Credit cards Français : Cartes de crédit Italiano: Carte di credito Русский: Банковские карты Tiếng Việt: Thẻ tín dụng 中文: 信用卡 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Currency Conversion is a difficult and confusing area. It can be very expensive and most people don’t even realize it. Banks mark up the World Bank Rate (what you see on the internet). Some banks mark up .05 to .09 cents. If you are converting a 1000 dollars to euros the difference is:
- Internet Rate of 1.3 would give you 769.23 euros (1000/1.3)
- Bank charges 1.35 would give you 740.74 euros (a loss of 28.49 euros)
- Bank charges 1.39 would give you 719.42 euros (a loss of 49.81 euros)
Some rules to watch for:
- Never use exchange facilities at airports. They can be very high
- Hotels charge more than banks usually
- Using a foreign ATM’s can be very good but check if your debit/credit card has fees in addition to exchange
- Some Credit Cards have fees in addition to the increased exchange rate
Foreign currency exchange is a big business and very profitable. Don’t be fooled!
Related articles
- AIB increases bank charges again (irishtimes.com)
- Understanding the New Credit Card Rules (quicken.intuit.com)
- Exchange Foreign Currency at the Best Rates (ireport.cnn.com)
- Get Best Travel Money Deals (travelwithmayah.com)
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