| > If your credit card doesn't carry high fees for the service, 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. |