The $

[aussiegirls]

I am very excited

I bought a new travel card today. I figured that, even though we are not going until November, the AUD is going pretty good at the moment. And seeing as I am not much of a gambling gal, I went and locked in a few thousand on the travel card.

A little closer to when we go I think I will get some travellers cheques and definately some cash.

It is def starting to seem more real now

xxx

 

[lovintheland]

Yay Aussiegirls buying some cash always makes it more real and excited. Just wish we had of taken a gamble when it started dropping six or so weeks ago and waited. Oh well you never know do you I'm more than happy with what we saved on our V flights.

 

[aussiegirls]

Yeah, it is very much a gamble isn't it lovintheland. Oh well, I guess it's better to be safe than sorry.

I remember last year I bought at about .82 because I got spooked (was .70 when I booked). Then by the time we left it was at about .90.

As I said, I am just not a gamblin gal

Not many more sleeps for you now. You must be sooooo excited about surprising the kids

xxx

 

[lovintheland]

43 sleeps to be exact!!!! I am beside myself at the thought of telling them. At this point I'm thinking more about that than the actual holiday. Although we have just booked two nights at the DLH which I'm excited about probably crazy to switch hotels but got the room for 40% off. Said to hubby my plan is to fully immerse ourselves into Disney at the end of the trip so that we're sick of it and never want to return his reply was "yeah right!!!"

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

I bit the bullet today and got my ANZ travel card and ordered my cash.

I got .8851 for the cash and .8857 for the travel card. I am really happy with that, whatever happens now I'll still be pleased with the rate.

 

[aussietravellers]

I bit the bullet today and got my ANZ travel card and ordered my cash.

I got .8851 for the cash and .8857 for the travel card. I am really happy with that, whatever happens now I'll still be pleased with the rate.

How Exciting! It really makes it close when the cash changing occurs.

Do you have to bank with the ANZ to get their travel card?

Does anybody know the difference between the ANZ, Commbank and Travelex travel cards? Do some have more fees than others?

I read they have inactive fees by the month. So if I got it now and won't be using it for 5 weeks, will that incur a fee? or is it just after you have started using it and then not using it that you incur the fee?

I have changed half my money (into travellers cheques) was going to change the other half into either more travellers cheques and a little cash or all cash. But may get a travel card, but just wonder about the fees

Thanks

 

[PrincessInOz]

How Exciting! It really makes it close when the cash changing occurs.

Do you have to bank with the ANZ to get their travel card?

Does anybody know the difference between the ANZ, Commbank and Travelex travel cards? Do some have more fees than others?

I read they have inactive fees by the month. So if I got it now and won't be using it for 5 weeks, will that incur a fee? or is it just after you have started using it and then not using it that you incur the fee?

I have changed half my money (into travellers cheques) was going to change the other half into either more travellers cheques and a little cash or all cash. But may get a travel card, but just wonder about the fees

Thanks

DH likes the travelcard. He normally tops this up every month (a little amount) and doesn't incur the inactive fee. But then, he goes to the US at least 3 or 4 times a year; so it makes sense for him to keep one active and to pop money into it every now and again.

We will always travel with a combination of cash, TC and Travel Card. We always withdraw the Travel Card money from an ATM.

And because DH takes the travelcard, I can't help with fees info....we bank with CommBank. I must look into the card charges because DH never thinks about those things....thanks for the prompt.

 

[1rocky]

How Exciting! It really makes it close when the cash changing occurs.

Do you have to bank with the ANZ to get their travel card?

Does anybody know the difference between the ANZ, Commbank and Travelex travel cards? Do some have more fees than others?

I read they have inactive fees by the month. So if I got it now and won't be using it for 5 weeks, will that incur a fee? or is it just after you have started using it and then not using it that you incur the fee?

I have changed half my money (into travellers cheques) was going to change the other half into either more travellers cheques and a little cash or all cash. But may get a travel card, but just wonder about the fees

Thanks

Here is a site for the commonwealth bank travel card showing the fees
http://www.commbank.com.au/personal/international/travel-money-card/fees-charges/default.aspx
Also when i purchased the commonwealth travel card i was told there would be no inactive fees until after twelve months. You can top via b pay but it can take a day to get there. I have had my card since May and just topping it up every now and then ready for January

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

With the ANZ travel card, they charge $11 initial fee to set it up but that is all so it's a good idea to open it with all of your spending money, rather than with a small amount and then you keep adding more. Fees are incurred for each deposit thereafter. I am embarrassed to say I didn't ask what they were this time because I put all of our spending money on in the first transaction.

I mentioned to her I was annoyed with myself for closing down the one I had last year, that I should've just kept it and topped it up for this trip.

She said it was actually cheaper to close it down and get a new one if you were going to put all of your spending money on in the first transaction because the $11 would be less than the ongoing deposit fees.

We just used a combination of cash and the ANZ travel card last time and found it to be wonderful. I haven't used TC's so I can't comment on those. I asked the bank manager yesterday if many people still use TC's and she said no, they aren't used much these days. She said people were finding more and more that some businesses were either reluctant to cash them or the process of cashing them was taking quite a while. I'm not sure if that is true or not, just thought i would mention it.

 

[aussiegirls]

With the ANZ travel card it is, as Shuttergirl said, $11 to set up and then 1.1% of the value for each subsequent top up. So yes, it is generally cheaper to get a 2nd card than top up an existing one. That is what I did. I had USD$1700 left on my card from last trip, but when I went into ANZ I got a brand new one for $11 instead of paying $$$$$ for topping up the old one.

You don't need to be an ANZ customer to get the travel card. You can just walk in and get it although, if you don't have an ANZ account, they only accept payment in cash or via Credit card - not usually a problem for most people I think.

Also, with the ANZ there are no inactive fees unless the card has not been used for over 12 months. As I said, I still have my card from last trip and I have not been charged anything at all on it. So once the 12 months passes then they charge some sort of monthly fee for just having it sitting there.

Before I left last time I scoured every term and condition and fee, between the Comm Bank travel card, the ANZ travel card and the Travelex Cash Passport. The ANZ travel card came up the cheapest, although with the Travelex one you may get a slightly better exchange rate (usually not a big difference) but the cost of set up and fees etc, negated the slightly better rate.

Good luck

xxx

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

With the ANZ travel card it is, as Shuttergirl said, $11 to set up and then 1.1% of the value for each subsequent top up. So yes, it is generally cheaper to get a 2nd card than top up an existing one. That is what I did. I had USD$1700 left on my card from last trip, but when I went into ANZ I got a brand new one for $11 instead of paying $$$$$ for topping up the old one.

You don't need to be an ANZ customer to get the travel card. You can just walk in and get it although, if you don't have an ANZ account, they only accept payment in cash or via Credit card - not usually a problem for most people I think.

Also, with the ANZ there are no inactive fees unless the card has not been used for over 12 months. As I said, I still have my card from last trip and I have not been charged anything at all on it. So once the 12 months passes then they charge some sort of monthly fee for just having it sitting there.

Before I left last time I scoured every term and condition and fee, between the Comm Bank travel card, the ANZ travel card and the Travelex Cash Passport. The ANZ travel card came up the cheapest, although with the Travelex one you may get a slightly better exchange rate (usually not a big difference) but the cost of set up and fees etc, negated the slightly better rate.

Good luck

xxx

Thanks for the additional info. What a great idea to just get an additional card.

 

[shan08]

What is going on with the dollar?????

 

[Oz-kateer]

What's wrong with it? It's up pretty high - last time this happened it lasted a couple of weeks and then went down again. I am buying $$ cash and travellers cheques on Friday at the post office. They use AMEX and seem to have the best non-commission rates at the moment.

 

[aussiegirls]

Yeah, it's doing ok at the moment. I reckon if anyone needs to buy cash etc, now is a great time to do it

xxx

 

[aussietravellers]

Yes I got the rest of mine cashed yesterday. Have $'s and travellers cheques now. I got commission free from Amex. I ordered the travellers cheques online commission free and when I went in I said the post office did it commission/fee free so would go there to get some cash and they said we'll do it for you commission/fee free

 

[shan08]

It has dropped two cents since monday!!!

 

[Oz-kateer]

We're 2 weeks out from a federal election.

This always happens - the markets get nervous.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

I hope everyone jumped in and got their money changed over before the election. Looks like the dollar may start to drop a little over the outcome.

 

[aussiegirls]

I was just coming in here to say the same thing Shuttergirl

I think I might go and get some more today whilst the $ is still at .89. This political uncertainty will not do the AUD any favours. And I think regardless of the outcome (unless we vote again and get a majority govt) the dollar will continue to remain unstable, and likely fall due to the precarious position whichever govt will end up in.

As an aside, Bob Katter (one of the Indi's they are trying to woo) wants the dollar to go back to half the value that it currently is as he says it is hurting the farmers. He is probably right

Anyway, my point was that I reckon it's a good time to exchange some $$$$ if anyone needs to

xxx

 

[Oz-kateer]

Half the value of the dollar to about 45US cents?? Wow. We'll be stuck here forever.