Debenhams Buyback Giftcard: new way to spend unused foreign currency

The Debenhams Buyback Giftcard offers you a new way to shift that unused foreign currency. But is it any good?

Monday morning saw me wandering around Marrakesh airport trying to spend 140 dirham (about £10.73). Failure to spend it would mean my leftover Moroccan currency would join the Mexican Pesos, Malaysian Ringgits and South African Rand in a jar of random foreign currency.

But thanks to Debenhams there's a new way to shift your unused foreign currency.

Debenhams Gift card

According to Debenhams Personal Finance, the average person has almost £60 of foreign currency in their homes, which adds up to a national total of £2.1 billion.

It’s launched a new gift card, the Debenhams Buyback Giftcard, which allows cardholders to put unused currency in Sterling onto the card. Debenhams then adds an extra 10% bonus to the card to spend in-store or online.

It sounds like a good deal, but a quick check of the small print reveals that Debenhams will buy back notes only, not coins. It’s also worth checking the rates offered by other foreign exchange firms – it may be that the 10% bonus is alongside poor exchange rates.

Convert to sterling

If you’ve got a decent amount of currency to exchange back into Sterling it’s a good idea to shop around for the best buy-back deal. Specialist foreign exchange outlets tend to offer much better rates than banks.

For example, at the time of writing 1,000 Euros would get you £844.31 from Best Foreign Exchange but just £775.67 from NatWest - a difference of £68.64.

Similarly US $1,000 could be exchanged for £656.45 at Ace FX but just £603.57 at NatWest, £52.88 less.

Buy back guarantees

Foreign exchange ‘sell’ rates are much lower than ‘buy’ rates. This means you pay far more to swap your holiday money back than the rate you were given first time round.

Some foreign exchange companies offer a “buy back guarantee” which enables you to lock-in to the same exchange rate used when you bought your currency.

However, there will be a fee for this, normally between £3 and £5. It’s also a good idea to check the small print: for example Ice FX has a minimum buy back amount of £30 and maximum of £300. Some currency exchangers also impose a time limit and most won’t accept coins.

For more read Should you pay for a buy back rate when exchanging currency?

Keep your money for the next trip

In many cases it might be worth simply keeping your currency for your next trip. 17 countries officially use the Euro as their currency and it’s also accepted in a handful of other countries. So if you have Euros and travel to Europe regularly, you could just keep the Euros in a safe place.

The US dollar is the world’s largest reserve currency and is accepted in many other countries besides North America. So, again, if you have US dollars in your wallet, you could just keep them for your next trip.

The downside of holding cash, however, is that if it falls in value you’ll lose money. Also, it’s never a good idea to keep big wads of cash at home.

Give to charity

If you’re feeling particularly generous, or just have a few foreign coins left over, then you might want to donate your currency to charity.

The obvious place to do this is the foreign airport – most will have charity collections in departures.

If you forget and you get home to find your wallet full of foreign coins, then pop down to the high street. Most charities will accept foreign currency and you can also donate to Barnardo’s via the Post Office or Breakthrough Breast Cancer at Marks & Spencer.

Spend at the airport

In some cases it makes sense to try to spend your leftover currency at the airport before you fly home from your holiday. Tacky souvenirs might be a waste of money, but food and booze never are!

Some currencies are “restricted” and have strict rules about how much can be brought in or out of a country. Restricted currencies are generally harder to change into Sterling back in the UK.

Use plastic

If you run out of cash towards the end of your holiday, use your debit or credit card to make purchases instead of going to the ATM.

However, most debit cards charge fees for overseas use. Norwich & Peterborough Building Society and Metro Bank are the exceptions. For more read The best debit cards to use abroad.

The same goes for credit cards: most cards charge extra for use abroad but a few don’t. There’s more information in The best credit cards to use abroad.

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