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9:00 AM 7th June 2020
travel

Cashing In That Spare Foreign Currency

 
Today, Shon Alam, founder of ‘Bidwedge’ gives you some handy hints on how to get rid of that leftover foreign cash currency.

Maybe you have some in a drawer or jam jar?

“We can only assume that many people do,” he says, “as an estimated £4 billion of currency is sitting around in UK households."

Here are some suggestions for getting something back rather than leaving it to go to waste:

Buy-back
This is where you exchange unused currency for sterling. Unfortunately, many providers’ websites do not specify how much they will buy your currency back for. Check out a comparison website such as www.comparetravelcash.co.uk

Some providers guarantee to buy back your currency at the rate you bought it. However, this is usually a time limited offer, so you may be too late!

Bidwedge
Bidwedge offers a straightforward way to exchange your currency. You simply create a free account, state the amount of currency you have, hit ‘show me the money’ and they will tell you the price they will pay for your currency. If you agree, you post your currency to Bidwedge. The agreed amount will be paid into your bank account. There are no additional fees, postage is free, and all transactions are insured. www.bidwedge.com

Sell privately
If you have friends or family who’ve booked holidays for later in the year and it’s looking like they will be able to get away, you could always sell your leftover cash to them, cutting out any third party commissions.

Help your friends

Rather than selling your currency, perhaps you could gift it to your friends to use when they’re away? If it’s just a few euros, they can have their first ice cream on you!

Alternatively, their children might like to start a foreign coin collection. Bring a smile to some little faces.

Donating to charity

If you have a favourite charity, it’s worth getting in touch with them and asking if they will accept your currency and how to donate it. Otherwise, when the high street charity stores, such as Oxfam and Mind, open again, you can always pop in there. Most will take foreign currency as a donation.

Donate to a school
Ask your local school whether they can make use of your currency in lessons. Teachers might stick currency to world maps so children can see the different currencies used. For older children, they could be used when talking about exchange rates.

Make jewellery

Why not make some funky jewellery? A large coin could be used as a pendant on a necklace. Or join your coins together in a jingly bracelet to remind you of your holidays!

In most cases, if you don’t attempt to pass off the jewellery as legal tender, there aren’t any rules to stop you making coin jewellery.

Create a souvenir

You could stick your unused coins to a photo frame to hold your favourite holiday snap. Alternatively, frame the coins, perhaps representing where you went; the shape of Italy in Euro cents or FLORIDA written in nickels and dimes.

Get your leftover currency turned into Sterling or do something useful with it!

Website - www.bidwedge.com
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Bidwedgecom-109169113819592/
Twitter - @bidwedge - https://twitter.com/bidwedge
LinkedIn- https://www.linkedin.com/company/bidwedge/