|
|
|
|
|
|
by oasisbob
1342 days ago
|
|
|
I've been to most of those countries, and they're no exception to the rule that the best exchange rates will be provided by the credit card networks. Though, Cambodia is strange--at least to someone from the US--since the USD is still such a strong, preferred, unofficial currency in many places there. You pull USD from a Cambodian ATM in USD and there will be no conversion fee whatsoever. If your credit card doesn't carry high fees for the service, the network currency conversion is the way to go. |
|
|
Here is the key. My bank takes 2.5% commission on any transaction not-in-card-currency (in addition to about 0.75-1% commission of MasterCard/Visa system itself) and something like 0.5% for cash withdrawal in any ATM of any other bank, no matter in which country or currency.
And, oh, wait, if it is true credit card (non debit one) I don't have grace period for cash-like transactions and need to pay card interest from first day (for "buy" transactions I need to pay interest only if I don't resupply credit card after month end + 20 days).
And it is typical conditions in my country. Some banks has conditions slightly better, but they have other problems.
When typical spread for cash exchange in South-East Asia is about 3% (+1.5% / -1.5%) to FOREX, which is much better.
Typically: you could exchange $1 to 24000 VND now (oh my, I remember when it was 16000), but if I withdraw VND from my debit card (which is in USD, not my native currency) it will be something like 22000 VND per USD.
Other example: I'm in Armenia now, and I exchange USD to AMD on the street as 1:406 (406 DAM for 1 USD) without any commission (xe.com shows 1:401 right now). When I BUY something (not withdraw money!) with my USD card it is about 395-390 AMD per USD.