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1. Airport exchange kiosk. Thieves. Huge commissions and feees.
2. Pay with Card. Lose about 3% and you'll still need a little cash
3. Pay with USD, but rounded up, no coins
4. ATM inside bank, so no hidden fees, which can be huge. Also lose about 3%. Withdrawal limit may be small[ like $200, less than a day's spending.
5. Change cash at downtown exchange shop, competitive and fair rate. You may need them te re-convert if you have leftover FX, which in many countries is difficult, so estimate your needs carefully.
Different countries will expose you to different criteria. Your bank may refund some of the charges. That is temporary, until your bank is gobbled by a more voracious predatory bank (like Huntington or 5th-3rd), who will rob you blind.
The Op is going to Australia and NZ.
Forget about 3. US cash is not used here unless it is perhaps some business only dealing with tourists.
90% of transactions in Australia are now electronic. That has resulted in the closure of many banks and ATMs.
Pay with a card but you may wish to have small amounts of cash. Our cards are contactless with a pin entered above a certain amount.
I would just order cash locally before you leave, exchange any NZ cash at the airport for AUS.
Change any AUS back to US at the airport kiosks before you depart.
However, the rate you get depends on which banks ATM you use, which network is used, or perhaps VISA.
This just isn't true. You can deny the conversation at the ATM so the transaction is in foreign currency and your bank will do the conversion. I've checked the rate I've been given across many different countries on my Schwab card and with different ATMs, it has nothing to do with which ATM you use it is Schwab's rate. Stop making things up man.
Quote:
Originally Posted by justanokie
Personally, I think Schwab is one of the best banks to use, especially overseas. It's not nearly as good as Wise overseas though, Wise has a better rate and it takes seconds to complete a transfer.
If you use a Schwab debit card you don't need to do a transfer, and again you have not proven that Wise has a better rate than Schwab. With Schwab you can travel, use your ATM card, and have zero fees. With Wise you pay fees for using the ATM outside of their very limiting parameters.
Quote:
Originally Posted by justanokie
Wise is far cheaper any time you get into lots of money.
I always exchange US dollars at the destination. Try to find exchange shops in the city. Exchange at the airport is easy but you will get less money.
Best and safest - get a Capital One credit card - it has no international transaction fees and you can pay with it just about everywhere.
In some places you will be asked (pay terminal option) if you want to pay in dollars or local currency. Always select "local currency".
Assuming that you will take your phone - download free exchange rate app - Currency Converter Plus Live Plus (for Android or Apple phone).
You will see daily exchange rate of currency of your choice. Handy when you're trying to convert foreign money to dollars to compare prices.
This just isn't true. You can deny the conversation at the ATM so the transaction is in foreign currency and your bank will do the conversion.
I've checked the rate I've been given across many different countries on my Schwab card and with different ATMs, it has nothing to do with which ATM you use it is Schwab's rate. Stop making things up man.
From Schwab's own website
Quote:
If you use your Card to withdraw foreign currency from an ATM, or to pay for a purchase with foreign currency, Schwab Bank charges your account for the U.S. dollar equivalent of the transaction. Depending on the specific arrangements that are in place, the exchange rate will be determined by the bank at which you conduct the transaction, the network to which the ATM belongs, or Visa.
What you are talking about when selecting local currency is completely different. That's called Dynamic Currency Conversion and yes it's always bad. However, after you deny that, just like Schwab says, it depends on agreements in place on who provides the actual conversion rate. And it's always worse than the interbank rate, which Wise uses.
The only person making stuff up here is you.
The only thing I have probably been wrong about is that sometimes Schwab sets the rate, but according to their own fine print, they aren't even one of the options, as shown above.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lieqiang
If you use a Schwab debit card you don't need to do a transfer, and again you have not proven that Wise has a better rate than Schwab. With Schwab you can travel, use your ATM card, and have zero fees. With Wise you pay fees for using the ATM outside of their very limiting parameters.
Cheaper than $0 fees? I don't think so.
I just gave you a real example of the rate my Schwab card charged me and that rate cost me more than Wise does with their fee. Wise uses the rates set by the market. Schwab charges a markup over that rate. They do have one of the best rates but you aren't getting it at an ATM. They are better than any other bank I know of but it's worse than Wise even after you consider their fees and far better when purchasing directly.
I really don't care if you believe it or not. You just keep using your Schwab card and I will keep using both and we can agree to disagree.
Last edited by justanokie; 02-05-2023 at 05:20 AM..
The Op is going to Australia and NZ.
Forget about 3. US cash is not used here unless it is perhaps some business only dealing with tourists.
90% of transactions in Australia are now electronic. That has resulted in the closure of many banks and ATMs.
Pay with a card but you may wish to have small amounts of cash. Our cards are contactless with a pin entered above a certain amount.
I would just order cash locally before you leave, exchange any NZ cash at the airport for AUS.
Change any AUS back to US at the airport kiosks before you depart.
The last 2 times I visited Australia I never had any Australian cash (except for a small gift friend gave me at the end of my trip, which I actually brought back to the USA) as I paid for everything either with a debit card or alternately with a credit card.
Every time I check, on transactions of $200 or more from an ATM it is within a dollar or two in either direction of the exchange rate shown on Google, with no fees. Wise has fees. Therefore there is no way Wise is cheaper.
Quote:
Originally Posted by justanokie
The only thing I have probably been wrong about is that sometimes Schwab sets the rate
Well, the whole "wise is easier" would be a big glaring example of you being wrong. Oh no problem just sign up for an additional account, then transfer stuff around all the time weeeeee.
Quote:
Originally Posted by justanokie
I just gave you a real example of the rate my Schwab card charged me and that rate cost me more than Wise does with their fee.
Where? Let's see the numbers, I missed it. Let's look at a typical traveler scenario where I'm taking out a few hundred dollars worth at a time from ATMs. In fact if you want next time I use the ATM I'll get the numbers on how much my transaction cost and we can compare to Wise, and calculate how much it would be if I took $300 4 times from ATMs while traveling.
Quote:
Originally Posted by justanokie
I really don't care if you believe it or not. You just keep using your Schwab card and I will keep using both and we can agree to disagree.
Nor do I care what you do, but when you are telling someone that the easiest way is to sign up for even more stuff, download apps, and transfer currency around is easier than just sticking your existing ATM card in a machine it is delusional.
I am not going to get into the Wise Vs Schwab debate but will give you one real life example.
Two weeks ago I used my Schwab ATM card to withdraw 500 AED ( dirhams) from an First Abu Dhabi ATM at a bus depot. It was easy peasy. Schwab debited $136.15 from my account. That works out to an exchange rate of 3.672 to one USD. On that day the Google exchange rate was 3.67.
No fees from either bank. I withdrew another 500 AED at the same rate and used it, especially for taxis that had trouble with my Venture X card.
If this holds up in other countries I will continue using Schwab. $10 here or there does not matter ( it probably costs more for a cuppa at Starbucks with their outrageous tips) but ease of getting money does.
Bring your US dollars with you. If you need around $100 equivalent local currency, exchange that when you arrive at a country. For more than $100, use your ATM cards, most charge a flat fee for one withdrawal. The best is to get Fidelity or Schwab debit cards which reimburse you the ATM fees charged.
For developed countries, you can use credit cards for many charges.
The last 2 times I visited Australia I never had any Australian cash (except for a small gift friend gave me at the end of my trip, which I actually brought back to the USA) as I paid for everything either with a debit card or alternately with a credit card.
I don't know about NZ in that regard.
I am trying to think when I last had to use cash. There are a few suburban businesses that still are cash only, I used cash at one on Saturday. It was a dry cleaner/ alteration/clothes wholesaler. House cleaners and the like often want cash, dog walkers etc. Anyone trying to get around the tax system.
But as a tourist you would not usually need any. I would imagine NZ is the same but we haven’t been there for a few years.
Two weeks ago I used my Schwab ATM card to withdraw 500 AED ( dirhams) from an First Abu Dhabi ATM at a bus depot. It was easy peasy. Schwab debited $136.15 from my account. That works out to an exchange rate of 3.672 to one USD. On that day the Google exchange rate was 3.67
My experiences are similar, on ATM withdrawals of about $200 the amount debited from my accounts is always within $1-$2 of what Google says the exchange rate is.
Meanwhile from Wise website:
"If your card was issued in the US: You can take out money for free twice a month — as long as the total amount is 100 USD and under. But after that, we’ll charge you 1.50 USD per transaction. This is a fixed fee. If you take out over 100 USD in one month, we’ll charge you 2% on top of that."
So if I travel with Wise to a Vietnam and hit the ATM four times for $200 each:
Two transaction fees = $3.00
Fee for taking out over $100 = $14
Fees charges by the ATMs = $12+
That $29.00 is far more than I'd pay Schwab since they have no fees and reimburse the ATM fees. It might even be worse since lots of ATMs in Vietnam have 2,000,000 dong limits so I'd be going to withdraw cash even more often.
Last edited by lieqiang; 02-05-2023 at 03:03 PM..
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