Hi All,
Am hoping you could give me your opinion. I'm going to Europe and UK for a holiday and need to exchange some Aussie dollars for Euros and Pounds. Where is the best place to change foreign currency in brisbane? Banks? Money changers? Also, I'm stopping over in Singapore briefly. Would the rates be better there?
Thanks for your help!
if you need cash, better in singapore, go to lucky plaza most of the money changer there got better rate.
their spread can be tight as 50 pips with interbank and sometimes is better than interbank rate. don't know why.
normally i exchange my money at #01 - 081B lucky plaza
Fajar Money Changer
(65) 6235 0989 / (65) 6734 5864
Imo the best way is to just withdraw money from atm's when you are in the countries you need. Airports/trainstations always have atms. Get an NAB gold card or a 28 degrees card. Money exchanging is the easiest way to lose money..
why nab gold card? nab cc still charging 2.5% foreign transaction fee. i paid my hotel in the past with my nab gold card they charge me that foreign transaction fee
I just spent 3 months overseas (returned 2 weeks ago) didnt get charged any transaction fee's or currency conversion fees. So.. Maybe you were charged by the operators themselves. Not the bank?
it is the bank that charge me.
read this http://www.nab.com.au/wps/wcm/connect/083ed0804709fc92b430b7…
and this
http://www.nab.com.au/wps/wcm/connect/nab/nab/home/personal_…
NAB International Transaction Fee
The following NAB International Transaction Fees apply to all credit card accounts, except NAB Visa One Fee-Free.
Single Currency Transaction: A transaction made in Australian dollars with an internationally-designated merchant.
Multi Currency Transaction: A transaction made in a currency other than Australian dollars with an internationally or Australian-designated merchant.
Card Scheme Transaction Type NAB International Transaction Fee1
Visa Single Currency 2.30%
Multi Currency 2.50%
MasterCard Single Currency 2.00%
Multi-Currency (Made with an internationally designated merchant) 2.50%
Multi-Currency (Made with an Australian designated merchant) 1.70%
American Express2 Single Currency 1.50%
Multi Currency 1.50%
1 Includes a NAB Processing Fee of 1.50% plus any Card Scheme Fee charged to NAB and on-charged to you. This Fee is a percentage of the converted AUD amount shown on your statement.
2 American Express Multi-Currency transactions are subject to an American Express Currency Conversion Factor of 1.00% of any USD transaction amount or any USD equivalent amount for transactions made in non-USD. This Factor is included in the converted AUD amount shown on your statement.
why would you change in singapore at all?
if you want best rate is normally changing at the country you visiting and not from airport exchange but street shops. you can exchange abit at airport for immediate use. but risk here is you will be carrying cash.
else just get 28degree credit card
read his comment earlier, he stop over in singapore, he might need cash when he over there.
withdrawing money from atm still got charge from atm operator. as i said money changer in singapore has competitive rate than money changer / bank in here.
not sure if u ever been in singapore and travelling around there and dealing with money changer there. their exchange rate is good, another country that has good rate is hk. this is based on my experience travelling around this region in the last 10 years around this region.
and remember not everyone got 28 degree cc. and not everyone would like to have cc.
point i am trying to make is, you change to local currency in the country you are at. Meaning you will bring a lot of cash on you, if you are stopping in singapore, you change singaporean dollars, enough for you to spend. then when you reach europe/england, change the euro/pounds there.
it doesnt make sense if you change euro/pounds in singapore coz its like you losing your money twice coz normally singaporeans are using their own rate to change to euro/pounds, and you are now exchanging twice if that ever make sense. I dont think you should withdraw from atm in foreign country as well, if you were to do that you would just use the below methods. go to azn and bring travel card, put in enough money as the exchange rate via banks are very similar anyway.
and i am from overseas so i know my stuff too which is why when i going back/travel i just bring cash in my hand and luggage but that also mean i could lose them. risk is alot higher.
sorry mate, they don't do twice conversion, they do cross conversion. except if you found dodgy money changer over there. i have check my rate over there before i exchange my money. as i mentioned earlier, not everyone can have cc. no point arguing this person should have cc. we just answer their basic question, where is the place that he can get better exchange rate. that very simple. why some people can't answer basic question?
Let's say I'm from other country and visiting Australia. I don't find that exchanging in the country I'm visiting (Australia) is better than exchanging in my home country. It really depends on the country.
another alternative is travel cards with anz, they come in
Australian Dollars (AUD)
US Dollars (USD)
Euro (EUR)
Great British Pounds (GBP)
New Zealand Dollars (NZD)
Hong Kong Dollars (HKD)
Canadian Dollars (CAD)
Singapore Dollars (SGD)
Thai Baht (THB)
Japanese Yen (JPY)
all australia bank and money changer exchange rate are not good.
its a lot better than carrying large sums of money overseas like you seem to do
mate, in certain country, cash is more acceptable than cc. as i said before not many people having cc that doesn't charge foreign transaction fee. and using cc in overseas also carry risk that your cc get clone. especially in asia countries. not sure if this become common as well in european countries, as i saw on tv 2 weeks ago, some mafia from eastern europe already have big number in uk to do atm card cloning, so it is matter of time before they do cc cloning as well.
dude, your debating semantics
In direct response to the OP and not offering a different way of managing funds whilst travelling.
I believe the best way to exchange money would be in Singapore.
I have found that most asian countries require a smaller margin in sales to remain profitable thereby being able to offer a more competitive rate.
However I never exchange at the airport unless I really need to and never at an Australian airport.
OP also didn't specify the duration of the stopover. Is it a transit at the airport or actually leaving the airport? I would not change money at the airport. Even if the rates are good in the city, and I'm game to carry large amounts of cash on my person in Europe (is UK not in Europe anymore? :)), I don't think it's worth my time and transport fare hunting down a plaza in Singapore to change money instead of holidaying.
Thanks for your input everyone. I'll be leaving the airport in Singapore and I do know where Lucky Plaza is. I know the exchange rates have always been good in Singapore but I wasn't sure if it would still be competitive if I have to change the money twice (Au$ to Singapore$ and then Singapore$ to Euro/Pounds). Also as the AU$ is stronger than Singapore$ at the moment, I wasn't sure if it would still be worth it. I'm sorry dumb question but what is the difference between a 28 degree card and ANZ card as compared to a credit card?
It would be more expensive if you had to exchange your currecny twice over as it would incur twice as many comission fees.
www.28degreescard.com.au
basically "Enjoy the freedom of the only Australian credit card¹ with no annual fees, no currency conversion fees and no international transaction fees. It’s a smarter way to travel, anywhere, everyday."
This is the card I will be using to travel in Europe later this year.
one thing if you do exchange in singapore they don't do twice conversion. they only do one conversion, as dasher86 said, most of asian countries require a smaller margin in sale. only the bank and money changer in here can't do cross conversion.
lucky plaza located at 304 Orchard Road, Singapore 238863
do only if you stop over there, not transit in the airport only. coz the airport rate still not competitive as the money changer in cbd.
The 28 degrees card is a credit card. The advantage over other credit cards is that there is no currency conversion fees and international transaction fees.
If you want to withdrawal cash overseas from ATMs you will be charged interest on the amount starting from the time you make the withdrawal. Some people before going overseas put extra cash on to the credit card so that it has a positive balance. That way you can withdraw that cash without any extra charges or interest. However i'm not sure if they still allow this to be done.
Why wouldn't they? They earn interest on your money while your account is in credit. All CCs allow this.
maybe you can do a test if you bringing cash. Exchange abit at singapore, then do it again when you are in europe/england. see if exchanging in local(eng/europe) is better than singapore, then you will know and you can also update us. I never go to malaysia to exchange HKD for example, last time i went to hk, u got 1 aud = 7hkd when the exchange rate from xe.com was 6.8. and if i was to exchange in malaysia for Hkd, my aud will only gain me about $6.5. but its totally up to you to experience it.
you may find this odd, i too, they offered me more money. but thats because i dont think they were up to date to the rate. it was like 1aud= $7.1hkd a few days back.
as for your question, anz card is a preload pre paid card. its like you exchange your money in australia but they load it in the currency you want instead of giving you cash, so its the safest way of carrying money but the rate is not as good as it is based on anz forex rate.
It all depends on how much money you are carrying. If you prefer to pay for most of your expenses in cash, probably Singapore will offer better rates. The airports probably wouldn't give you outstanding rates, but I would think that they are still better than the rates you get in Australia.
I would suggest bringing enough cash for day-to-day expenses like food and cheap souvenirs and doing all your exchange in singapore… and for everything else, like accommodation, car hire, big purchases - to put on a credit card or one of those travel cards.
If you want to get an idea of singapore rates, they are online at the mustafa centre website. Their rates are really decent and pretty close to what most shops in lucky plaza will offer.
How much money and where you get it would depend on where you think the dollar is going. For a 1-2 month holiday I would generally use a 28 degrees and get most of my cash as I go. I would get some SGD out from an ATM in Singapore and convert it into 'starter' money for each currency I needed (either at lucky plaza or chinatown), in case the airport atm didn't work properly or something goes wrong.
I normally carry 100-200 in each currency I'm going to visit with my 28 degrees for the rest.
Logically do it in Australia as if you change in Singapore you will be charged double premium.
what premium?
Handling and service charges, though nowadays it's often build into the exchange rate spread. In commercial sense the more transactions you have, the more premium you will have to pay. Thus, direct conversion of AU > Euro will more likely be cheaper then AU > SGD > Euro which will be the case as SGD will then be the domestic currency in Singapore (Well unless you hold a AUD account in Signapore bank which allow you to do direct transaction). In those exchange booth/teller in Singapore, even when they seems to do a single transaction for you, if you work out the math, they are still indeed, charging you twice on commission. (Personal experience as I travel back and forth Singapore regularly and I have a AUD account there).
This is generally correct but I have no idea why the currency exchange in Australia often charge an extremely high premium on direct transaction as well. Then again, when I do currency exchange here in Melbourne I usually have a large enough amount for me to bargain for a better rate.
may be when you were dealing with international bank over there (i can't mentioned the name in here). but based on my experience dealing with money changer over there, they don't do as what you said. they do cross currency conversion, they do check internet and their pager as well. i did many times over there coz mostly i travel with sq then i also stay overnight with my family over there, then i got time to exchange my money over there as well.
hmmm reading your comment again "AUD account there)"
it seems you have done your transaction with the bank, not with the money changer. next time you go to singapore try that fajar money changer. then you compare with the bank that normally you dealing with, then you tell me in here okay. no point we are debating in here okay. :)
May be it's dependent on the currency as well then, what I often do is HKD>AUD, YEN>AUD and USD>AUD in Singapore. Am curious as well regarding the bank which can't be named lol =P.
Thanks for all the comments! I've checked out the exchange rate for ANZ, and 28 degrees (I'm assuming they use the Westpac rates)and the Mustafa Centre online rates, and the Mustafa centre seem to have the best rate. So I think I'll change it in Singapore instead. By the way, is the XE rate always too optimistic? It's much higher than all the rates I could find…
XE rate is hardly achievable by domestic transaction as it's meant for large sums (commercial transactions) and does not include an premium, By the way, do be careful if you change money at Mustafa Centre and make sure you do it in the day as I would't say it's the safest part of Singapore (Lots of illegal foreign workers like to hang around that area). If you are changing at lucky plaza check out the foreign exchange store inside the 7 eleven, the board rate may not be the best but I find that store is best for bargaining if you 1) have sufficient sum, and 2) know the going rate of the day. (Not being racist but it seems that if the person approaching the store looks or is Asian then he/she get a better rate right out,even before bargaining)
the 28 degrees card is the closest I have seen to the rates at XE.com
seriously people - if you are not using this CC to travel overseas you are shooting yourself in the foot
take some backup funds by all means - I recommend this as you can get technical glitches leaving you stuck in Northern Ireland with nothing but a few pounds in coins (I know this for a fact).
But other than this - why pay 1-3% to use other cards, and a crappier exchange rate to boot.
Same situatation happened with me couple years back. Need to spend 3 weeks in Swiss. I know I would be use my CC for major transactions (work related trip so all expenses like travel/food/accom etc paid by company, so didn't really care about CC fees). But I need some cash for any small purchases. Using some AU$, I changed to about CH$500 at Singapore airport. The cross-convert rate was very good - not much different with change at destination airport (Zurich). Basically they changed $AU to SGN $ and then to Swiss Francs. And since it was in Singapore, no handling fees whatsoever.
My case may be different with you, because I changed a small amount. Also at that time, I hedged that the $AU wouldn't be change much during that time.
Neither. Get a 28degrees card.