Purchasing Currency

[MJC8719x]

I am going to be in England from the end of December until sometime in May. I am considering purchasing some England pounds in the next few weeks.

My reason for doing this is that I am under the impression that the dollar to pound conversion is usually something around 1 Pound = 2 American Dollars. Currently, it is 1 Pound = 1.30American.

This seems like a good idea to me. The only real risk would be if the pound continued to fall vs the dollar and it reached a point of 1 pound = 1 Dollar.

Does anyone have any thoughts or advice on this situation?

Also, since I will be in England for such a long time, I had considered getting a credit card through an England bank. I do not want to have to continually pay the service charges on the account, and I believe it is easier to purchase some tickets etc. if you have a UK billing address. Does anyone have any advice here?

Thanks for the help.

 

[Xiaogou]

Do it before inflation [domestically] kicks in.

 

[oli2140]

As our interest rates continue to fall towards the 0% mark and that in the next few weeks we will be printing more money to inject into our economy, the value of the Pound is going to fall dramatically.

This leaves you in a very strong position and I would recommend you wait a bit (I predict 2 weeks from now the USD will be significantly stronger against the Pound) before transferring any large amounts of money.

 

[hermes]

i usually buy some currency for whereever i may be about a week before i leave
years ago i tried playing the currency exchange rate game and it just becomes a hassle
sometimes you win by buying early, sometimes you lose
so i just deal with the rate a week before and live with it

as for a credit card in the uk, from what i understand, unless you have a permanent address there, you may have an issue getting one as a temporary resident
(unless you're there with an employer who can cut you a company card)

just some thoughts

 

[whallyden]

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/BUSINESS...iref=hpmostpop

Falling rates and an active printing press tend to have a depressing impact on currency.