My relatives from US are visiting us. They are looking at the best way of converting USD to AUD for their expenses in Australia with out incurring too much conversion fee. They do not want to carry cash. What options do we have ?
USD to AUD
LoveOz on 21/11/2017 - 12:49
Comments
currency converter shop?
You could try googling..or even using the OZB search tool: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/search/node/USD%20to%20AUD
Quicker than writing this post in fact.
My American friend signed up for a Charles Schwab brokerage account before his trip: http://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/nn/refer-prospect.html
It's like a Citibank account on steroids, since you get reimbursed for international ATM fees as well.
The only catch to your relatives is that it's considered a "hard enquiry" on your credit report, which occurs when a potential lender in the US reviews your credit history. With the referral I gave you above you possibly only need to deposit $1000 rather than $10,000 though (which my friend had to do years ago)…and they make $100 USD!
Transferwise (or its sisters) only costs them ~1% but then you become a babysitter for their money and have to transfer what's left with another 0.7% loss.
If they're concerned about losing a few $10s of dollars and don't want the Schwab card tell them to look for whatever fits their needs in the US (https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/banking/debit-card-foreign-t…) e.g. Capital One 360, but it won't reimburse the fees.
They can always transfer the money to your bank account, and you can give them the cash when they arrive. That's what my friends and relatives usually did when they visit.
They can get their equivalent of our citibank debit/28 degrees
Pretty sure BOA said their credit card has no currency exchange fees, bound to be others
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/334424