Never buy currency in a hurry and NEVER NEVER at the airport……

When travelling overseas you’ll need some cash of the country where you are spending most time. Here are a few tips on how to maximize the amount that you receive for your AUD.

Firstly don’t leave it till you are at the airport to buy from Travelex – the rates that I see there are at least 15% lower than those you will receive from downtown, and sometimes as much as 20% lower.

Don’t bother with obtaining foreign currency through your local bank – the process may be long and the rates not that wonderful.

Go to Bloomberg.com and look at the sell rate for the currency that you are intending to buy, and use that as your yardstick. It is a commercial rate for big purchases so you won’t get anything like that for small amounts. But the closer that you can get to that rate, the better you are doing. A good rate is one that is no more than 5% below the Bloomberg rate.

Next look for some currency exchange counters at any large shopping centre near you. There are three main ones in Australia that I would recommend that offer good rates and don’t charge commission. The rate you see is the rate you get.

They are Travel Money Oz, UAE, and Crown.

It really doesn’t matter from whom you buy as it is just currency – it’s all the same money!

Here is a recent example of the cost of buying Euros – I give you first the Bloomberg rate of Euros to the AUD and then the rates of three currency outlets showing the % of each below the Bloomberg rate. The smaller the % the better the rate.

Bloomberg – 0.6452
UAE – 0.6199 (4%)
Travel money Oz – 0.6120 (5%)
Travelex – 0.56  (13%)

So for AUD 1,000, UAE gives you Euros 619.90, and Travelex  Euros 560 .  Crown would be a similar rate to UAE .

That is one BIG difference!!

I say lots more about currency, credit and debit cards in Chapter 9 of my Number 1 best selling book on Amazon – The Happy Holiday Travel Planner. 

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