ANZ ATM airside at MEL airport which dispenses foreign cash.

GOCAT9 on 26/05/2017 - 10:30
Last edited 26/05/2017 - 10:45

Hi, some years ago when I was travelling through Melbourne International airport I noticed an ANZ ATM which allegedly dispenses foreign currencies. I never took much notice at the time. Does anybody know the answers to these questions :

  1. What currencies are available from this ATM other than AUD?
  2. If you withdraw using a MasterCard or Visa, does the ATM give you the choice of using Visa or master card to do the exchange rate rather than accepting the ANZ exchange rate?
  3. Are there any other ATMs airside in MEL which also dispense foreign currencies?

I'd rather use an ATM to get foreign cash rather than an exchange place like Travelex as the exchange rates will be much better. I'm particularly interested in getting EURO because I'm travelling to Cuba.

I tried to get this information from my local ANZ bank, but they never responded. Thanks for your information/advice.

EDIT: I can't use cards in Cuba to get cash as they are not generally accepted. I need to take CASH.

Financial

Related Stores

ANZ
ANZ

Comments

  • dasher86 on 26/05/2017 - 10:32
    +2

    I'd rather use an ATM to get foreign cash rather than an exchange place like Travelex as the exchange rates will be much better.

    what gives you that impression with these specialised ATMS?
    In my experience they always charge more.

    • GOCAT9 on 26/05/2017 - 10:40

      If the ATM lets you do exchange rate via VISA or MASTERCARD rates then it is always better than a bank's rate. Also, no fees when using a citiplus Visa card!!

      • dasher86 on 26/05/2017 - 10:41
        +1

        These ones don't use the VISA / Mastercard rates

  • Baysew on 26/05/2017 - 10:38

    Wouldn't a Citibank Plus account be an easier solution?

    Cards with No Overseas Transaction Fees

    • GOCAT9 on 26/05/2017 - 10:43

      Of course, but the question is what currencies can I get. Oh, I think I know what you really mean (?). ATMs are not common in Cuba and All American based cards like Citibank are not accepted ANYWHERE there 😟

  • [Deactivated] on 26/05/2017 - 10:45

    if you going Cuba, change all your cash locally in AUS or USA, because youll have a hard time changing it locally in Cuba

    • GOCAT9 on 26/05/2017 - 10:48

      Ok, I want to do just that, but if I can get that foreign cash from an ATM in AUS, at the VISA/MASTERCARD rate, it will be the cheapest. I'm an OB remember ;-)

    • mskeggs on 26/05/2017 - 17:28

      I'm surprised at this. I would have thought Cubans would be keen to exchange pesos for foreign currency.
      My friend visited Cuba a couple of months ago. If i see him in the next week or so I'll ask what he thinks and post an update.

      • retiredfeline on 26/05/2017 - 17:37
        +1

        Pesos are not much use for visitors, facilities for them take hard currency, i.e. USD and perhaps €. So visitors don't need many pesos. You can buy ice cream in the street, catch overcrowded local transport and that sort of thing with pesos.

        • [Deactivated] on 26/05/2017 - 17:38

          or just have 2000 USD in $1 notes.

  • pantsparty on 26/05/2017 - 11:05
    +2

    This ATM will dispense foreign cash at the ANZ rate, not the Visa or Mastercard rate. You are best off organising your cash prior to arriving at the airport. Given these ATM's are basically your large chance to get foreign cash before hopping on the plane, it is highly likely they will give you the worst rate.

    • GOCAT9 on 26/05/2017 - 11:32

      Thank you, but my question is: which foreign currencies are available in the MEL ATM?

      As for the rate, my experience is that SOME ATMs offer a choice of who does the exchange!!

      • Poolprouk on 26/05/2017 - 12:49

        ANZ no longer are the provider of banking services at MEL. Travelex are the provider of foreign currency services at the airport.

        There is a Travelex ATM in T2 near the Qantas check in area which dispenses foreign currency. This only deals in USD and NZD (and AUD).

  • toniyellow on 26/05/2017 - 11:33
    +1

    I used ING direct to withdraw cash from ATMs in Cuba. They charge a $2.50 fee for overseas transactions, but their exchange rate was good.

    There were ATMs in all the places I visited between Vinales and Baracoa, including Havana Airport. Baracoa only had 2, that was the fewest but one was all I needed, and it worked fine.The queue to exchange cash was always long, and there was never a queue at the ATM.

    I downloaded the offline map for Cuba on the app HERE, and it has banks listed, never had trouble finding a bank using that.

    I took some Euro as a precaution in case I had trouble with the ATM, and had an ANZ debit card with me as well which has also been reported to work in Cuba (with higher fees) but did not end up using either. Some places did take credit card, but only huge hotels, and art galleries. Never used it, but they were proud of it and displayed their signs really prominently so I noticed.

    Now that Citibank has changed from Visa to Mastercard, I wonder if that will have an impact - Mastercard itself has no problems with Cuba anymore
    http://newsroom.mastercard.com/news-briefs/mastercard-remove…

    • GOCAT9 on 26/05/2017 - 12:20

      Thank you very much, I will investigate the ING card. Can you fix the link to the Cuba map app- the link doesn't work. Bye the way, when were you in Cuba?

      • toniyellow on 26/05/2017 - 13:15

        The app is called HERE, its a dumb name, hard to communicate -
        https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.here.app.m… or
        https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/here-wego-city-navigation-of…
        They have lots of countries that you can download offline, it is great for travel. also google translate with an offline spanish pack was helpful.

        I went July 2016. Wrote a huge post about it in this thread https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/280285 Loved it, one of those destinations I am sure I will go back to.

        • GOCAT9 on 26/05/2017 - 14:14

          Thanks Toniyellow. I checked out ING card and all checks out fine. I think I will go for a preloaded Visa debit card. Yes, $2.50 per transaction and with a debit card the rate is done by Visa and not ING which is fine! Will also read your thread! Ta muchly.

        • GOCAT9 on 26/05/2017 - 15:38

          Read your huge post- that was great and I will take notes, lots of useful tips in there. Yes, I agree with your comments on taxi drivers- seem like they are the same the world over!! Fortunately, I will be travelling with my Chilean wife and I speak pretty fluent Spanish so I can't wait to 'take 'em on' in the own language just for the fun of it! Thanks again, I need to apply for my ING card now!!

        • toniyellow on 26/05/2017 - 15:54

          @GOCAT9:

          Have a great trip :) Will be such an advantage if you speak Spanish, I am sure.

          You should post somewhere afterwards, there is not huge amounts of info out there, and it seems to be changing pretty fast at the moment.

        • retiredfeline on 26/05/2017 - 16:01

          @GOCAT9: You and the natives will be mutually intelligible but you will notice they​ speak a lazy dialect where they drop the s and other consonants.

          When I was there I was looking for the May Day parade and a local explained: la puta. Huh? Ah he actually said: la punta. :)

          Have a good time.

        • GOCAT9 on 26/05/2017 - 17:34

          @toniyellow: yes, good idea. I will be back late Aug, and will post on OB somewhere! We have 3 weeks in Cuba. We fly into Holguin from MIA and will travel from the east to the west end using local transport (buses?) finishing up in HAV. Should be a hoot! We plan to Airbnb mostly to gets lots of "local" info from hosts etc. mid July to mid Aug is our time slot, Gracias para todo!!

        • GOCAT9 on 26/05/2017 - 17:47

          @greenpossum: thanks greenpossum! Totally comfortable with dropped "s" etc since my Spanish was learned in the country most known for that- Chile!! They are shockers at doing that— even though it's Buenas Dias , they pronounce it as Buena dia…- shocker!! As for "la puta" well that word in Chile is street slang for prostitute!! Looks like an interesting journey coming up. I spend two weeks in my second home (Chile) with my wife at her parents place before flying up to Cuba via MIA. Thanks to all.

        • retiredfeline on 27/05/2017 - 16:42

          @GOCAT9: Hahaha, speaking of Holguin, there's a small hill overlooking the town and a cross at the summit, called Loma de la Cruz. One my companions, looked at the name and exclaimed: what? Pork of the Cross? She had confused loma with lomo.

  • GOCAT9 on 26/05/2017 - 14:10
    +3

    SOLVED: After pinning a branch manager down and getting them to investigate, I was informed that those foreign currency dispensing ATMs across Australian airports have been recalled!! So the question is now moot and irrelevant since they no longer exist. I must admit it was some years back (5+) that I recall seeing one.

    Thanks all those that replied.

  • [Deactivated] on 27/05/2017 - 08:46

    What a great post. Not one person has answered the OP's question but tried to offer their own opinion of what he should do instead.
    Don't you just love it?

    • GOCAT9 on 27/05/2017 - 10:37

      Yeah, I know!! Top marks for noticing that too! Maybe the reason I didn't get my question answered specifically was because those ATMs were withdrawn so nobody would know. Ta.

Login or Join to leave a comment
Login Join