What’s the best way to obtain USD In cash.
I’m looking for the best exchange rate.
Would withdrawing USD from an ATM in Australia or Singapore be better than using a foreign currency exchange?
Note: I’m not travelling to the USA, but rather a country which uses the USD and is a developing nation.
Note: I have ING orange everyday
Depends if you are going to a country that dispenses USD from their ATMs such as Cambodia.
If so, then either:
1. ING Direct at any ATM in the destination country (monthly account criteria to be met); or
2. Citibank Plus Saver debit card at a Citibank ATM in the destination country.
If not then the following options are listed in order of what will get you the best rate:
Withdraw cash in SGD using one of the aforementioned cards (o% foreign exchange fee) and shop around for the best SGD USD exchange rate in Singapore > Withdraw money in Australia and shop around for best AUD to USD rate > Use USD ATMs at an Australian International airport.
Note the Greater than symbol is being used to denote the better deal.
I have never seen a USD ATM in Singapore. USD ATMs (Travelex) at our airports charge their own currency conversion rate.
Having tried and failed to purchase tickets with the national carrier using ING orange everyday, I think the ING card won’t work in the country we are going to.
Also, the country is primarily a cash economy.
Take Australian $50 or $100 denomination to Singapore and visit the money changers who will change to US$ at extremely close (within .3%) to the inter-bank rates.
I wasn't aware they bought AUD at such good rates. OP - If this is the case it would slightly beat the Visa rate you would get using method 1 or 2 in my post (just checked and the Visa rate is 0.8% above the interbank ask).
I find Vietnam has better rates!
Which money changers in Singapore? The ones at Chinatown or the airport
Don't mean to denigrate your intent, but many people think they're going to the far reaches of the world but are in fact going to an ATM paradise. Just tell us the country (unless by needing American dollars you don't mean co-currency or official currency but a black market currency in a forbidden zone that would put you on a watch list). The world is a very different place from 2014.
Unless you're going to some war-torn countries or parts of Africa (Zimbabwe?) you probably won't have an issue finding a working ATM at the airport and anywhere in the city foreigners visit.
“(unless by needing American dollars you don't mean co-currency or official currency but a black market currency in a forbidden zone that would put you on a watch list). The world is a very different place from 2014.”
What do you mean by co-currency/official currency?
USD is widely used as the national currency is significantly devalued ($1 AUD = about 5500 national currency)
What’s the relevance of 2014?
By co-currency I'm referring to countries where they have their own official currency but the USD is the de facto currency (i.e. Cambodia, where USD are dispensed by ubiquitous ATMs). By official currency I'm referring to countries that have officially adopted the USD (e.g. Ecuador). Then you have countries where the locals adopt USD due to super high inflation, such as Venuzuela and Uzbekistan. Funnily enough, Venuzuela just devalued their currency by 95% yesterday and Uzbekistan devalued their currency last year (making the USD black market rate non-competitive overnight).
The reason I arbitrarily mention 2014 is it "sounds recent" and relevant, but Myanmar started installing a tonne of ATMs that year and people were still spreading warnings about the lack of ATMs in Myanmar in 2016 (when they were literally everywhere and probably all supported Visa/Mastercard). The most anxiety I've ever had on a trip was when carrying thousands of dollars in cash in a developing country.
So the main point was to find out from recent travellers what the actual situation on the ground is (e.g. Uzbekistan, where you might still prefer to bring in cash today, is planning to install thousands of ATMs by the end of the year that support Visa/Mastercard to avoid the need for carrying boatloads of cash or cash advances). For most "well-travelled" countries that are not experiencing hyper-inflation in SE Asia, South America etc you'll be fine with AUD for emergencies and your trusty ING Visa and Citibank Mastercard. Credit cards are better for emergencies but I don't use them.
Just a note. Expect your card to be rejected on-line in any developing country, even Australia's go-to, Indonesia. The local websites will reject foreign cards to counter fraud from locals. Some companies will whitelist you if you show ID but then you have to go through the Verified by Visa SMS deal and sometimes you'll get rejected immediately without being shown a Verified by Visa screen!
Peter, you seem very knowledgeable in this area.
We tried contacting ING and the National Carrier and the issue seems to be due to the national bank using a different security verification process than that used for ING
Order online at Travelex. Rates at quite good if you order in advance
Really?
In this ‘developing nation’ if you intend to buy local currency with $usd you will get the best rate with new uncreased $100 notes.
And, of course, you will have trouble buying stuff or exchanging torn or worn out $usd of any denomination.
From what I have read
Exchange offices and banks do not accept hard currency banknotes that are old, worn out, have handwriting on, torn, lined or wrinkled.
That seems to rule out using an ATM, as you can’t guarantee the quality of notes that will be spot out.
I’m thinking this means I need to go to a currency exchange booth.
I was concerned with this when travelling in Peru. ATMs give you a choice of local currency or USD.
All notes were pretty crap condition (highly creased, occasional writing, no tears); but all were accepted as payment.
Similar - I take AUD to Bangkok and exchange for USD when travelling to Cambodia. Even though it needs to go AUD->THB->USD, the small margins and good rates make it much better than anything available in Aus.
I imagine it may be similar situation in Singapore.
Certainly KL is great for exchanging AUD->MYR->USD.(great; as in better than changing in Australia).
I know this is ozbargain but how many millions of dollars are you looking to purchase.
Don't spend hours on end agonising over rates which might save you a couple of dollars.
I am in a similar situation (travelling to Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam) and intend using Travelex via Cashrewards.
different banks have different exchange rate.
you can visit the bank's website and you will find the exchange rate.
you will have to do research.
i suggest that you write it all down and take your time and make the decision with a clear head.
there will be other fees as well charged by the bank,
i hope this helped.