Heading to Hawaii... Best options for money

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Forums › Finance and wealth management › Heading to Hawaii... Best options for money

Aaroona

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#169645 21-Mar-2015 15:35

I'm planning on heading to Hawaii at the end of April... What is the best option as far as taking money across?

I know there is the option of using the Prepaid Kiwibank "Loaded For Travel" cards, but just wondering if thats the best option?
I have a credit card, but its a GemVisa, so thinking that may be best used only as an emergency type situation, rather than primary payment. I wonder if its worth just getting a wod of cash and taking that across? I know if its under a certain limit, I don't have to worry too much about it, but then I have to worry about carrying cash around.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated, preferably from someone who's been!

LennonNZ

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#1264615 21-Mar-2015 15:56

Depends what you define as best?

From what I've found the USA is a cash society so things like eftpos are useless in day to day situations.

Cc are accepted at most retail places but accept there will be manual transactions and ppl asking for ID.

Use cash for small things like lunch taxis etc and use cc for dinner, hotels and other high end things.

get US dollars in the cheapest exchange rate you can and get a cc you can
Load U.S. dollars on to decrease the exchange rate

johnr

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#1264623 21-Mar-2015 16:14

Cash

Aaroona

3193 posts

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#1264711 21-Mar-2015 20:29

Thanks guys.

I will make sure I take some cash over and if needed, use the credit card for the rest.
I'm actually thinking the OneSmart card from AirNZ might a goer - I already have the card and just haven't activated the mastercard/debit side of it. Looks like the fees are reasonable (i.e. $0 to load money on via Internet Banking, and only $10 to withdraw the available balance when I'm done to NZD).

Source: http://www.airnewzealand.co.nz/onesmart-fees

timmmay

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#1264712 21-Mar-2015 20:37

No matter where I go I just get cash from an ATM machine in their airport and use my credit card for anything significant. Looks like they're a cashy society so I'd have more cash on hand.

richms

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#1264713 21-Mar-2015 20:39

Yeah, but whats the rate they use when you convert?

I was all set to get one of them when they advertised that you could load up foregn currency, but the when I was asking about it found that it wasnt that at all, I had to load NZD and then convert it over at their rates. They couldn't tell me how to find the rates before I did a conversion so it was easier to just take the AUD with me as cash and just spend it.

CC rates are already bad. I expect that they make them even worse on the prepaid package, and worse still if you have to do a chargeback you are waiting to get your money returned.

Perhaps go to your real bank and get a proper credit card? At least you can use it when back in NZ and not worry about the GEM visa hassle if you put something under $250 on it.

And never cash advance your gem visa. They wont repay that till your purchases are paid off, even ones made after the cash advance, you actually have to zero out the ballance to get them to stop charging you interest on the cash advance.

Richard rich.ms

Aaroona

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#1264718 21-Mar-2015 20:59

timmmay: No matter where I go I just get cash from an ATM machine in their airport and use my credit card for anything significant. Looks like they're a cashy society so I'd have more cash on hand.

Yeah, I'm planning on taking around $1000 USD or so, I'd imagine that should cover me okay and just take my CC with me "In case".

richms: Yeah, but whats the rate they use when you convert?

I was all set to get one of them when they advertised that you could load up foregn currency, but the when I was asking about it found that it wasnt that at all, I had to load NZD and then convert it over at their rates. They couldn't tell me how to find the rates before I did a conversion so it was easier to just take the AUD with me as cash and just spend it.

CC rates are already bad. I expect that they make them even worse on the prepaid package, and worse still if you have to do a chargeback you are waiting to get your money returned.

Perhaps go to your real bank and get a proper credit card? At least you can use it when back in NZ and not worry about the GEM visa hassle if you put something under $250 on it.

And never cash advance your gem visa. They wont repay that till your purchases are paid off, even ones made after the cash advance, you actually have to zero out the ballance to get them to stop charging you interest on the cash advance.

Yeah thats a fair point - i'll have to see if they have some live rates, but certainly might swing by the bank and see what they have... to be honest, not too concerned though, as I'm not going for all that long. As long as I have some form of credit card, I think I'll be fine. That coupled with the $1000 USD should be good.

Zippity

683 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1264777 21-Mar-2015 23:41

Use your EFTPOS card - it's as simple as that

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sbiddle

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#1264843 22-Mar-2015 09:36

90% of my spending in the US is on credit card. In 4 trips over the past couple of years I've probably spent no more than US$600 in cash in total - and some of that was to try and spend it.

The main use for cash is tipping, so just ensure you have plenty of dollar bills.

Jase2985

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#1264846 22-Mar-2015 09:40

sbiddle: 90% of my spending in the US is on credit card. In 4 trips over the past couple of years I've probably spent no more than US$600 in cash in total - and some of that was to try and spend it.

The main use for cash is tipping, so just ensure you have plenty of dollar bills.

ditto, in my time working there (Still employed by a NZ employer) i was using my NZ CC for everything, just took out a hundred a fortnight for little things, tram tickets, tipping etc.

code15

198 posts

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#1264856 22-Mar-2015 10:17

When you can, use your standard NZ visa/mastercard debit/credit card for all your purchases. You will always get a better rate than the Loaded for Travel/ Air NZ debit cards

In terms of cash purchases, check with your bank first but its quite convenient to withdraw from atm's there using your eftpos card. Checl the fees first though, from memory its about $5 + the % cut.

When the Onesmart card loaded they advertised it as taking 0% commission on currency transfers. Now that's out the windows and instead its the "onesmart rate" which is terrible.

sbiddle

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#1264863 22-Mar-2015 10:42

code15: When you can, use your standard NZ visa/mastercard debit/credit card for all your purchases. You will always get a better rate than the Loaded for Travel/ Air NZ debit cards

In terms of cash purchases, check with your bank first but its quite convenient to withdraw from atm's there using your eftpos card. Checl the fees first though, from memory its about $5 + the % cut.

When the Onesmart card loaded they advertised it as taking 0% commission on currency transfers. Now that's out the windows and instead its the "onesmart rate" which is terrible.

Yip it's around 3.5% less than the official exchange rate, which is around 1 - 1.25% worse than what you'll get just by using your regular credit card.

Of course if you buy the money at a higher rate you gain, but the commission is very high.

Another catch is the Travelex cards. These are sold by Trevelex and also available from a number of banks as their own branded offering. The exchange rate from a bank branded offering is .5% worse than the Travelex card, which is presumably the bank commission.