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Breaking high value Euro notes
Posted: 2017-11-27, 1:57 pm

Shinken69 Power Kat
Posts: 722
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I always order Euros by post and never had any issues.
This time round they've screwed me over.
The vast majority is 100 Euro notes.
Is it possible to break these at a bank counter?
There's a branch of ING right next to my hotel.
I know from experience that most shops will have a fit if asked to make change from a 100.

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Re: Breaking high value Euro notes
Posted: 2017-11-27, 5:53 pm

Aldebran LinkbatSupporting Member
Supporting Member
Posts: 586
Location: UK
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Not tried this myself, but a couple of answers from a quick google search:

Quote:
I walked into the ING bank on Haarlemmerdijk last year and broke 6 €100 bills with no issue or charge.


Quote:
For what it's worth I changed a 500 note at GWK at Schiphol Plaza back in 2013, had to pay 1% commission


LOL at least you don't have €500 notes...

Personally (based in the UK) I like using a Halifax Clarity Credit Card to withdraw money, you get the official Mastercard rate with no % added, no commission and no withdrawal fee. All you pay is the actual interest on the money you withdraw, until you pay it back (which you can do with an online transfer as soon as you get home... on on your smartphone while you are away, I suppose).

For example I took out €190 on Wednesday last week and it cost me £168.93 which is a rate of about 1.125 which is pretty much what you will see if you look at the currency markets for that day.

In terms of interest, if you take out €1000 and pay it back after one week, the interest (typically 13% APR) works out at about €2.50, which is a lot less than any currency provider will be making off you when you compare the rates they offer to the official bank rates.

The ABN Amro cash machines tend to be the best as they offer a choice of note combinations so you don't have everything in €50s. The Travelex machines ask me if I want them to set the rate or "continue without conversion" ..... it's a difficult choice whether I want Travelex to cream about 15% off the top, they were offering something daft like 0.97 euros to the pound when the bank rate was about 1.12

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Re: Breaking high value Euro notes
Posted: 2017-11-27, 9:01 pm

Shinken69 Power Kat
Posts: 722
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Thanks
I saw those comments online too, I'd just prefer the higher fidelity of info I've come to expect on this board.
Does anyone have personal experience?

I have a Halifax Clarity card, I just don't use it as often as I should.
I still like fistfuls of cash and could easily loose track of spending if I'm continually hitting the ATM.

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Re: Breaking high value Euro notes
Posted: 2017-12-20, 11:24 am

Vkcs20
Posts: 63
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Plus one on halifax clarity credit card!
Re: Breaking high value Euro notes
Posted: 2017-12-20, 12:18 pm

Shinken69 Power Kat
Posts: 722
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No joy at Dutch banks.
Neither that I tried had any tellers handling money.
The only real people in the branch were there to sell financial products.
All cash transactions were via a machine, requiring an account with that bank.

I broke a few hundreds at Albert Heijn, both in The Hague and Amsterdam. Average spend ~€25.
Bird had no issues taking a hundred on two occasions for a meal costing less than €30.
They were uber busy and the tills must have been stuffed with cash.
The only place that refused was Pathe Spui in The Hague.
However, it was at 9am and she just didn't have enough cash in the till.
She told me it wouldn't have been a problem in the afternoon.

On the whole, not as big a deal as it has been in some other European countries.

It's funny that when I started visiting the Netherlands, in '95, everything was cash, pretty much nobody would take a card.
I can still recall the dirty look I got when I tried to buy a train ticket at Schiphol with an AMEX. Like I'd said something about his mother.
You could get a decent discount when settling your hotel if you paid by cash rather than card.
Now it seems like every transaction is done by card.
I wonder how long before the girls go contactless?
I guess the limit's not high enough yet and it would stop them engaging in creative accounting.
Mind you some of the girls on OZA are already contactless, unless you want to pay a lot more than was agreed at the door. (8~>)

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