Hi everyone, I have a few thousand USD in Cash left over from a few years ago that I have been holding waiting for the AUD to decrease to make it worthwhile converting.
Other then walking into my bank what is your experience of where to get the best rate/lowest fees?
As this is in Cash I need to physically exchange it. Unless I open a USD account and deposit it.
spend it next time you go to the US
I did think that, but not likely in the next 18 months so now that I remember it's there, time to change it to AUD and put it to work.
Sorry missed the cash bit
Open USD account then use XE or OFX
Use HSBC Global Currency Account
You can also exchange via HSBC
Thier rates are better than the 4 major banks
Do Wise accept cash?
Sometime people get too obsessed with holding out for a better exchange rate.
True, the AUD has depreciated against the USD. But in a 2 year time frame it has only come off approx 6%.
If the USD notes had been converted to AUD 2 years ago, and the AUD fund placed on deposit the interest earning would have been about 10%.
This guy/gal gets it.
Wasn't on purpose, forgot I had it. At the time it didn't make sense to change to AUD as the rate was crashing due to Covid.
You are absolutely right though, would have been better with it earning interest but at the time I would have lost 15% on the exchange so just left it in the draw.
Crypto would be good but not sure how you can buy crypto with USD cash
OP wants to sell USD - not buy the USD
They accept foreign currency to convert to AUD too.
I've used them both ways.
ozbargain classifieds. Meet buyer in person at a safe location.
Why not convert USD to AUD within HSBC? Exchange rates are usually better with Wise
Wise tends to be better. There will be some fees to move those USD around. Other options if you hold the US notes would be to use them in Vietnam or some other Asia hot spot who often like US$.
Just Google exchange places near you and compare rates online, generally it’s the little hole in the wall places in immigrant areas of capital cities that will give you good rates vs the Flight Centre owned Travel Money Aus that’s in all the malls.
Exchange it with someone who is travelling to USA.
i see that you're in WA, not sure if this exist but go to Viet community in Perth and look for money exchange place. I'm in sydney, and i did the same thing a few months ago, got $500 extra compare to the banks rate.
If you're in Sydney, I recommend Currency Exchange Eclipse in the CBD. I've used them a few times, and always found them to have good rates and friendly, helpful service. Address: 2/743-755 George St, Haymarket NSW 2000.
In general, just search Google for currency exchange, examine the reviews, and you should be pretty right.
Wouldn't touch the banks with a forty foot pole.
CommBank foreign currency account:
1% fee do deposit USD cash.
Free swift transfer to Wise.
Wise charge $6.1 flat rate for inbound usd swift.
Wise conversion at market fx rate.
This. Yes, 1% for depositing, but no questions asked unlike HSBC, where you'll be interrogated as if you're a drug dealer or something
If you are going on holiday anywhere else then consider keeping it until you go on holiday there.
Don't exchange it here as you will get charged USD>AUD>other. Change it in the country you go to.
"Other than"
I use Wise for international transactions. Learned the hard way not to use banks after I lost $1100 in fees and dodgy exchange rates for a 50k transaction