I’ve probably mentioned this once or twice (or a dozen times) before that I’m road-tripping to Cabo this summer. I’m going to hitch up the trailer and drive!
Understand that I’m not a novice traveler. My goal is to leave the country at least once a year, and while I don’t always meet that goal, I’ve left the country many times in my life. I’m seasoned enough that I don’t fear going to new places, don’t fear not speaking the language (Google Translate is my friend), don’t fear trying new foods, don’t fear using different money--in fact, as a coin collector, using local money is one of the big joys of travel. And I’m quite familiar with different ways of getting local currency.
Still, I like to stay current and I read plenty on the topic. Many of the travel sites I’ve read recently said that one of the best and most inexpensive ways to get foreign currency is to get it from your bank before you travel. Are they kidding???
It’s not that I haven’t used my bank for this before, but to say it’s a good/efficient/inexpensive way to get foreign currency, well, that’s not quite true. Of course, it’s possible that my bank just tries to rip us customers off, but I’d find it hard to believe it’s the only one. Since I’m heading to Mexico this summer, let’s look at the peso--today’s exchange rate is MXN$20 for USD$1. Thus, 20,000 pesos should be 1,000 dollars, plus a fee. What’s a reasonable fee, a few bucks? Ten? Twenty? A couple percent? Using the foreign exchange converter on my bank’s web site, 20,000 pesos would cost me $1061.70!!! That’s a lousy exchange rate and a hefty fee, all rolled into one!
I went to another national bank's web site and tried to look up their rate, but you have to have an account and log in before they’ll tell you how much they’ll milk you for. I cannot find the information quickly at my credit union’s site. I can see the not-insignificant fees on the web site for another national bank, but not the crappy exchange rate they’d give me.
In other words, getting money from your bank is *not*
necessarily the way to go! The way to go, at least in Mexico, Europe,
or the Caribbean (IOW, where I have traveled) is to get money out of an
ATM on your network and *not*
to accept dynamic currency conversion rates. The same people who write
about getting money from your bank also mention the ATMs, so this isn’t
an unknown method. So why do those other authors say that getting
money from your bank is inexpensive—do they write
that crap because it makes them *sound* knowledgeable? Have they ever compared their bank’s rates and fees to the official exchange rate? Are they just copying the same bad information they read somewhere else without really knowing?
I recently needed both euros and Turkish Lira for a trip. Don't remember what I paid for the convenience, but a different thing bothered me. Two out of 3 of my major bank credit cards don't do travel advisories anymore. "We have very good fraud detection systems now"
ReplyDeleteOkay, a Midwestern US user suddenly is spending in Europe?
But no alerts/no credit card declining. So all was good.
I've never used a bank to get currency in advance. All the travel hints I've seen are to use the ATM in the country as you posted. Even better, use your credit card. The credit card companies do a bulk exchange at the end of every day and get a better rate then you or I could individually. I've tracked my expenditures and my buying with a credit card has always received a better rate than my cash-exchange purchases. I get as little local currency as possible nowadays.
ReplyDeleteFor me, a math guy and a coin collector, using the local currency is part of the joy of travel. Thus, I try to use my credit cards as little as possible. And in a tipping culture like Mexico, cash is supreme!
ReplyDelete