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Email this5:28 pm
April 4, 2018
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What are currently the best options for paying for things abroad while travelling without getting gouged with foreign exchange fees or inflated exchange rates?
I used to use Home Trust Visa but found it often didn't work in the UK, not that it wasn't accepted but machines couldn't process it. Home Trust seems a little old-fashioned in some business practices so perhaps it doesn't have the most up to date chips? So then I'd have to use a different card.
I do order a chunk of foreign cash with no fee from my Simplii financial account before travelling, but having a card is essential as well. Especially in the UK, maybe all of Europe where I find the switch to digital transactions is even more advanced than here.
Interested in what other peoples' experiences are in various countries.
5:37 pm
November 3, 2022
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I like the Scotia Gold Amex card. There's no exchange fee, good travel insurance coverage, and the Scene+ points more than pay for my annual card fee.
6:04 pm
April 21, 2022
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I have a number of prepaid and postpaid cards for foreign transactions, using the prepaid cards for small in-person transactions, two of which come with a virtual cards for small online purchases. They are also great for ATM withdrawals.
The postpaid credit cards are mainly for transactions that are higher in value which may also require refunds, such as airline tickets,etc, so a true no FTF card is ideal.
https://forums.redflagdeals.com/list-credit-cards-foreign-currency-transactions-2122295/
7:43 pm
April 4, 2018
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Thank you.
I just want to copy and highlight something from Johnny Cash's red flag deal's link as I have not seen this info elsewhere and it's kind of a big deal
MASTERCARD and AMEX ADVANTAGE
RFDer @mech9t5 sampled Visa's and Mastercard's daily foreign exchange rates for 364 days and averaged them. He found that Mastercard's average markup over XE.com's reported mid-market rate was 0.188%, while Visa's was 0.392%. No statistics were available for American Express. The ~0.2% advantage that Mastercard has over Visa has NOT been included in the net rewards listed above. RFDers have also reported FX rates used by American Express to be very close or even better than Mastercard, even when converting from currencies other than USD.
7:52 pm
November 20, 2022
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fionag11 said
I do order a chunk of foreign cash with no fee from my Simplii financial account before travelling,
I hope you are also aware of the fee is actually embedded in the markup of the exchange rate provided by Simplii.
8:21 pm
April 14, 2021
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I do not have the card, but my sister likes her Scotia Passport Visa card, when she travels abroad.
8:38 pm
May 15, 2007
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I've also been very happy with the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite card for many years.
We keep a list of no-forex cards here: https://www.highinterestsavings.ca/no-forex-credit-cards/
It might be time to add EQ Bank and Wealthsimple to that list.
9:06 pm
April 4, 2018
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@BTC Would this be a worse foreign exchange rate than you get, say with a credit card? What is the best way to get foreign cash before travelling?
10:04 pm
November 18, 2017
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Oh, ordinary credit cards usually take an agio of 2.4% or more on top of their conversion rates!
fionag11: I don't know if it's still the case, but about ten years ago travelers were warned that many European countries are only set up to use 4-character PINs. Those with longer Canadian PINs were outta luck. Could that have been the Home Trust issue?
RetirEd
10:26 pm
April 4, 2018
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@RetirEd No, it only has a 4 char PIN and the point of failure was at the card reader machines. For example, many buses/coaches in Scotland want cards for fare payment, right off the bat I tried to pay for the airport shuttle and it didn't work. Other people must have had better success with using Home Trust abroad as I often see it recommended. Maybe I just have a dodgy card.
8:11 pm
November 20, 2022
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fionag11 said
@BTC Would this be a worse foreign exchange rate than you get, say with a credit card? What is the best way to get foreign cash before travelling?
Take Great British Pound as an example as of now:
You pay 502.59 CAD to order 275.00 GBP in cash from Simplii. (3.5%~3.6% FX markup)
You pay 484.55 CAD to spend/withdraw 275.00 GBP using the Mastercard exchange rate without any markup. (Diff.: 18.04 CAD)
You pay 496.66 CAD to spend/withdraw 275.00 GBP using the Mastercard exchange rate plus 2.5% markup. (Diff.: 5.93 CAD)
All the difference does not take into account any other fees (cash advance, ATM etc).
I am not sure if the followings are the best ways but I list them below:
-
1. Use one of the prepaid cards without foreign exchange fee for ATM withdrawals, ~0.2% FX markup, pay only ATM operator's fee (if any).
2. Get the foreign cash at a bricks-and-mortar currency exchange. Usually 1-2% markup over mid-market.
You can exchange a small amount using any method just to get you going while in the country and then convert the rest while you are there using prepaid cards without FX fee.
3:38 am
April 27, 2017
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I use:
1. Wealthsimple cash card to withdraw foreign currency from ATM. Pocket money. No fee, Mastercard charge of around 0.2%.
2. MBNA World Elite for groceries and restaurants. Net cash back of about 3% (5.5% cash back - 2.5% exchange rate mark up).
3. Rogers Mastercard for everything else. Net cash back of around 0.5% (assuming you use Rogers services).
8:58 pm
April 4, 2018
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Thanks very much for your insights @BTC and @mordco. I won't be ordering cash from Simplii anymore. I will look into opening one of those cash card accounts before my next travels. And I will keep trying the Home Trust Visa.
9:50 pm
September 28, 2023
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I use Simplii for my daily banking, but have never ordered foreign cash through them... I was curious what their markup rate was so I signed in and looked it up... I used USD as it is the most popular by far of foreign cash to carry (to the point that I keep a small USD float at home between trips.
Simplii's quote (30min validity) was 70.29¢ USD per $1 CAD
Yahoo Finance spot rate at same time was 72.93¢ USD per $1 CAD
...which means that they are charging 3.75% currency conversion fee. Not as high as I expected, for home/post office delivery is only 1.25% higher than their default conversion rate at ATM's or to/from USD account.
But, I will probably never use this service... the minimum order amount ($500) is more cash than I would ever want to carry, and I try to place all purchases on my Home Trust or EQ cards. Now that Wealthsimple allows multiple Cash accounts (so that I can basically set my own limit on the card), I will probably shift to their card on future trips.
When spending internationally, there are an increasing number of merchants and ATM's that offer to handle the currency conversion for you... always decline! Their forex fees will make this Simplii service look like a bargain in comparison.
8:17 am
April 4, 2018
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How about just withdrawing cash from a foreign ATM with your debit card?
9:41 am
April 21, 2022
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fionag11 said
How about just withdrawing cash from a foreign ATM with your debit card?
How about paying your card issuer $5 for using a foreign ATM plus the 2.5%-3% foreign transaction fee on the withdrawal amount?
10:03 am
April 4, 2018
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@JohnnyCash So probably the worst option?
10:10 am
April 27, 2017
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JohnnyCash said
How about paying your card issuer $5 for using a foreign ATM plus the 2.5%-3% foreign transaction fee on the withdrawal amount?
Depends on what you use to withdraw. When I use my WS cash Mastercard to withdraw from a foreign ATM, I am charged 0 in transaction fees and the exchange rate is about 0.2% worse than interbank. Which is pretty good really. Probably are some ATMs which would charge but I haven’t found any yet in the Caribbean, Europe and Korea.
11:30 pm
September 28, 2023
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So as a cost comparison, I decided to withdraw $20 USD from my Simplii account at a CIBC ATM to see how the exchange rates compared:
The ATM took $28.52 from my account, 70.12¢ USD per $1 CAD
Yahoo Finance spot rate at same time was 72.88¢ USD per $1 CAD
...which means that they are charging approx 3.9% currency conversion fee. I was expecting the ATM rate to be less than the order money rate from post #14, since they don't have to process and mail my order. Seems like a mighty hefty fee for dispensing it from an ATM cassette.
6:30 am
February 16, 2023
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Haven’t the time to get into details AGM, but I’ve had success with WISE. Easy, low cost switching between multiple currencies, plastic and virtual Visa pre-paid cards. Zero issues with payment terminals in Europe in my experience. Add funds to your card from your CDN bank account anytime, anywhere. Limited ATM cash withdrawals if that's a priority. UK based provider.
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