As some of you who've read my previous posts, I'm going to England for medical school.
The British Pound has fallen off a cliff and has dropped yet again, the mid point rate being 1GBP=2.00 SGD.
I highly doubt it'll drop further, in fact, I believe the GBP will strengthen before I leave in September 2011, which is why I'd like to take the opportunity and change for pounds at opportune times like now, little by little before I leave.
I'd probably change £500 2-3 times before I leave, first time being next week?
That being said, changing GBP with POSB/Citi (the 2 banks I've an account with) doesn't give me very good rates. POSB is at 2.04 and Citi at 2.05 for demand draft/TT, even worse for cash. I saw the website for one of the money changers and they were advertising at £1= S$2.03.
Wondering if anyone knows a better exchange rate?
In a seperate note, I bought a pair of shoes and a shirt from www.asos.com, a British online retailer who has free international shipping. I paid SGD 2.12 for GBP 1, just last week!! sigh.....
Anyway, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!
ASOS is awesome! I bought things from there twice in three weeks!
ReplyDeleteHey,
ReplyDeleteyou can put some money into a British Pound fixed deposit for the short term I believe.
Hi JW
ReplyDeleteyep i thought of Forex FD but local banks require min. 10k GBP.
Thos that have min 10k have better interest rates at 0.65% to 1.2%. but i don't have 20k sing to change to GBP :(
those that don't have min. 10k GBP exchange rates are crap. POSB is charging 2.06 for cash GBP and Bank Of China is at 2.09. the interest earned in let's say 6 mths before i withdraw is a miserly 0.05%, so I lose from the spread even before the interest...and then the interest is not enough to cover the loss i made from the higher spread(as compared to the $ changers.)
But if I can change the physical money at the changers at a good rate, and make a 6 month FD at the bank...hmmm....but i think the interest earned isn't enough to cover my petrol/bus fare to the bank branch! haha!
to FFN:
Yep! Their branded goods are SO much cheaper than what we can find in SIngapore. even their non branded things are so cheap! I just saw a ASOS brand polo tee going for £4. haha. oh yea, use the discount code before you check out, i managed to get a 20% off code just by googling "ASOS discount codes" :)
Hi,
ReplyDeleteTry money changers at Raffle's place.
Raffles Place, The Arcade, easily more 10 money changers there
ReplyDeletethanks guys. I'll go check it out next week.
ReplyDeleteRaffles Place Arcade...join the largets queue, spreads tighter than a donkey's ass, about 1% which is even better than banks. For best best rate, get a HK friend to change for you, HK spreads are almost charity...
ReplyDelete