FAQs

Why FX?

We’ve never offered our consumers an FX service. What would we need to do in order to offer your service?: This could be as simple as adding a link to your website. First Rate would provide a fully-managed online currency ordering service.
How much might we expect to earn from FX?: Offering foreign exchange to your customers not only enhances your brand, but paves the way for a more enjoyable customer experience. Better customer service is, unfortunately, not quantifiable in monetary terms. The actual earnings from foreign exchange depend on the volumes you will sell, how many customers you anticipate and what channels you wish to use. Contact us and we can tailor an offering specifically for you.
What does an FX service cost to set up and how long does it take?: We don’t charge for setting up and providing a branded link to our Travel Money Online service, including telephone support in your name. However, there are minimum transaction volumes and you can incur fees if targets aren’t met. From signing a contract we aim to have you up and running in four weeks.
What does ‘white label’ mean?: White label is like ‘own brand’. The First Rate services you use are branded in your name and your customers only see your brand. Our brand never competes with yours.
We’d like to complement our brand without having to spend much staff time on running the service. Can you make this possible?: Yes, you can choose the degree of outsourcing you want: we look after the whole process end to end.

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Why First Rate?

Why have we never heard of you, and yet you say you’re market leader?: That's because all our FX solutions are ‘white label’. We are the power behind Post Office^® foreign currency services, but you wouldn’t know it. Our name never appears alongside yours.
Why have you kept such a low profile – and why don’t you have a High Street presence?: Businesses are increasingly outsourcing peripheral services to experts; First Rate’s strategy is to meet this demand via a B2B approach. We do not have a High Street presence and would rather invest in developing market-leading services and delivering value for money.
What has First Rate done to develop the foreign exchange market? Are you responsible for any innovations?: First Rate was responsible for the 0% commission proposition that helped establish the Post Office^® as the UK market leader. We also launched the market-leading Post Office^® Travel Money Card, a pre-paid card that offers the security of traveller’s cheques with the convenience of plastic – for a safe, easy way to carry foreign currency.
How do we know that you’re the best option, in terms of our earning good revenues?: You can depend on our proven expertise in provision of currency services, from processing individual orders, to distribution across a network of over 14,000 branches. Our buying power also means you can rely on quality notes at great rates.

In addition, due to our superior market, customer, and competitor knowledge, we can create an offering that encompasses every market channel, as well as the expertise for you to drive volume and profit.
Customer service is a cornerstone of our own brand. How do we know that First Rate would live up to our standards?: We encourage a partnership where we can replicate your brand values and contact strategy. Proof of this is that our biggest customer is one of the most trusted names on the High Street. Moreover, when we survey people who use our contact centre, 97% say they are ‘satisfied’ or ‘extremely satisfied’. We measure our phone calls and e-mails and would invite you to ‘call-levelling’ sessions where we score contacts and compare opinions to ensure that our standards match. In addition, we have a dedicated Customer Services Trainer who enables us to conduct continuous improvement in our offering. By agreement we can put satisfaction measures in place so that your standards are always exceeded.
Your biggest customer is the Post Office^®. We’re not as big – how do we know we’d get comparable service or rates?: Although we are a B2B service provider, our services target the end-consumer; we are measured against the individual orders as well as attention to our client. Regardless of the size of your company you will receive dedicated support. First Rate guarantees service levels covering order processing, customer services, finance and service availability.
We’re with a competitor of yours. How easy would it be to switch?: This depends on your existing contracts. Rest assured, though, First Rate won’t hold up the process! For our Travel Money Online service switching is actually very simple: once we have a signed contract we can, workload permitting, have you up and running in as little as four weeks.
How do we know you won’t compete with our brand?: Like our clients, First Rate prefers to focus on our core business and expertise – currency services. You will have invested heavily in your brand; we have invested heavily in developing our products and services.
How do you ensure transactions don’t go wrong?: Our processes mean that errors are rare. We have clear documented processes for resolving any variance to expectation. If there is a perceived issue with an order, we endeavour to resolve in it less than 48 hours; however, the vast majority of issues are closed satisfactorily the same day. We want people who use our service to come to us again for all of their foreign currency transactions.
What service-level guarantees do you provide?: We can mirror your own customer's contact expectations or recommend a service standard based on our experience. We have internal targets for answering calls, closing customer questions and issues, call quality and proportion of accurate transactions that are measured daily or weekly.
We expect to have over 500 transactions per day. Can you handle that volume?: Yes. To give an idea of our capability, First Rate already handles orders to over 14,000 retail locations daily and our processes are scalable.
Business is moving increasingly online. What are your credentials in this area?: First Rate offers the ability to sell currency via the Internet through our Travel Money Online service. We have a continuous development programme and our market insight team monitors trends and competitors to keep us in a leading position. Our clients can be sure their customers have the best online service.
What awards have you won?: First Rate supplies travel money to the Post Office^®, who were recently named Britain’s favourite foreign exchange company at the 2007 British Travel Awards, securing a quarter of all votes in this category. Voted for by over 100,000 consumers and industry professionals, these awards are the largest of their kind in the UK. They are highly regarded within the industry and the Post Office^® has proved itself a leader among travel insurance and foreign exchange providers.
Can you service both our branch and Web-based businesses?: First Rate can provide a range of foreign exchange services for your business. We can supply bulk currency to a branch for resale, or capture and process individual orders via the Internet or by phone through our customer service centre.
How do costs and revenues compare with leading competitors?: As the UK’s largest foreign currency provider to business our buying power delivers great value. With our industry-leading market insight we can help you set a selling price to suit your positioning. Each client’s costs are individual, so you can tailor a product to your needs. Contact us and we’ll go through a customised quote with you.

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Products & services

TMO looks a great service for us, but we have few physical places for our consumers to visit. How would they get hold of their currency?: TMO lets customers select delivery to their card-billing address, so it’s unnecessary to have physical bureaux. Orders are fulfilled by Royal Mail Special Delivery and have to be signed for.
Travel Money Card is new: we understand it has a low uptake. Is that right? Will it last?: The Travel Money Card is still in its infancy and awareness of the product is rising. As with traveller’s cheques it has very definite markets associated with security, convenience and budget management. We expect take-up to increase significantly.
What makes the Travel Money Card more secure than other options?: The Travel Money Card is one of the easiest and safest ways of taking money abroad; it’s separate from your bank account and so helps protect funds at home. Further, as with traveller’s cheques, if your card is lost or stolen, your money is protected and you can request a replacement card 24/7.
To what extent are traveller’s cheques declining as new products emerge?: The number of UK holiday-makers taking traveller’s cheques has definitely fallen in recent years. This trend has been driven by the increasing popularity of payment cards overseas, including pre-paid travel money cards. There will, however, continue to be demand due to traveller’s cheques’ security and global recognition.
Does anyone offer a wider range of currencies? Can you offer the exotic range needed by our affluent, independent traveller consumers?: First Rate offers a wide range of currency notes in over 100 currencies required by ‘affluent independents’ subject to import and export restrictions. We provide traveller’s cheques in seven currencies and pre-paid cards in three currencies – comparable to other wholesaler providers.
How far can you tailor a set of products for our business?: We are happy to tailor every detail, but this also depends on the commercial benefit and agreement between us.

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Markets & insights

You have no consumer brand, unlike, say, Travelex. How do we know you really understand consumer needs?: Although First Rate has no consumer-facing brand, we supply all the Post Office^®’s foreign currency. With over 25% market share, it’s the UK’s largest bureau de change provider.
How much do you know about the big trends in consumer overseas spending?: First Rate is an expert in overseas consumer spending trends. Using reputable research agencies, our dedicated in-house insight and research team analyses data from thousands of holiday-makers every year to identify existing and emerging travel expenditure trends. We also commission extensive bespoke research to dig deeper into these trends using focus groups and discussions, and have access to some of the most robust and insightful consumer databases.
How much experience does your management team have of large corporates like us?: First Rate has an exceptional track record in working with large well-respected organisations in a diverse range of sectors for whom we provide a range of travel money services.

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Work for us

What is the culture like at First Rate?: We foster a performance-led, customer-focused culture.
How ‘engaged’ are your employees?: Each year we run an employee engagement survey; our results remain in the upper quartile measured against comparable UK organisations.
What are the career opportunities like?: We encourage staff to develop within First Rate and fill 25% of our roles internally.
Do you invest in staff training?: We take employee development seriously. Each member of staff has a personal development plan and we invest more per head than the UK average for comparable organisations.

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