What if you could travel globally and spend without having to worry about hidden fees?
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Absolutely! A good chance to make a difference . Banks charge way to much for exchange fees as well as currency margins.
WISE are doing some good work in this space, but still room for improvement!
Thanks, @chc4me. NZ consumers and businesses pay way too much for international transactions. Sadly, not having a good alternative option, we mark it as a cost of travelling or doing business. Stay tuned on this!
When I was last in the U.S.A I had huge problems with my banking/accounts.
Unknown to me there was a limit on the number of transactions per 24 hour period and a dollar limit per 24 hour period.
So, when I was over there and withdrew money from an ATM I would get say $300USD and then the ATM charged me a separate $3USD fee. This happened every time I used an ATM over there.
So, firstly; The $300USD withdrawl was converted in NZD and the NZD amount counted towards my daily withdrawl limit. Secondly, the $3USD not only contributed to the NZD total for the 24 period, but also counted towards the number of transcations in that 24 hour period.
Then take into account the timezone differences and there were periods when I simply couldn’t get money out over there. Leaving me to borrow off friends, who luckily I could pay back hours/ a day later. But it was very frustrating.
@TigerStripedCat, I had a similar experience when I was in Europe for a friend’s wedding (pre-pandemic). I used an app that converted money (I genuinely don’t remember what it’s called, but I’ll know it when I hear it.) Basically, this app let me load money from my NZ bank account and then convert it into another currency. So it had little pockets for my NZD and my Euro and my British Pounds. Personally, I found managing all of these pockets a little annoying. If it were possible, I’d much prefer if I could simply use my card like I would at home, but conversions take place automatically (at the best rate) in the background.
As for using ATMs to withdraw cash, there are likely reasons for some charges (i.e. network/card provider charges), though the bank is likely also clipping the ticket. Again, in an ideal scenario, where you’ve saved to go on holiday, the last thing you want to do is have to pay foreign fees plus $3 local currency just to buy a coffee at a cash-only market.
Hope we will use the live rate, the one that you get from Google N is charged by the bank themselves. I switch to Wise because I got sick of being ripped off by exchange rates by my bank, especially since I have some US subscriptions.
Being able to spend like a local. However, that might not be in control, as certain prices are for locals only. Tourists pay a premium to access the same attractions.
This is true, especially in places like Fiji or Rarotonga, visitors are charged a “tourist tax.” In principle, it’s not the worst idea, especially if your biggest GDP is tourism.
I think if you’re at least charged the same ATM fees as locals, plus the best possible currency conversion fee, that would be a cool thing to be able to work out.
Rarotonga uses New Zealand currency, so conversions wouldn’t be necessary. Likewise, yes, I’m referring to Wise here, it would be good if we have multicurrency feature not just for travel, but for subscriptions as well, as I mentioned in a post somewhere on this forum, and as I said further up on this post on why I Switched my overseas Subscriptions to Wise.
