The Aussie Dollar, What to do ?

[toontownnutter]

You're carrying 15k cash around?? You realise your house insurance probably only covers up to a couple of hundred cash if you were burgled? We were only going to take like 4k for tipping and taxis and just use the credit card for larger purchases like meals and items.

 

[hellosue]

we have all the currency we budgeted for so don't need to exchange anymore

so we have 15k us to spend, we aint bring none back as the exchange rate will mean we lose money so spend, spend, spend

I'm very sad now and jealous of your spending money
I wish I wish I keep wishing but my wishes arn't coming true ..... dammm wand, will have to go to Hogwarts and pick up another...

Good luck with your spending....

 

[HappyFingers]

You're carrying 15k cash around?? You realise your house insurance probably only covers up to a couple of hundred cash if you were burgled? We were only going to take like 4k for tipping and taxis and just use the credit card for larger purchases like meals and items.

put it this way
if they can get past the security system and then remove it from the safe
then im impressed its a big heavy safe, takes 3 people to even slide it along the ground

besides 10k in the global travel card and 5k in cash

we have a lot planned so 15 may seem a lot but im not so sure, hopefully it is

 

[toontownnutter]

ahhhh Is that the American Express Global Travel card form AusPost?

And the burning question does one buy at $1.10 or wait it out and hope we even reach $1.20?

We're going for three weeks and my number crunching bestie reckons 10k is the figure. That allows $100 per person per day (four of us). Park tix and accomodation will all be paid for prior and we'll be on the dining plan pre paid for 7 days so that's less spent on food.

I'm thinking 15k if you plan on purchasing lots how will that work with luggage weight limits coming back? 25kg per person for the flights we were looking at isn't all that much *says she who had to sit and jump up and down on a suitcase to get it zipped after visiting IKEA Adelaide*

 

[Anne_Aus]

I am curious to see what travel card most people are opting for. I am thinking of using the com bank one.

I would say if you have the money to change, change it now it is so unpredictable what the dollar is going to do

 

[Franrose]

I am trying to work out what we should do. Not so much in terms of how far ahead to purchase, but how to purchase if that makes sense - Travel Cards seem to be so poorly rated on the productreview.com.au website for eg. http://www.productreview.com.au/c/travel-money.html

Am also reading http://www.ausbt.com.au/foreign-currency-credit-cards-vs-prepaid-travel-money-cards and http://www.ausbt.com.au/best-travel...-travelex-cash-passport-28-degrees-mastercard (and whatever else I can find on google) to help me decide.

 

[toontownnutter]

I've only been looking the last half hour but on the American Express Global Travel Card website it says

Some ATM owners may charge an additional fee when the Card is used. This fee is determined and charged by the ATM owner and is not retained by us.

How many places do this and what do they charge? Could be costly in the long run.

And OH just pointed out CBA sell those prepaid mastercards for use in Australia but Woolworths don't accept them, they say mastercard and they say commonwealth bank but the normal cards work but the prepaid ones don't. Am I going to get into Walmart and drop $500 and get to the register to be told the American Express Global Card isn't accepted?

From my brief look between AE and CBA we should be able to use leftover funds on the CBA one if we were to get home and have money left over whereas the AE one doesn't convert back to AU dollars? That's how I read it to be anyway.

EDIT^ Above is incorrect. You can cash your money back in (at current exchange rate, not the load rate) for free on most cards.

And merchants in the USA aren't allowed to charge a surcharge for American Express but some will try.

 

[Franrose]

This card looks very interesting too - http://www.28degreescard.com.au/. The suggestion on one of the webpages I read (I think one of the ones above) was to load it with cash and treat it as a travel card that way. Or maybe it was here lol. http://www.ausbt.com.au/28-degrees-mastercard-the-best-card-to-take-overseas


And this could be useful! It's a Nov 2010 article, but interesting to see the whopping differences between some of the places where you can do your foriegn exchange! http://www.ausbt.com.au/investigation-cheapest-currency-exchange-in-australia

 

[battymum]

Thankfully US congress has reached an agreement on the debt crisis.

I know this is a travel forum, but I cant believe we are all concerned about getting another few cents on our spending money - on a holiday that has cost us thousands, when Americans are staring down the barrell of economic default.

I was more concerned about unrest (read...riots) should the economy have defaulted.

 

[Franrose]

I had read up on stuff elsewhere that meant I wasn't worried about that happening Battysmum (defaulting).

As for the $$/cents thing, I can understand why a lot of people are thinking of that, as for lots of us this is a big trip, kwim! I'm not so worried myself about when to buy the cash as I think it's something out of my control (what the $ will do) so I'm ok about buying closer to the time (and keeping my $ in my mortgage for longer). But I'd definitely like to make a good choice on the way I purchase my money so that it's not being wasted on fees and percentages, even if it only makes a difference of a few hundred.

 

[battymum]

Dont get me wrong - this is a BIG trip for us too - I am certainly needing every cent we can get.

Just dont want it to be at someone elses (250million of them) expense.

 

[Tara2004]

I'm thinking 15k if you plan on purchasing lots how will that work with luggage weight limits coming back? 25kg per person for the flights we were looking at isn't all that much *says she who had to sit and jump up and down on a suitcase to get it zipped after visiting IKEA Adelaide*

Does anyone know if the $108 cost for an extra bag goes up in price if you decide to add an extra bag on the trip. I know it $108 before you go, but if you decide to add another bag later ????

I have a friend in L.A. atm who has a heep of toys from Target USA for 75% off ( they are having a sale) I need to fit them into a bag.

 

[shushh]

This card looks very interesting too - http://www.28degreescard.com.au/. The suggestion on one of the webpages I read (I think one of the ones above) was to load it with cash and treat it as a travel card that way. Or maybe it was here lol. http://www.ausbt.com.au/28-degrees-mastercard-the-best-card-to-take-overseas

We have one of these and we love it. Although you don't get the rewards benefit for using the card, the lack of foreign currency conversion fee more than makes up for it. Also as mentioned the ability to load it up before you go is a bonus. The rate that you get isn't too bad either.

We usually travel with a combination of this card and a CBA travel card. I also use the card for all my online shopping from OS sites!

 

[Franrose]

Dont get me wrong - this is a BIG trip for us too - I am certainly needing every cent we can get.

Just dont want it to be at someone elses (250million of them) expense.

We're helping them though - only a tiny bit, but it's something - by taking our $$ out of the Australian or NZ economy and putting it straight into theirs.

It's strange, because I have a few US friends on my fb feed and I've not heard anything about the US issues from them, life seems to be going on as normal. For me it's been other Australian & NZ friends talking about it.

 

[Anne_Aus]

It's strange, because I have a few US friends on my fb feed and I've not heard anything about the US issues from them, life seems to be going on as normal. For me it's been other Australian & NZ friends talking about it.

I have found this as well, to the point I had complaints about big brother being interrupted for Obama's announcement today, and seemed a little annoyed at me when I said it was a little more important than big brother

 

[hellosue]

Interesting when you have money to convert who has the best rate - I found today BankWest to have the best rate paying $1.08something but they don't have a travel card so went for AMEX Travellers Cheques.....

 

[battymum]

I have found this as well, to the point I had complaints about big brother being interrupted for Obama's announcement today, and seemed a little annoyed at me when I said it was a little more important than big brother

To be honest, I probably have only been paying attention because we are travelling - thats how it goes with politics, you only take notice when it immediately concerns you.

 

[Anne_Aus]

To be honest, I probably have only been paying attention because we are travelling - thats how it goes with politics, you only take notice when it immediately concerns you.

Ahh true, I tend to follow politics and am a news junkie so I often forget that not everyone is the same.

least we can be relieved the bill has been passed and they are not going to default.

 

[Sugarglider]

I've only been looking the last half hour but on the American Express Global Travel Card website it says

"Some ATM owners may charge an additional fee when the Card is used. This fee is determined and charged by the ATM owner and is not retained by us."

How many places do this and what do they charge? Could be costly in the long run.

TTN - I have found that many ATMs in the US charge for the use - just like as been introduced here - usually $2.00 or $2.50. The only place I found that did not charge was when using is an ATM at a bank branch. Many shops have small portable ATMs and the shopkeeper makes money from having the ATM and they can set the fee so it can vary.

 

[Sugarglider]

This card looks very interesting too - http://www.28degreescard.com.au/. The suggestion on one of the webpages I read (I think one of the ones above) was to load it with cash and treat it as a travel card that way. Or maybe it was here lol. http://www.ausbt.com.au/28-degrees-mastercard-the-best-card-to-take-overseas

thanks for this tip Franrose - that's a fantastic deal for a credit card! I have a debit card that doesn't charge any fees but I have not seen a credit card before. The interest rate is pretty high but if you are the type who pays it off - then no fees! When you preload it with cash so you can use it like a debit card - I am thinking that is just with AUD isn't it? so one is still at the mercy of the prevailing exchange rate on use - or can you prepurchase foreign exchange?

I am using the Travelex cash passport and feel happy. 1% fee, locking in a great exchange rate and as a VISA card is widely accepted.