Best exchange rates Visa or AMEX?

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CrashAndBurn

639 posts

Ultimate Geek

#305742 1-Jun-2023 10:02

Planning a trip to the US end of this year and starting to book accomodation and train fares. Both of which are charged in USD so was wondering if I use either my VISA Platinum or AMEX Platinum. Tried to google but could not see a clear answer. For instance, if I need to pay $5000 USD, which would come with the better conversion rate to NZD?.

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970 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3083173 1-Jun-2023 10:21

Who is the card provided by?

The best exchange at the moment would be through Wise.

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nova

145 posts

Master Geek

Trusted

#3083177 1-Jun-2023 10:26

The currency conversion fee should be listed in the card, and it varies between different Visa cards. Amex Airpoints Platinum has a 2.5% fee, Kiwibank Airpoints Platinum is 1.85%, and it looks like ANZ Credit Cards have a 1.3% fee. The underlying exchange rate that the banks use should be pretty similar between Visa and Amex. You can also choose to pay directly in NZD in a lot of cases, and that is almost always a bad choice, it will end up costing around 3% or more.

The cheapest option is probably to get a card through Wise and use that, but the credit card rewards mean that it not super significant, and personally I only use something like that for cash withdrawals, which is rarely needed nowadays.

CrashAndBurn

639 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3083180 1-Jun-2023 10:28

SpartanVXL: Who is the card provided by?

The best exchange at the moment would be through Wise.

Visa is with ANZ then other one is AMEX direct.

CrashAndBurn

639 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3083183 1-Jun-2023 10:33

nova:

The currency conversion fee should be listed in the card, and it varies between different Visa cards. Amex Airpoints Platinum has a 2.5% fee, Kiwibank Airpoints Platinum is 1.85%, and it looks like ANZ Credit Cards have a 1.3% fee. The underlying exchange rate that the banks use should be pretty similar between Visa and Amex. You can also choose to pay directly in NZD in a lot of cases, and that is almost always a bad choice, it will end up costing around 3% or more.

The cheapest option is probably to get a card through Wise and use that, but the credit card rewards mean that it not super significant, and personally I only use something like that for cash withdrawals, which is rarely needed nowadays.

Yeah saw the fees. Was hoping there was some sort of calculator where I can input the amount and it tells me exactly how much I will be charged. Right now leaning towards AMEX even with the higher fee, purely for the points.

Beccara

1467 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

#3083189 1-Jun-2023 10:43

SpartanVXL: Who is the card provided by?

The best exchange at the moment would be through Wise.

Just come back from a month overseas, Wise card hands down with the bonus of very fine tuned controls on the card like being able to block ATM withdrawals/PayWave/other methods. Something like 0.65% conversion fee?

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SpartanVXL

970 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3083229 1-Jun-2023 11:11

https://wise.com/nz/pricing/card-fees?sourceAmount=1000&sourceCcy=NZD&targetCcy=USD

It depends if your rewards from using the card outweigh the fees spent. Wise also use a better rate, at the moment it’s 0.602 rate + 0.47% fee versus ANZ’s 0.592 rate +1.3% fee.

Nate001

607 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3083245 1-Jun-2023 13:01

We went to AU recently used both ANZ Plat and AMEX (both airpoints) and found there was bugger all difference between them, IF you take the rewards into consideration. ANZ live rates are published online but AMEX don't so you can't check before hand, checking the statements they're almost identical.

For $100 AUD of spend it worked out like this, with FX being 0.9146:

ANZ final charge was $110.76, incl commission of 1.3% and 1.01 APD reward
AMEX final charge was $112.07 incl commission of 2.5%, and 1.90 APD reward AND 0.45 Status Points.

Taking rewards into consideration AMEX works out 0.4% higher. My only complaint using AMEX overseas is the transaction takes 1-3 days to show up in the app whereas ANZ is instant which can be helpful.

As others said, Wise is cheapest.

Nate001

607 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3083251 1-Jun-2023 13:15

SpartanVXL: https://wise.com/nz/pricing/card-fees?sourceAmount=1000&sourceCcy=NZD&targetCcy=USD

It depends if your rewards from using the card outweigh the fees spent. Wise also use a better rate, at the moment it’s 0.602 rate + 0.47% fee versus ANZ’s 0.592 rate +1.3% fee.

Here is calcs for the current rates for 100 USD spend.

CrashAndBurn

639 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3083253 1-Jun-2023 13:19

Nate001:

SpartanVXL: https://wise.com/nz/pricing/card-fees?sourceAmount=1000&sourceCcy=NZD&targetCcy=USD

It depends if your rewards from using the card outweigh the fees spent. Wise also use a better rate, at the moment it’s 0.602 rate + 0.47% fee versus ANZ’s 0.592 rate +1.3% fee.

Here is calcs for the current rates for 100 USD spend.

Thanks. Much appreciated.

johno1234

1339 posts

Uber Geek

#3083274 1-Jun-2023 14:28

How does one value a Status Point? It could be anywhere from worthless to Gold Elite...

xtrabyte

4 posts

Wannabe Geek

#3083671 2-Jun-2023 09:29

Nate001:

We went to AU recently used both ANZ Plat and AMEX (both airpoints) and found there was bugger all difference between them, IF you take the rewards into consideration. ANZ live rates are published online but AMEX don't so you can't check before hand, checking the statements they're almost identical.

For $100 AUD of spend it worked out like this, with FX being 0.9146:

ANZ final charge was $110.76, incl commission of 1.3% and 1.01 APD reward
AMEX final charge was $112.07 incl commission of 2.5%, and 1.90 APD reward AND 0.45 Status Points.

Taking rewards into consideration AMEX works out 0.4% higher. My only complaint using AMEX overseas is the transaction takes 1-3 days to show up in the app whereas ANZ is instant which can be helpful.

As others said, Wise is cheapest.

The Wise card is a Debit card not a true credit card

openmedia

3047 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#3083932 2-Jun-2023 13:27

Don't use the WISE card to guarantee your room, but you can use it to pay for your room on checkout. Recently did this in the US where they used my KiwiBank Visa to hold the room, but we closed the account using the Wise card.

We saved about NZD $120 over the trip by using the wise card, vs earning 35 airpoints dollars on our credit card.

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

CrashAndBurn

639 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3083948 2-Jun-2023 13:54

openmedia:

Don't use the WISE card to guarantee your room, but you can use it to pay for your room on checkout. Recently did this in the US where they used my KiwiBank Visa to hold the room, but we closed the account using the Wise card.

We saved about NZD $120 over the trip by using the wise card, vs earning 35 airpoints dollars on our credit card.

Thanks for the tip.

SpartanVXL

970 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3085360 6-Jun-2023 10:10

openmedia:
Don't use the WISE card to guarantee your room, but you can use it to pay for your room on checkout. Recently did this in the US where they used my KiwiBank Visa to hold the room, but we closed the account using the Wise card.

We saved about NZD $120 over the trip by using the wise card, vs earning 35 airpoints dollars on our credit card.

What’s the reason for not using wise to book rooms? I have done this and not had issues…yet.

Nate001

607 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3085378 6-Jun-2023 11:20

SpartanVXL:
openmedia:

Don't use the WISE card to guarantee your room, but you can use it to pay for your room on checkout. Recently did this in the US where they used my KiwiBank Visa to hold the room, but we closed the account using the Wise card.

We saved about NZD $120 over the trip by using the wise card, vs earning 35 airpoints dollars on our credit card.

What’s the reason for not using wise to book rooms? I have done this and not had issues…yet.

My understanding, as with any debit card, is any holds/authorities are taken on your available balance. So you can be in the situation where all your funds are held and unable to be spent.

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