Traveling to a number of countries - what to do about money?

Forums › Travel (planes, train, cruise) › Traveling to a number of countries - what to do about money?

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jarledb

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#1343425 15-Jul-2015 01:56

One tip: If asked if you want to be charged in local currency or NZD, always choose local currency. You will usually be given a really bad conversion rate if you ask to be charged in NZD abroad.

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nakedmolerat

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#1343428 15-Jul-2015 03:39

jarledb: One tip: If asked if you want to be charged in local currency or NZD, always choose local currency. You will usually be given a really bad conversion rate if you ask to be charged in NZD abroad.

+1!!!

I barely withdraw cash so I'm not sure if this is a new thing. I don't recall given this option before.

I was trying to draw out 1k of local currency from my cheque account.

The local ATM bank offers the conversion which I felt a tad too low. I opt to withdraw local currency without conversion. I checked the total amount withdrawn (conversion and bank fees) and their conversion rate is so bad and almost cost me an extra of nz $50!

timmmay

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#1343440 15-Jul-2015 07:44

geekiegeek: Yeah from what I have found online it looks like the best option for cash is to withdraw from an ATM in the country you are visiting and use credit card for large purchases.

This. I rarely even take cash with me, I just get spending money from an ATM in the airport and use credit card for most things. Maybe have some Euro, worst case you can change that to any currency pretty easily.

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#1343443 15-Jul-2015 07:51

jarledb: One tip: If asked if you want to be charged in local currency or NZD, always choose local currency. You will usually be given a really bad conversion rate if you ask to be charged in NZD abroad.

This is a really good tip as it's becoming far more common to see this option now on terminals as more payment gateways offer it. The same rule applies for PayPal or anywhere else that offers to charge you in your local currency - it's pretty safe to assume they want to rip you off for the convenience.

The only exception I've ever seen to this rule is United Airlines. If you visit their site from NZ you'll see pricing in $NZ by default. You can charge your country to the US and see pricing is $US, but the pricing works out exactly the same in $NZ using the exchange rate of the day, so unless you have a credit card offering no international transaction fees you'll be better off paying in $NZ

timmmay

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#1343453 15-Jul-2015 08:25

If you buy from Amazon it's generally better to have them bill you in USD than in NZD, Visa has better rates than Amazon.

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#1344491 15-Jul-2015 10:22

timmmay: If you buy from Amazon it's generally better to have them bill you in USD than in NZD, Visa has better rates than Amazon.

Good to know.

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#1345321 16-Jul-2015 12:01

Also having the retailer do the conversion screws you again if you need a refund. Whereas a refund on the card charged in USD seems to sort it all out properly.

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#1345478 16-Jul-2015 13:57

Thanks everyone for all the advice, we are heading to England and Paris at the end of the year. I have an ASB visa card with a 2.1% conversion fee and $7.50 per transaction cash withdrawal fee along with a BNZ mastercard which has a 2.25% conversion fee and $7.50 cash withdrawal fee.

Looks like the best approach for us would be using ASB for purchases and putting the BNZ card in credit for cash withdrawal.

The info on not converting to NZD at point of sale or other places is very useful so will definitely use that.

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