Falling!!! Help!!!

[dclayw]

Thanks. I had a look at the cash card. Convenient I guess but the fees would seem to make it a bit more expensive then say Amex travellers cheques. Amex TCs can be cashed in fee free pretty much anywhere around the world and you can often get them commission free with a reasonable exchange rate. I didn't see any way of avoiding the ATM fee on the cash card and it looks like 1% commission when funding/topping up the card. The exchange rate given for US$ didn't seem all that good either. So it doesn't really seem cost effective compared to Amex TCs, if I'm reading it right.

Is there a better way, something like a debit card that can be denominated in in a currency of your choice, with no fees attached and a decent exchange rate. Maybe I'm asking too much.

 

[fortymilliondaggers]

You've answered your own question. Travellers cheques. Travelex are a rip off.

 

[dclayw]

You've answered your own question. Travellers cheques. Travelex are a rip off.

Yeah, I guess TCs are still the way to go if you want to lock in a rate.

Wouldn't it be great if you select swap your Wizard Clear Advantage card to whatever currency you wanted.

 

[JohnK]

In SIN last night-$A=S0.927.
BNE travelex this morning $A=S0.855.
Tell them theyre dreaming.
And Singapore is officially in a recession.

Yet Australia is taking all the backlash. I still cannot believe the exchange rates for S$ and THB. Yes I know they are tied into the US$ but both of these economies are not stable yet hey have had 30%-37% gains against the A$.

If we are truly in a global economic crisis and Australia is going to bear the brunt of the crisis then there truly is not much hope for countries like Singapore or Thailand, especially Thailand as these countries rely heavily on tourism.

I find interesting that the hotel room in Thailand which cost A$30 in June, A$33 in September is going to cost me A$41 in December or 37% increase. The hotel room rate in THB is still the same, the country is still in deep strife with the majority of the population living below the poverty line and Australians are the ones that are worse off. Work that one out. Don't you just love economics....

 

[coolumbla]

I echo the sentiment that travelex cards are useless
They cost a lot and take 3 working days to clear cash put on them

My daughter in France can't get her travelex to work so is using her westpac handycard instead.(makes me wish i'd sent her with travellers checks in euro or US )

The handycard works everywhere

Of interest is if you have a credit card linked to your savings or cheque accounts instead of a handycard (like me) , you can't access your account via an ATM if its a visa card
MAstercard works, not visa

Visa will let you however have cash advances at a huge cost!

I Still have $ US TC bought at 90 cents not quite 2 months ago that i will be taking away next week and cashing in China and the US notes cashing in Sri Lanka

(Sri Lanka has changed from 98 rupiah to 65 ruoiah to the dollar and this is a country that is essentially in a civil war!)

Seems my trip to PEru that was within the budget 2 months ago will be chewed up by the hotel bills on this-trip


SHane

 

[markis10]

The handycard works everywhere

Of interest is if you have a credit card linked to your savings or cheque accounts instead of a handycard (like me) , you can't access your account via an ATM if its a visa card
MAstercard works, not visa
SHane

Depends on what system the ATM supports - to access savings via Mastercard the ATM should have a Cirrus or Maestro logo, while Visa needs to have the Plus sign, or be listed here:

ATM Locator | Visa ATMs | Find Bank Cash Machines

 

[mainly tailfirst]

Yet Australia is taking all the backlash. I still cannot believe the exchange rates for S$ and THB. Yes I know they are tied into the US$ but both of these economies are not stable yet hey have had 30%-37% gains against the A$.

Depends on who you are, some people are quite happy about the "backlash".
I have a friend who runs a small contracting firm (clients are all here in the Valley). He was over here earlier this month when the fall really 'took off'. You could see his mood visibly improve as the AUD dropped - going from worried about a Tech slow down to quite relieved that his firm was now 20% more competitive in the space of a couple of weeks.

I'm a bit biased now seeing as I live in the LOTFAP, but back when I was in Oz (and effectively an exporter), I preferred the AUD around $.65 US. With the likely slowdown in the minerals boom, the collapse in the AUD is probably the one thing that will soften the landing for Australia over the coming months. Other countries could not be so lucky...

mt

 

[dajop]

Well seems to have made a small recovery now hovering around the 0.64-0.65 mark. I left the US about 24 hrs ago when it was still around 0.61. Aaah, as is often the case for me, when I arrived there it went into free fall from 0.69 to 0.61 and now that I've left it has recovered.

 

[auriga]

Yet Australia is taking all the backlash. I still cannot believe the exchange rates for S$ and THB. Yes I know they are tied into the US$ but both of these economies are not stable yet hey have had 30%-37% gains against the A$.

If we are truly in a global economic crisis and Australia is going to bear the brunt of the crisis then there truly is not much hope for countries like Singapore or Thailand, especially Thailand as these countries rely heavily on tourism.
..

I don't know what you know about Singapore's economy.
Singapore has huge foreign reserves.
Singapore does not have a current account deficit.
Singapore does not have a foreign debt.
Singapore's GDP per capita is on par, if not above that of Australia.

 

[drron]

And singapore has a government that only has to think of the wishes of MML.Makes it a lot easier to have everything else right.But also they are now officially in recession and in the past that has usually led to an easing in prices and often the $S.

 

[Keith009]

Singabore would be doing v badly if it was heavily reliant on tourism...

And singapore has a government that only has to think of the wishes of MML.Makes it a lot easier to have everything else right.But also they are now officially in recession and in the past that has usually led to an easing in prices and often the $S.

Yet hotel prices have not come down. Looking at hotel prices over Easter and the crummy Sheraton in Newton is S$400. It was only like almost half that the last time i was there (3 yrs ago). :shock: The St Regis is only S$35 more... no brainer. Need the stay credits this time alas or I'd have gone back to the cool and funky New Majestic.

 

[Kendall Roy]

Anyone want to take a punt at how the Aussie will be fairing against the EU/GPB/USD around early March next year?

This Contiki is going to be expensive! :mrgreen::evil:

 

[fortymilliondaggers]

I think we're heading back up to about 70 next week. A correction.

 

[drron]

Singabore would be doing v badly if it was heavily reliant on tourism...



Yet hotel prices have not come down. Looking at hotel prices over Easter and the crummy Sheraton in Newton is S$400. It was only like almost half that the last time i was there (3 yrs ago). :shock: The St Regis is only S$35 more... no brainer. Need the stay credits this time alas or I'd have gone back to the cool and funky New Majestic.

I booked a week out and the Sheraton was $S215,the St regis $S700-also a no brainer!

 

[Keith009]

I booked a week out and the Sheraton was $S215,the St regis $S700-also a no brainer!

Mmm interesting. That made my reservation look like a bargain.
Might check again closer to the date.

 

[coolumbla]

Depends on what system the ATM supports - to access savings via Mastercard the ATM should have a Cirrus or Maestro logo, while Visa needs to have the Plus sign, or be listed here:

ATM Locator | Visa ATMs | Find Bank Cash Machines

Didn't seem to matter which one i used in Vietnam

SHane

 

[oz_mark]

Recoverd a bit. Up to 68c US, 67 yen and.......


1 AUD = 1.0020 SGD

 

[dajop]

One of the other (FF relevant) issues with the falling (albeit slightly recovered today) AUD is the impact on airline fuel surcharges, which are typically denominated in USD.

Such that eg. Krisflyer, in AUD terms the +++'s are skyrocketing (last night for example MEL-HKG return on SQ went up by $60AUD in surcharges from the night before :evil: , to a total of well over $500), and I am sure this is the case for other airline programs such as MH Enrich, VS Flyer, TG, CX, BD etc. So this effectively devalues points that could have been used in those programs ....

 

[serfty]

... and AAdvantage mile become more valuable when redeeming for Award flights ...

 

[Shano]

Recoverd a bit. Up to 68c US, 67 yen and.......


1 AUD = 1.0020 SGD

the best I could get for A$/RMB was 4.3 at PEK today, despite the "real" rate being closer to 4.7.

A long way off the 6.1 from earlier this year.