Although holidays can leave you with an everlasting impression, there are a few glitches that come with travelling abroad. One of the major issues you will find yourself facing is the exchange rate. The fact is, the rates you see online or in banks are not exactly what you will find when converting your funds. This is because when you use current accounts abroad, your local bank has the transaction converted into the local currency for billing and a little fee is charged for doing so. These fees are unavoidable but there are ways to help you get the best rates possible.
Credit card companies are known to have the best conversion rates which are closest to the official rate. Before you decide to use your credit card overseas, make sure that you confirm whether there are any charges for using your card overseas. Though some credit card companies do not have any fees when used abroad, others charge up to 3% so make sure you are aware of your companies’ policies before doing anything.
Second on the list of best conversion rate companies are ATM machines. If your current account is linked to an ATM, then use this instead of going to exchange offices who offer the worst rates. Although ATMs cannot beat the rate of the credit card companies because of the fees that are deducted during transactions, they are still better than exchange offices.
Changing money at airports can be by far the worst thing you could ever do. It may seem like a quick fix option since you simply get the new currency over the counter without hassle but the truth is you will be slowly losing money the more you do this. Rule of thumb is never to exchange money for cash unless in an emergency.
Another smart thing to do when travelling is to keep a close eye on the exchange rates and then withdraw a bulk amount when they are in your favour. Though there may only be a very little difference as the rates change, when you are converting large amounts of money, it still makes a difference. The only disadvantage in this regard is that you’ll have to carry around large amounts of cash.
Avoiding extremely bad exchange rates is possible if you keep in mind these few tips and resist the temptation to exchange money over the counter.