Currency Travel Cards

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starskie

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Does any one have any comments on currency exchange , is it better to exchange in Australia or overseas.I am only after general spending exchange and not commercial.
 
Hi, the currency cards do have the benefit of locking in your rate but ongoing fees are high, have a look at the Wizard mastercard and NAB Gold Debit card for some options that have reduced or no fees.
 
I use an ANZ FX in US Dollars.

The good thing is that you can put money on it here when the exchange rate is in your favour.

The only fees I have had to pay is a small withdrawal fee from the ATM I take the money out at overseas.

ANZ make their money from the exchange rate when you put the cash into the account.

I have two rules when exchanging cash.

1. Never exchange money at the airport.

2. Never get the cash in Australia prior to going overseas.

Australia seems to be the most expensive place to do FX
 
Which is a 4% fee if you look closely based on the spread versus a CC interbank rate.

Weather it be MC, cash exchange or travel card there is only going to be one winner when dealing with the Australian Banks, and its not you and its not me.

They are like the QANTAS of the international banking community.

The travel card has its setbacks but it is a secure way to carry money overseas.

I mainly carry mine as a backup and have made some withdrawals from it. (otherwise they hit you with a monthly inactivity fee)

What other ANZ Fees and charges apply? [back to top]
Other fees and charges may apply to your use of the ANZ Travel Card, as described below:
Card Issuance Fee
Reload Fee
Point-of-Sale Transactions
Monthly Inactivity Fee (After 12 mths of inactivity)
Card Replacement Fee


I carry the bulk of my funds in Australian Dollars and exchange them at a reasonable rate.
 
Weather it be MC, cash exchange or travel card there is only going to be one winner when dealing with the Australian Banks, and its not you and its not me. ...
You may be wrong there, the Wizard Clear advantage mastercard had no FOREX fees. (and very few others, all of which are optional).

Look here:
FWIW, last month (14th September) I drew €250 from an ATM at Rome Airport.

My Wizard account was charged $344 - that's an effective fee % of -0.28. Yes -ve, they actually 'gave' me 97¢. (Use XE - Credit Card Charges Calculator to check this)

Checking the ANZ site, that same €250 ANZ Travel Card will cost $367. (ANZ - ANZ Travel Card - Access Your Own Money Overseas)

Finally ANZ intoduce their own margin of around 2.5%.

Yesterdays xe.com cross rate was 0.7059, ANZ charged 0.6816

That $367 includes a 'card issuance fee' of $11. A reload costs 1.1% as well as ANZ standard 2.9% margin.
 
Weather it be MC, cash exchange or travel card there is only going to be one winner when dealing with the Australian Banks, and its not you and its not me.

Yes and the ANZ travel card is one of the worst propositions when it comes to losing to the banks. The exchange rate is poor and the other fees also hit you. There is no need to deal with banks at all for FX. I know a little exchange place that will give me close (within 1%) to the headline rate for cash anyday of the week. I have nab gold banking which gives me fee free ATM withdrawals while O/S also at close to the headline rate.

Quoting the marketing spin for the ANZ product doesn't change the fact that there are better ways to do FX
 
I have nab gold banking which gives me fee free ATM withdrawals while O/S also at close to the headline rate.

Quoting the marketing spin for the ANZ product doesn't change the fact that there are better ways to do FX

Thanks I will do some research on the NAB card as I noticed that if I take out money on my ANZ MC they hit you with a $35 overseas transaction fee on top of the disgraceful exchange rate.

In regards to the ANZ FX card I was not attempting to quote their marketing spin but show those people who may be interested that there are a lot of fees associated with getting this product.

I think the fees are disgraceful.

I have the cards mainly for insurance and carry the cards hidden in my luggage in case my wallet is lost, or if I have overspent.

If my wallet were lost I have automatic access to cash and the FX card also allows me to go on line while overseas and bpay money into the account if I need it.
 
... the FX card also allows me to go on line while overseas and bpay money into the account if I need it.
I can do this with my Wizard, although I need to allow up to 2 working days for it to come through.
 
Weather it be MC, cash exchange or travel card there is only going to be one winner when dealing with the Australian Banks, and its not you and its not me.

They are like the QANTAS of the international banking community.

The travel card has its setbacks but it is a secure way to carry money overseas.

I mainly carry mine as a backup and have made some withdrawals from it. (otherwise they hit you with a monthly inactivity fee)

What other ANZ Fees and charges apply? [back to top]
Other fees and charges may apply to your use of the ANZ Travel Card, as described below:
Card Issuance Fee
Reload Fee
Point-of-Sale Transactions
Monthly Inactivity Fee (After 12 mths of inactivity)
Card Replacement Fee


I carry the bulk of my funds in Australian Dollars and exchange them at a reasonable rate.

If you grab a NAB Gold Visa Debit Card you may wish to revise your statement after some use, its a much better alternative to any of the travel cards that pray on travellers who are reluctant to do their homework. To a lessor extent INGs product is also not bad, the NAB is fee free if you meet the turnover requirements and has some nice benefits such as the insurance for goods and travel.
 
I have the Commonwealth Bank Travel Money cards. During a six week jaunt through europe last year I found them to be pretty good. Withdrawal fees were reasonable. As with anything like this, you're going to be losing out on exchange when you buy it. However, if you buy it at the right time you could come out in front. I bought a heap of USD recently despite no plans to travel the US any time soon.
 
Over the last 2 weeks I was imprisoned in Ha Noi, I simply used my credit card over the counter at the Hilton for cash on 3 occasions. Each time, the exchange rate (based on USD) was exactly the same as the posted rate on XE - The World's Favorite Currency and Foreign Exchange Site and the Hilton charged me 5% commission.

The transaction simply shows as a normal credit card transaction, there are no other fees other than those imposed by the credit card for normal overseas transactions, and ~$5 for every $100 is a pretty good rate in my opinion!

I have never purchased cash this way before, and if this is reasonably standard across the board, I will keep on doing it this way from here on in especially in SEA where I am acutely adverse to using ATM's to withdrawing cash - paranoia that the next time I go to use my card - **DECLINED - EXCEEDED AVAILABLE BALANCE** pops up!
 
I recently opened an ING Orange Everyday account specifically for this purpose.
They have no foreign exchange fee (it is done at the Visa rate) and an AUD$2.50 ATM fee.

I was in Seoul this week and withdrew KRW50,000
XE.com showed that this is $44.91
ING withdrew $45.19 from my bank account (plus the $2.50 ATM fee) which is a 0.6% conversion "fee" - much better than the 3% + $4.50 ATM fee CBA charge.
 
I put some euros into my new CBA travel card. it costs a few dollars in the reduced exchange rate but I try to keep as many options as possible if I need money in an emergency. A few different credit cards kept in different places etc. I already lost my valued ipod from my luggage at a hotel in Avignon. :(

I tried to top up online a few weeks ago but it kept saying I needed an extra security code to use Bpay, which was emailed to my Oz mobile which I left at home.

I changed my phone details to my French mobile on their website after a number of tries but it just kept on sending SMS messages to my Oz number. Useless really if you want to top up and the CSB site doesn't recognise changes made through their secure website.
 
Commbank Travel Money - watch your card expiry date!

We used the Commbank Travel Money card on a recent trip to Canada and the US and apart from having to remember to change the primary currency as we crossed borders between Canada and the US, the card did what it was supposed to do.
What I wanted to alert the community to are a couple of issues with the Travel Money card Conditions of Use.
First is the following statement which is found on p9 of the PDS under the section "Other important Information"

"Upon Card expiry, any balance remaining on the card is forfeited by you"

The Travel Money card is valid for up to three years, but remember to cash out (your only option at Commbank) any money remaining on the card before the expiry date. Commbank will not send any notification of impending expiry.

The second thing to watch for is the "Monthly Card inactivity fee" which is currently AU$3.00 per month. This will be applied each month after twelve consecutive months of inactivity. I haven't worked out what "activity" means yet, perhaps someone could help? Would going to a Commbank ATM and drawing out some money be considered "Activity"?

We will be using both the Commbank Travel Money and the Travelex Cash Passport for our next trip in 2011. Travelex will at least send you an email to advise that the card is about to expire and even if it does expire, you can still retrieve your balance (for a fee of course) at an Agent although you cannot use the card for transactions. The Travelex agent told me they will transfer your card balance to a newly purchased card, most likely a fee applies, but at least you will recover most of your cash :).
 
Re: Commbank Travel Money - watch your card expiry date!

Welcome to AFF, you will find some much better options here on what to use for overseas cash or FX compared to most of the bank prepaid products which frankly eat your money at an alarming rate, expiry dates notwithstanding.
 
Re: Commbank Travel Money - watch your card expiry date!

I obtained one of the Commbank travel money cards a few months ago before I left Oz, mainly because the Oz $$$ was at unheard of rates at the time and it was an extra form of storing money if something went wrong. Commbank fees for ATM withdrawals were another factor.

Trying to top up online was hopeless.

Two very large retailers in France refused to accept the card as it had no customer name on it, even with a passport for ID. It was accepted by other branches of the same company.

Thanks for the tip on expiry and ongoing fees. I'll just use the remaining euros to download music from FNAC when I get home.
 
I have two rules when exchanging cash.

1. Never exchange money at the airport.

2. Never get the cash in Australia prior to going overseas.

I certainly agree with 2/ but one has to get cash somewhere for on arrival use...so sometimes you have to do 1/ to get started.

I will normally convert enough for taxis, some initial melas etc. Particularly if as often seems to apply I am arriving at night.


Also sometimes the arrival airport might not be too bad. ie in Ho Chi Minh I found that there was a line of Currency Booths and the furtherst away had a good rate.

Last time I was in Thailand, (3 years ago) the arrival rates at the airport was ok.

But yes most arrival airports in "affluent" Countries are very poor.
 
Re: Commbank Travel Money - watch your card expiry date!

Two very large retailers in France refused to accept the card as it had no customer name on it, even with a passport for ID. It was accepted by other branches of the same company.

Hmm that is a little concerning! I just got a CBA travel card this morning (just as a different cash option on top of my WCA card) and am wondering what's the point in issuing us a card if we can barely use it in-store! Oh well, fingers crossed I'll be right when I go to the states :)
 
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