lovetravellingoz
Enthusiast
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2006
- Posts
- 12,704
Dear All,
I was recently in the USA and I thought that the currency rates achieved would be of interest to those looking to use their Wizard. My results confirm what others have posted in the past.
For comparison I have posted my transactions on my Wizard, mainly cash withdrawals versus purchases on my Westpac KF Amex..
With the Wizard it was reasonably easy to avoid paying the additional $2 fee that many banks and most general ATM machines requested by sticking to certain banks.
ie Bank of America a very common major bank in New York would request a $US2 fee, whereas Chase banks did not.
“Private” ATM’s are scattered everywhere, but the few I sampled all wanted an additional fee. So I stuck to fee free major banks.
Broadly speaking using the KF Amex resulted in a 3% higher cost after conversion back to $Aust.. However offsetting this is that I still earnt 1.5 Krisflyer points per $ on my Amex tx . In my case these points will be used for J redemptions and so to me they are worth more than the 3% (ie say 1.5 by 4 to 5 cents per mile= 6 to 10%) that I could have saved by paying cash instead..
Please also note that for my tx that no additional CC fees were added on purchase. Various businesses now charge surcharges (can be upto 3% for Amex) and so if applicable you would need to factor that in.
Others would need to consider their earn and burn rates for points and redemptions depending on FF programs and class redeemed in etc.
Interesting to note that some of the KF tx took a week to go through including my two seats to see Phantom (which at only $50 odd each US for seats 8 rows from the stage were a bargain).
CURRENCY EXCHANGES
Unfortunately I forgot to record the actual rates offered.. I did not use them, but looked out of interest. The rates offered were worse than Wizard (ie always less than 90 cents) and there would have been a fee per tx as well.
WESTPAC KF AMEX$US$AUST16-Nov-09__108.39__120.9__0.89652605516-Nov-09__43.55__48.57__0.89664401913-Nov-09__133__148.11__0.8979812313-Nov-09__169.02__188.22__0.89799171211-Nov-09__102.5__114.51__0.8951183311-Nov-09__110__122.89__0.89510944711-Nov-09__82__92.97__0.8820049486-Nov-09__405__462.5__0.8756756763-Nov-09__51.5__58.91__0.8742149043-Nov-09__5.41__6.18__0.87540453120-Oct__66__74.34__0.887812752AMTRAKWIZARD CASH WITHDRAWALS$US$AUST11-Nov-09__300__323.52__0.9272997039-Nov__200__215.82__0.9266981749-Nov-09__300__323.73__0.9266981748-Nov__1.35__1.48__0.9121621625-Nov__200__219.51__0.911120222__400__443.41__0.9020996371-Nov-09__300__332.41__0.9024999251-Nov__200__221.61__0.9024863517-Oct-09__68__74.52__0.91250671AMTRAK
I was recently in the USA and I thought that the currency rates achieved would be of interest to those looking to use their Wizard. My results confirm what others have posted in the past.
For comparison I have posted my transactions on my Wizard, mainly cash withdrawals versus purchases on my Westpac KF Amex..
With the Wizard it was reasonably easy to avoid paying the additional $2 fee that many banks and most general ATM machines requested by sticking to certain banks.
ie Bank of America a very common major bank in New York would request a $US2 fee, whereas Chase banks did not.
“Private” ATM’s are scattered everywhere, but the few I sampled all wanted an additional fee. So I stuck to fee free major banks.
Broadly speaking using the KF Amex resulted in a 3% higher cost after conversion back to $Aust.. However offsetting this is that I still earnt 1.5 Krisflyer points per $ on my Amex tx . In my case these points will be used for J redemptions and so to me they are worth more than the 3% (ie say 1.5 by 4 to 5 cents per mile= 6 to 10%) that I could have saved by paying cash instead..
Please also note that for my tx that no additional CC fees were added on purchase. Various businesses now charge surcharges (can be upto 3% for Amex) and so if applicable you would need to factor that in.
Others would need to consider their earn and burn rates for points and redemptions depending on FF programs and class redeemed in etc.
Interesting to note that some of the KF tx took a week to go through including my two seats to see Phantom (which at only $50 odd each US for seats 8 rows from the stage were a bargain).
CURRENCY EXCHANGES
Unfortunately I forgot to record the actual rates offered.. I did not use them, but looked out of interest. The rates offered were worse than Wizard (ie always less than 90 cents) and there would have been a fee per tx as well.
WESTPAC KF AMEX$US$AUST16-Nov-09__108.39__120.9__0.89652605516-Nov-09__43.55__48.57__0.89664401913-Nov-09__133__148.11__0.8979812313-Nov-09__169.02__188.22__0.89799171211-Nov-09__102.5__114.51__0.8951183311-Nov-09__110__122.89__0.89510944711-Nov-09__82__92.97__0.8820049486-Nov-09__405__462.5__0.8756756763-Nov-09__51.5__58.91__0.8742149043-Nov-09__5.41__6.18__0.87540453120-Oct__66__74.34__0.887812752AMTRAKWIZARD CASH WITHDRAWALS$US$AUST11-Nov-09__300__323.52__0.9272997039-Nov__200__215.82__0.9266981749-Nov-09__300__323.73__0.9266981748-Nov__1.35__1.48__0.9121621625-Nov__200__219.51__0.911120222__400__443.41__0.9020996371-Nov-09__300__332.41__0.9024999251-Nov__200__221.61__0.9024863517-Oct-09__68__74.52__0.91250671AMTRAK
