Hello,
I am going to Japan in July.
Could you give me some advice on exchanging some Japanese Yen please? I am open to any options not only traditional cash exchange with AUD.
Which currency shops in WA would you recommend if doing the traditional cash exchange?
Thank you.
Please explain as I said I am open to options. Thanks
Use your Australian bank card to withdraw money from an ATM in Japan. You're more likely to get a better rate than at a foreign exchange.
Correct.
Which ever way you do it, the forex is always better in the country of the required currency.
I usually take AUD cash and exchange in the foreign country as required.
Also Mastercard and Visa have preferred exhange rates which are better than the cash rates
@HeWhoKnows: Just make sure, if asked, to do the transaction in JPE and not in AUD. If selected to do it in AUD - that ATM's FX rate (usually much worse) will kick in instead AU bank's one.
/Just came back from Tokyo yesterday/
@andrek: Thx for the tip!
So in a nutshell, if you have the option…pay in JPY and whatever country's currency and leave it up to Mastercard or Visa to do the forex into AUD.
Get a fee free debit card https://www.ozbargain.com.au/wiki/cards_with_no_overseas_tra…
Withdraw from a 7bank (inside 7eleven) atm in japan https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/841459
Bring a couple hundred in cash in case of emergency.
What are the exchange rates like?
If you use a fee free card, you get the raw Visa/MasterCard rates. Which is more or less what you see when you Google "aud to jpy".
If you're not using one of the fee free cards, typically you lose around at least 3% in the exchange.
Not correct!!!!!!!!!
Read the card's conditions - very important
Varies with each issuer
All the major AUD banks issue fee free debit cards and all attract Forex fees !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The smaller banks like Macquarie, Bendigo Bank and Bankwest have debit or credit cards with no forex fees
@HeWhoKnows: Sorry, in this context I mean the ones that have no international transaction or conversion fees, as listed in the linked wiki. Just local fee-free is a different matter.
Oh, @etlok if you do go this approach make sure it is a debit card if you plan to withdraw cash. The credit cards (listed on the same wiki page) are fine for direct PoS use but you might get dinged for cash advance fees if you use them at an ATM.
Elusive has given you the best advice. Just one additional point: for the best deal, make your fee free debit card a Mastercard, not Visa. I did exactly what he suggested, except that I didn't take a couple of hundred cash as well, I just made sure I had two fee-free debit cards: one Mastercard, one Visa. In Japan, I tested out both with a 7bank ATM (they are EVERYWHERE, I assure you), which gives you full details on what your transaction is actually going to cost you before you press "confirm". On a 10,000 yen (that's the minimum) withdrawal using a Mastercard debit card (I chose Macquarie Bank), the total debited was approximately $AUD103.00 (there will, of course, be a slight variation from day to day). Then I tried the NAB/Citibank Visa debit (it used to be great when it was a Citi account), and that one would have taken approximately $AUD110.00 from the account. In both cases I followed the advice of the people who know about these things, and pressed "credit" and not "savings". So it seems a Mastercard debit is the one to go for, and I can certainly recommend Macquarie, as it never gave me a moment's trouble anywhere.
What do you mean by pressing 'credit' not 'debit' ?
I used the Citi now NAB debit card and each time withdrawal cost between Y$100 to Y$200 fee, I believe the fees were charged bt the 7 Bank but not NAB. The rate was good and I only used the 7 bank ATM but it is still annoying to pay a fee especially the old Citi's debit card didn't have that. It is a debit card so I'm not sure how you can choose 'credit', unless you use a credit card to draw cash ??
I will reseach the Macquarie's card now learning from this forum.
In a nutshell
Best credit cards:
NB: These are both identical in features and cost savings and include FREE travel insurnace when used to purchased your overseas airfare
Bankwest Zero Platinum Mastercard
https://www.creditcard.com.au/bankwest-zero-platinum-credit-…
Bendigo bank Ready Credit card
https://www.bendigobank.com.au/personal/credit-cards/ready/
See here for insurance covers including FREE travel insurnace included with these cards:
https://www.bankwest.com.au/help/cards/complimentary-insuran…
https://www.bankwest.com.au/content/dam/bankwest/documents/l…
https://www.bendigobank.com.au/personal/credit-cards/my-card…
https://www.bendigobank.com.au/personal/credit-cards/my-card…
https://www.bendigobank.com.au/personal/credit-cards/my-card…
https://www.bendigobank.com.au/personal/credit-cards/my-card…
https://www.bendigobank.com.au/personal/credit-cards/my-card…
Best Debit Cards
All these have zero annual or monthly fees, zero ATM fees charged by the issuing bank and zero foreign exchange fees.
Bankwest Platinum Master card Debit card
Macquarie Platinum Master card Debit card
UBank Visa Debit card
Bankwest and Macquarie have some free insurnances as well…
See here for Bankwest debit card additional benefits:
https://www.bankwest.com.au/content/dam/bankwest/documents/l…
See here for Macquarie debit card additional benefits:
https://www.macquarie.com.au/assets/bfs/documents/personal-d…
WA is very large.
I was there a couple of weeks ago and getting it exchanged over there was a much better rate. Maybe just exchange enough here to cover the first day travel and hotel, then change over there.
Saying that, while you do need some cash, I would probably use my card more often if I went again. Even with some card fees, it wasn't far off the local exchange rate
Where did you do your exchange when being in Japan? Thanks
Depends where you are. Most of the time if I needed money the next day, I'd just use Google maps to find the nearest. If they had a website I could check the exchange before going.
In some areas machines (like ATMS) were more common and just placed in a supermarket or chemist, that may have decent rates - Quick and easy. Comparing rates, it wasn't really worth walking around to four or five to find the best rate. I found them close enough that it wasn't worth wasting 15 minutes to save the difference.
'Wise' (formerly known as 'TransferWise') is good. You sign up with them, then you can have multiple different currencies in 'virtual wallets'. They send you an ATM card that you can use overseas, and it will automatically withdraw the currency pertaining to the country you are in. So before you go, you can 'load up' some yen into a 'yen wallet', which you have funded in advance with Australian dollars. Unlike other mobs, 'Wise' has very low fees for money transfers and currency exchanges, and they use an exchange rate that is very close to the real-time exchange rate (i.e. they do not rip you off with an artificial/inflated exchange rate, like 'PooPal' etc. do).
Wise does charge a 1.75% fee if you withdraw over AU$350 in one month: https://wise.com/help/articles/2935769/how-much-does-it-cost…. And this is on top of the (approx 0.5%?) actual exchange rate.
Personally I prefer to use a fee-free debit card, which gives you the daily Visa/Mastercard rate. It does mean you're at the mercy of any fluctuations during the trip though, since you can't lock in the price ahead of time. But on the other hand it meant I didn't have to guess how much I was going to spend.
I’m going to Japan on Thursday, and used S Money to exchange. Was the best local rate I could find
Get a debit card with no foreign exchange surcharges, then withdraw from the ATM the moment you exit Customs into the arrival hall.
Hasn't this topic been done to death already?
It was done to death 20 years ago. Op is obviously over 60 years old.
I surprised they didnt ask if they should get some USD just in case
Done to death since COVID finished, travel resumed, and we can get ¥100 to $1!
2 weeks ago I was getting great rates just from ATMs.
try https://www.hhmt.com.au/contact-us
I am going to japan this October .got some cash exchange from this store in Melbourne.
Check their exchange offend ,once you see the best rate then buy it.
Other card call REVOLUT you can have a look their condition.I had one of them not bad rate.
in Melbourne?
Don't you mean Springvale?
I was meaning to check them out but just seems small and dodgy.
Why not use an ATM?