I checked with my bank to see if I needed to inform them of a trip to the Isle of Man - I did.
They informed me I'll be liable to a currency conversion fee!!!
I couldn't stop laughing although the staff member couldn't see it.
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Perhaps not so bizarre, if you bring any Manx money back with you...
"UK notes and coins are generally accepted in the Isle of Man, but Manx notes and coins are not generally accepted in the UK."
"To assist those travelling, the ATMs at the Sea Terminal, Douglas, and at Isle of Man Airport both issue Bank of England notes only."
snipped from the interweb:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manx_pound
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Think about changing your bank and/or do some research. I have a debit card which allows me fee free cash withdrawals world wide and gives me a very fair exchange rate when I do. I have three credit cards which are also fee free and a good exchange rate. Post Office and Halifax are two of them
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This gets weirder.
My bank informs me they're unable to accept Isle of Man currency in branches.
Any suggestions as to how I avoid with getting lumbered with a load of unusable Sterling? I'll obviously try to bring back the minimum.
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use small denomination UK notes (or just above the value of the transaction) so you only get coins in change?
Edit - the £1 manx note looks like a problem...
Last edited by: AnotherJohnH on Thu 11 Jul 13 at 12:19
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I'd not appreciated that Manx currency was treated differently to that of Scotland or Northern Ireland. Never had trouble with Scots notes in London though I suspect the village store at home might be more trouble.
All you can do is keep your holding to a minimum, at least in the latter days of your trip. Can you spend it at the airport or ferry terminal?
Otherwise sell it on at par to any friend or colleague visiting Mona's Isle.
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Swap it with incoming tourists at the ferry-port or airport as you leave!!
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"Any suggestions as to how I avoid with getting lumbered with a load of unusable Sterling?"
To be pedantic, if it's "sterling" it won't be unusable. If it's Manx currency (which happens to be in parity with sterling), it may be.
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I can't help wondering if Manx coins differ in that they do not have tails........
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Manx notes in the 80's were made of a plastic material not paper.
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Is Manx money different in principle from Channel Isles? Barclays accept all the Scottish and Northern Irish variants, and I recently found, Jersey notes.
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A quid's a quid. It's just bone idle of banks to refuse Manx or Scottish or Channel Islands stripes. They just don't want the hassle.
Probably any no-nonsense Asian corner shop would take them without a murmur, if they knew what they were. Third world people are adept at money-changing because they are used to it.
Went to a State shop for foreigners in Maputo many years ago, then rather communist in general tone, to get some bog paper or something. The change was a cocktail of Mozambique money, Portuguese money, CFA francs and SA rands from across the border. No way could I work out whether it was correct or not. But I bet it was.
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At some basic levels it would be jolly handy if there was just one world currency ( Hey, they could call it the Mondeo eh ? ) This of course doesn't take account of the complexity of these matters, I'm just thinking that doing business and travelling internationally might at least seem less convoluted. I do know there are compelling reasons why it couldn't work.
But I suppose, in a way, there already is in the form of internationally accepted credit cards anyway.
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According to the interweb the Manx money is "unbacked":
Unlike Northern Irish and Scottish notes, the UK places no requirement for the Isle of Man government to back the Manx currency with Bank of England notes or securities.
There is no restriction under UK law on the amount of notes and coins they may issue.
The currency is not underwritten by the UK government, and there is no guarantee of payment beyond that given by the Manx authorities.
However, the requirement in the Manx Currency Act 1992 for the Isle of Man Treasury to exchange Manx Pound banknotes on demand for Bank of England notes places in practice restricts the issue of unbacked currency, and the aggregate total of notes issued must be pre-approved by Tynwald.
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That's interesting. I didn't realise IOM really was a special case.
So presumably any organisation could issue unbacked notes on the same basis?
I wonder why Wales doesn't do that?
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A place doesn't need to be as big as Wales, or the IOM, to conjure up its own local currency.
There are a number of towns in the UK which do it. Here's the BOE view:
www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/Pages/localcurrencies/default.aspx
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Bizarre - AnotherJohnH
