most economical way to convert/bring euro to Australis.

[Fennelly]

I will be travelling to Australia for December 2006.
I would like advice on the most economical way to convert/bring euro to Australis. Would it be wiser to use visa card, debit card or travellers chqs.

Thanks,
Globetrotter.

 

[Miles]

Re: Australia

Was there for December 2004. The credit card is the only way to go in my book. Stick your spending money on your card before you go.

 

[Afuera]

Re: Australia

If you've got Internet banking you can move money onto your credit card as needed. If you go to any ATM in Oz and you'll be able to extract cash using your pin for free. Far less painful than the 3.5% cut that Cirrus takes or 1.5% from Plus if you use a standard ATM.

 

[Jimmy Mook]

Re: Australia

From my own experience there, Credit Card is handiest, safest and easiest way to go. Just make sure you load it up before you go.

 

[ClubMan]

I will be travelling to Australia for December 2006.
I would like advice on the most economical way to convert/bring euro to Australis.

Be careful of converting your money into some hypothetical currency.

 

[candyman]

Re: Australia

If you've got Internet banking you can move money onto your credit card as needed. If you go to any ATM in Oz and you'll be able to extract cash using your pin for free. Far less painful than the 3.5% cut that Cirrus takes or 1.5% from Plus if you use a standard ATM.

Im doing exactly this in jan 07!

Just to confirm...
Is this true? That you can withdraw funds from your credit card at no extra charge if there is a positive debit balance on the card?

Does doing it this way incur a more expensive rate of exchange in anyway?

 

[jumper1]

Hi ,
I think using a visa Card abroad is a very bad idea for the following reasons

(a) you will be charged a Commission (of between 1 and 3 %) for each transaction
(b) the exchange the Visa Card Company uses is a very bad one which could be much worse than what the banks give .
(c) Your card could be skimmed
(d) Also i remember seeing on this site that if you load up with cash on your CC and it is stolen you will have a hell of a time trying to get the money back from the Visa Card Company ,if all the cash you put into the card is used by the criminal.

So personally i think using a Visa Card is a very very bad idea.

 

[ClubMan]

(a) you will be charged a Commission (of between 1 and 3 %) for each transaction

Forex commissions can be as low as 1.75%. See [broken link removed]s.

(b) the exchange the Visa Card Company uses is a very bad one which could be much worse than what the banks give .

Are you sure about that? I thought that the rate was normally OK except that the aforementioned forex charge will apply? In any case using a CC will usually be cheaper than alternative ways of accessing cash outside the € zone. An ATM card with Maestro/Cirrus/Plus+ may be another option but check the transaction and forex charges.

(c) Your card could be skimmed

Take the - in particular don't let anybody take your card away from you when paying.

(d) Also i remember seeing on this site that if you load up with cash on your CC and it is stolen you will have a hell of a time trying to get the money back from the Visa Card Company ,if all the cash you put into the card is used by the criminal.

Could be - check the terms & conditions of your card. A way to mitigate the risks might be to only transfer small amounts of cash and use online banking on a trusted PC/internet connection (e.g. probably not an internet cafe) to make topups as required (allowing for the time for the transfer to take place).

So personally i think using a Visa Card is a very very bad idea.

Personally I think that's a very shortsighted generalisation.