Getting the Best Exchange Rate for International Travel. Save Your Money

Having lost money before in exchange rates, I was happy to read this post on getting the best exchange rate over on Lifehacker. It says the the best rate will come from an ATM machine, because it gets the rates that the banks do. This sounds great, although I have to wonder about fees.

I know that when I was in New Orleans for Mardi Gras a few years ago, the fees were around $2.50 – $3.00 to pull money out. If your bank charges you fees on top of that, then you might not be doing any better by using the ATM.

If you do some research before you leave for your trip, you’ll probably be able to figure out what you should do. If there are no fees, then great, you only need to pull out the money you need at the time. There’s nothing worse than exchanging about $100 US Dollars, and walking away with a wad of $6,950 Jamaican Dollars. You have way to much to carry, but you don’t want to leave it anywhere. I’ve also found that many places overseas now take a credit or debit card, which will probably give you the same rate as an ATM, the bonus is that usually (every time in my experience) the amount is converted automatically in your statement from the bank.

One more tip from personal experience, don’t get your money exchange from your hotel as they usually will be lower than the actual rate.

Posted on May 26, 2007 - Filed Under Beach and Vacation Travel Tips and Help

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