Buying Euros - best rate

[ellen10]

I will be travelling to Europe later this year and have been thinking about buying some euros while the rate is good.
Last time I bought through the Commonwealth Bank, however I have heard that the Post Office has good rates and no commission.
Quite a few of our accommodations require cash payments.
Anyone have some suggestions?

 

[anat0l]

Try and look for no commission places. The headline rates are lower than the banks and other exchange places, but the net effect after taking into account commisssions will usually be better. (I say usually, since you never know - it could work the other way).

If you lived in Brisbane I could recommend a couple of places. UAE Exchange can have some good rates with no commission, and I think they have branches all around Australia in the capitals.

Generally I don't find Travelex to have a good rate. I don't recommend the Travelex Cash Passport or Cash Debit Card.

A good idea is to do what many of us do and sign up for a 28 Degrees Mastercard (by GE Money). There is no annual fee, no cash advance fee, no fee when transacting in international currencies (no rewards either, but that's not the point). What a lot of us do is "load up" the said credit card so that it is in credit. Then, when overseas, use an ATM and cash advance on the card, which spits out local currency at very close to the mid-market forex rates, with no other fees. The disadvantage of this approach is that it relies on a steady exchange rate, since you get the rate of exchange at the time you draw the money out of the foreign ATM. So if the rate crashes (touch wood) when you want to draw money out, you'll "lose out".

 

[kpc]

A good idea is to do what many of us do and sign up for a 28 Degrees Mastercard (by GE Money). There is no annual fee, no cash advance fee, no fee when transacting in international currencies (no rewards either, but that's not the point). What a lot of us do is "load up" the said credit card so that it is in credit. Then, when overseas, use an ATM and cash advance on the card, which spits out local currency at very close to the mid-market forex rates, with no other fees. The disadvantage of this approach is that it relies on a steady exchange rate, since you get the rate of exchange at the time you draw the money out of the foreign ATM. So if the rate crashes (touch wood) when you want to draw money out, you'll "lose out".

I withdrew my maximum MC daily amount from ATMs in the US recently on 7 days....lets say I arrived back home with lots of US$ for a rainy day (net AUD exchange rate just above parity), and didn't relax till the money was secured in my bank security safe:shock:

 

[ellen10]

Thank you for your replies.

anat0l I have seen mention of the a good mastercard here (I actually thought it was the Wizard one). So I will look into the 28 degrees mastercard - so they don't mind how much you load up onto it?

Last trip we took cash and just used our visa debit card at ATMs. But much more of the accommodation was prepaid. I'm just thinking that maybe the Euro v Aussie rate will go down before we go. Although it is much better than last trip in 2009.

 

[serfty]

For more information on the 28° Mastercard (nee "Wizard"), including cash withdrawal limits, see here:

• http://www.australianfrequentflyer..../28-wizard-mastercard-cash-advances-6960.html

I have not looked back with Forex cash since I obtained my "Wizard".

"Commission Free" FOREX shops generally have worse exchange rates than those priding FOREX for a fee.

What this means is that for larger amount, you may get better value by paying a fee.

e.g.

€100 can be obtained today from a "Commission Free" agency for $146, while a bank will sell that €100 to you for AUD151 which includes and AUD8 "commission" or "Fee".

€1,000 is a different matter where the agency may charge $1,460 and the bank $1,445.

 

[RB]

Ellen10 if you are likely to be in Sydney (just says NSW in your ID) or have family to help, this earlier thread might help- we were happy with our exchange
Currency (cash) exchange - best place for it?

 

[Walter_Plinge]

I will be travelling to Europe later this year and have been thinking about buying some euros while the rate is good.
Last time I bought through the Commonwealth Bank, however I have heard that the Post Office has good rates and no commission.
Quite a few of our accommodations require cash payments.
Anyone have some suggestions?

I found Qantas Money (actually Travelex) as good as anything plus it was 1 point for each $1 purchased. I wasn't buying a huge amount however -- AUD $400 worth (bought UKP as well to get the points).

 

[medhead]

I found Qantas Money (actually Travelex) as good as anything plus it was 1 point for each $1 purchased. I wasn't buying a huge amount however -- AUD $400 worth (bought UKP as well to get the points).

They don't look that good. Currently 0.69 on the euro, which is probably about a cent worse than other places. USD 0.978 is not good. Plus they want a 1% commission and 1.5% for using a CC.

The qantas website also says that it earns 1 point per $3 on $300 to $999. Gotta spend $1000+ to get 1 point per $

 

[Walter_Plinge]

They don't look that good. Currently 0.69 on the euro, which is probably about a cent worse than other places. USD 0.978 is not good. Plus they want a 1% commission and 1.5% for using a CC.

The qantas website also says that it earns 1 point per $3 on $300 to $999. Gotta spend $1000+ to get 1 point per $

No commission on Qantas Money. Don't know about the cc charge; IIRC the only payment method was Bpay.

I upped my spend to just on $1,000 to get the points. Normally I wouldn't carry that much cash but I'm better off really as the alternative, credit card purchases overseas, incurs commission.

I compared Qantas/Travelex with Australia Post and Commonwealth Bank. It was the cheapest.

 

[ellen10]

Thank you all for your imput, most appreciated.
I live in Wollongong. So a trip to Sydney is possible.
I will do some more comparisons of rates and commissions.

 

[medhead]

No commission on Qantas Money. Don't know about the cc charge; IIRC the only payment method was Bpay.

I compared Qantas/Travelex with Australia Post and Commonwealth Bank. It was the cheapest.

I just followed the link from the qantas site to buy 1000 euro online. Approximately $1400 and down the bottom just before the total was a commission of $14.

Others have already mentioned UAXchange and I assume KVB kunlun.

Bloomberg has 0.725 euro per $ ATM. Last time I checked UAXchange the headline rate was about the same and they would sell at ~0.70 euro per dollar (no commission). Compared to 0.69 from qantas travel money today.

 

[prozac]

I just followed the link from the qantas site to buy 1000 euro online. Approximately $1400 and down the bottom just before the total was a commission of $14.

Others have already mentioned UAXchange and I assume KVB kunlun.

Bloomberg has 0.725 euro per $ ATM. Last time I checked UAXchange the headline rate was about the same and they would sell at ~0.70 euro per dollar (no commission). Compared to 0.69 from qantas travel money today.

So on qantas site you just got a rate of 1000 / (1400-14) = 0.7215 . Not a bad rate, but how do you get your money if it is online?

Also i do not understand your Bloomberg reference. Do we have Bloomberg ATM's here in Oz? Sorry for being dim but I do not use ATMs.

 

[mhubert]

Flight Centre Money has always had the best rates that I've found, & if you pay cash they don't charge any fees. Finding them on Flight Centre's site is tricky for some reason. They have outlets on George St nr Market in Sydney, Westfield Bondi, & Broadway shopping centre.

I also like the Amex travel money card sold via AusPost - CBA have a similar card whereas the new Amex one has no monthly fee. Both are good to "stock up" with while the rates are good.

rgds

 

[RB]

Flight Centre Money has always had the best rates that I've found, & if you pay cash they don't charge any fees. Finding them on Flight Centre's site is tricky for some reason. They have outlets on George St nr Market in Sydney, Westfield Bondi, & Broadway shopping centre.

I also like the Amex travel money card sold via AusPost - CBA have a similar card whereas the new Amex one has no monthly fee. Both are good to "stock up" with while the rates are good.

rgds

The Amex card does seem to avoid some of the shortcomings of the other cards & as you say these cards provide the advantage of locking in the (apparent-won't go much higher will it?) current good rates.

 

[Dougo]

In the past we've used the banks and shopped around for the best rate.

If you are a member of the ANZ bank, I think their FOREX place in Pitt St near Martin Plaza allows you to get a slightly better rate if you use their ATM in that branch.

We've also used "no-commission" type places in the city.

You can always try to negotiate a better rate with the "no commission" hole in the wall type places in the city. For example, last year when I wanted to get around $NZ 400, I got the rate from a "no commmission place" then a rate from the bank then went back to the "no commission place". When it came to the crunch, they added a ton of fees which was not included in their quote that made it more expensive than the bank so I told them that and they did drop their fees and charges ... but they wanted to see the proof that of the bank's bottom line. They also didn't have the amount I wanted despite the fact that they said they did !

For smallish amounts, eg say $AUD 500 being exchanged, we go to the post office. Why? True, they have "no commission" but you KNOW that their commission is built into their rate which may be slightly less than what the banks offer, but overall the bottom line is that you get more in your hand after the banks take out their fees and charges. I understand that the post office gets their FOREX from American Express...order it on Monday and pick it up on Wednesday. Just check that they haven't ordered travellers cheques as they accidentally did for us once.

 

[medhead]

So on qantas site you just got a rate of 1000 / (1400-14) = 0.7215 . Not a bad rate, but how do you get your money if it is online?

You missed the "approximately" next to 1400. To me that means +/- 5% in this case $1445-ish + $14.40. 0.685euro/$

Edit qantas money is travelex so you pick the cash up from one of their locations.

Also i do not understand your Bloomberg reference. Do we have Bloomberg ATM's here in Oz? Sorry for being dim but I do not use ATMs.

bloomberg, besides ATMs, provide financial information I have the bloomberg iPhone app, which I find quickest to use to check exchange rates. Random checks show it is pretty close to XE.com (BTW for me that means a few tenths of a cent)

 

[scwappy]

I personally use an EUR account with HSBC. The conversion rates are very attractive and you dont pay account fees if your balance is over around $2,000. My strategy to redeem the cash is to use a 28 degrees card and convert the balance back to AUD at around the time you are spending in EUR. That way you can hedge your rate now quite well.

 

[plspoon]

The last few times I've gone overseas (Indonesia, USA & UK) I have compared rates online with Westpac, CommBank, Travelex (not via Qantas, you pay more to get the points), plus I think ANZ & AusPost. They mostly use the Amex system online but they do have slightly different rates and fees. I have found Westpac was cheaper (ie. I got more foreign currency for my AU$) than the others the first time and the last time Travelex was cheaper. Westpac I picked up from the local branch and Travelex I picked up from the airport on departure. Be aware that they both charge more if you buy in the store, ie. you get a better rate ordering online. And, you may have to give a few days notice with a bank, and I pay using BPay rather than a credit card. It's easy enough to do the comparison online and then just order from the one offering the best deal.
Have a great trip!

 

[Aynat62]

I've been doing a similar thing with USD and have been analysing all of the banks rates and also Travelex and the Qantas money site. Over the last 2 months I have found that Travelex has had the best rate and no commission if you purchase the currency as cash online. The rates go up and down each day of course, in line with the current currency value , just wait until you are happy with the current rate and order it the next day online. This means you order and pay online but pick up the cash in your foreign currency in a few days at your nearest Travelex branch that you can nominate. Of course if you pay online with a credit card you have to pay a 1.5% fee, but if you pay via Bpay as I did there is no extra fee. Plus if you order it via Qantas you get the same Travelex rate (you pay a slight commission though) and can earn FF points if you buy more than $1000 of currency. You then pick it up at the Travelex store you nominate. Easy peasy.

 

[Major]

For the last 2 years I have used Australia Post. It's convenient, the rates are comparable and there is no commission.
If you order before 10AM you can pick up the next day.