken or the banking network down displayed as . . .”Try Another ATM”.

      Mostly it’s not a problem in EU countries. My worst case was at a SNCF ticket machine at Nice Airport St Augustin Station which has nothing but random trains to amuse you.. (except the train delay display which is permanently set to >En Retard<). The ticket machine just wanted Euro coins and none of those plastic card that are supposed to give me amazing FX convenience. I was able to give a free Olde Anglo Saxon lesson to the French though. . . words they wont find in the thickest dictionaries. Missed my train and then 15mins walk back to the terminal to an ATM.

• Brian says:

  7 Aug7 August 15:37

  Clearly Covid has had a massive impact on many businesses but there’ll be plenty of badly run businesses who were on the verge of going pop anyway who’ll make out like their struggles are entirely due to external factors

  • Rob says:

    7 Aug7 August 16:12

    Of course. The press occasionally pick on public companies who put our poor results saying ‘it was down to the snow / gails / sun etc’ but it is then pointed out that the weather in question fell outside of the trading period covered by the numbers ….

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