best place or way to exchange Au$ for NZ$ for visit to New Zealand.
Thanks Geoff
Best Way to Convert AU$ to NZ$
Titus Canby on 01/08/2018 - 09:52
Comments
Agree, go cashless when you can, and if you need cash, just withdraw from ATM
Best way is to use a no international transaction fee card like ING (with the account bonuses active).
You will be able to get NZD at Visa rates on any cash machine
Or use citi debit
You'll pay ATM fees though. ING same deal but ATM fees rebated.
Not if you use the citi card at a citi atm, it is free.
@hashtagbargain:
If you can find one. I didn't come across any last time I was in NZ.But yes, you're right. If you already have a Citi card you can decide if it's worth signing up for an ING one. If you don't and you'll be signing up for one or the other (or Macquarie who also have the same feature), ING is the way to go because you can use any ATM for free.
there are also other fee-free atm options for citi card (can't remember which ones but you should be able to find a list if you google for it online)
You can search ATMs that Citibank supports with no additional fees
If you're going for a shortish holiday, just use ATMs. By the time you factor in convenience it's unlikely you'll get a better deal for what will be relatively small amounts of cash.
Ahh, OP wants to double their money!
thanks for the replies much appreciated
I tend to simply carry AUD into whatever Country I'm travelling and exchange money there. If I don't use the AUD, it comes back home of course.
Main logic for this is the rates that the individual country provides tends to be better than what we can get here. Generally speaking, the Country I'm visiting wants our currency (AUD) and will readily give their local currency so pay a better rate for it, and hence the exchangee loses when they convert their local currency to the more valuable foreign currency. Hence, the variations in 'we buy' and 'we sell' rates and often I found our 'we sell' is still worse than their 'we buy'.
So my experience, so far, has been that I always get a better exchange rate in the country I'm visiting. But I try to avoid using cash as much as possible, because my credit card provides the BEST exchange rate there is (better than what I get with the cash exchange) and does not charge any international or conversion fees.
I personally avoid trying to withdraw cash from the overseas ATMS in their local currency because, again, you're hit with fees for conversion and use the bank's conversion rate, not the actual exchange rate.
I do change about AUD$100 before going just to make sure I can buy things, pay for public transport etc when I land.
Also, I never exchange money at the airport - go into the town centre and exchange it there.
The above is just my experience.
I personally avoid trying to withdraw cash from the overseas ATMS in their local currency because, again, you're hit with fees for conversion and use the bank's conversion rate, not the actual exchange rate.
You need a better bank account for when you go overseas then :-)
True - I tend to just rely on CIRRUS and MAESTRO facilities for withdrawals, and those local ATMs are the fees I'm referring to. But, at least with my experience, the exchange rates for the banks (either local or overseas) still doesn't match the cash or credit card exchange rates.
Look into these accounts:
Citibank Plus or Macquarie Transaction account. They'll give you a Visa or Mastercard debit card which you can use the withdraw cash at the Visa or Mastercard (depending on the logo on your card) rate of the day. This is usually less than 0.5% off the spot rate and you'll struggle to do anywhere near that at a currency exchange. You'll still pay the local ATM fee.
ING Orange Everyday. Same deal as above but they also rebate the local ATM fee so it's effectively free, but you have to jump through a couple of hoops the month beforehand to activate the benefit (basically, they want you to use the card as your everyday card in Australia).
And the best way to convert back is to bring all the NZ dollars in 20 cents coins and use them one at a time to pay for things.
You obviously haven't been to NZ recently - the coin currency has been different in size to Australia since 2006!
Side-note: NZ demonetised its 1c and 2c coins in 1990. Australia bought all that "copper" to make its 1c and 2c coins, only to demonetise them in 1992…
That's hilarious. Didn't know that.
Most kiwi banks are owned by Australia and have some kind of partnership, obviously westpac is in New Zealand too so if you’re with them withdraw from a Westpac atm, if you’re with Commonwealth then withdraw from ASB to avoid those types of fees. I personally just us load my Qantas FF card with New Zealand money :)
"Best way…".
The most convenient is just to withdraw from an ATM on arrival, or use your EFTPOS card for purchases etc. Cashless is the way to go for the majority of places in NZ.
If you are looking for the best exchange rate, it probably depends on how long you are visiting / the value you want to exchange.