Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Foreign Currency Exchange

Hi Marisa. You may get conflicting advice on this issue. A lot of depends on your own financial structure and how much your bank charges you for using "foreign" ATM machines. Here are some axioms to guide you: 1. Generally speaking you get the best exchange rate available to you by using a credit card. 2. Useng an ATM machine for local currency. [Usually the ATM card lets you enjoy a very good exchange rate, much better than you would get if you converted a check or American currency at a bank. But, know the tranactions fees in advance if you can. If your bank charges a large fee to use the ATM card, then you need to aware of that fact.] 3. Buying foreign currency in the States is the most expensive way to acquire foreign currency. [At least that was my experience. Of course you might deal with a bank that comes close to the wholesale bank rate of exchange.] 4. Always check a foreign currency coversion table to you will know how much of a "clip" you are taking when you converting money to local currency at a bank. [When changing from country to country, it is hard not to accumulate little amounts of local currency. The banks will NOT convert coins, no matter how large they are. For example, France circulates 10 franc coins, but the bank in Lausanne would not take the metal, but happily exchanged the paper. ] 5. Carry two credit cards (at least) of different issues separately if possible. [If you cannot carry them separately, at least don't carry them in the same purse or pocket.] 6. Take US$ travelers checks as a safety net. [The advantage there is that you can get a refund if the checks are lost or stolen.] I know some people will tell you that using travelers checks is a bad idea. I tend to agree, except I also want to be prepared for an emergency. Once we went to an ATM for local money and it was not working. We were at the train station at the Zürich airport, and there was no time to look for another ATM machine. So my wife converted a check to the local currency. Fortunately there was a branch of a local bank close by. That has been my strategy and so far it has worked. I have never been in a position where I could not pay what I owed. And believe me, not being able to pay your bills in a foreign country is not fun. You don't have the option of writing a personal check like you do in the USA. I know one night when paying at a restaurant in Paris, the waiter came back with my card and said it would not work. Why? I have no idea. But fortunately my wife had her credit card, which from a different bank, and it was accepted. I don't know what we would have done had the second card not worked, or if we had not had a second card. I don't think the restaurant would have accepted either a US$ American Express check or American greenbacks. There was an ATM was on the corner, so I guess my wife could have left me as a hostage while she went to get more money, or vice versa. I could not ask the waiter what he would have done because his English was about as limited as my French. All of which results in very limited conversation. Like bon appetite and au revoir and bon jour or bon soir.