My experience with Canadian money
in [Cruise Ship]
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From: peter on 13 Jul 2010 12:37 X-no-archive: yes On 7/13/10 5:51 PM, in article IMudnQp3uvL7FqHRnZ2dnUVZ_qWdnZ2d(a)wow.com, "Barbara Brown" <babrown99(a)wowway.com> wrote: > I just checked with my bank (Chase) and any Foreign ATM Transactions > have a fee of 3% PLUS an exchange rate of 3% PLUS a fee from the foreign > ATM. There is a minimum fee of $5. If it's a Merchant or > Over-the-counter debit purchase there is a 3% exchange rate fee PLUS a > 3% transaction fee or a minimum of $5. Got this in writing from them. Exchange rate of 3% presumably means foreig exchange fee of 3%. > Most brokerage cash management account account cards and many smaller banks charge 1% or less. Check whether TD Bank Visa cards are offered in your state.
From: gmbeasley on 13 Jul 2010 19:53 On Tue, 13 Jul 2010 09:32:20 -0400, Bill <billrubin(a)prodigy.net> wrote: >On 7/12/2010 8:48 AM, gmbeasley(a)mindspring.com wrote: >> On Sun, 11 Jul 2010 23:13:37 -0400, Bill<billrubin(a)prodigy.net> >> wrote: >> >>> On 7/11/2010 10:40 PM, gmbeasley(a)mindspring.com wrote: >>>> On Sun, 11 Jul 2010 10:54:42 -0400, Charles >>>> <fort(a)his.com.remove.invalid> wrote: >>>> >>>>> And no way I would do an exchange for local currency on the ship >>>>> either. You will get the worst rates. Use your credit card or get cash >>>>> from an ATM machine if you really need cash. >>>> >>>> I would not use a credit card as they charge from the day of >>>> withdrawal even if you pay your balance off every month. The only way >>>> I know of to avoid this is to put in money in advance so your credit >>>> card is over paid. >>> >>> I think you misunderstood Charles. He was not suggesting using a credit >>> card to get cash, which as you said would charge interest immediately >>> (plus a cash advance fee). He meant to just charge the purchase rather >>> than getting cash. The vast majority of credit cards do not charge you >>> any interest on purchases if you pay the bill in full by the due date. >>> >> Yes I did misunderstand, but it wasn't clear to me that was what he >> meant, and I think it would be relatively easy to make that mistake >> the way it was written. > >He said "Use your credit card or get cash from an ATM machine if you >really need cash.". I guess he could have added "and charge the >purchase" after "use your credit card", but I don't think it was >unclear. Personally, I would never consider using a credit card to get >cash, so it would never even cross my mind that that was what he meant. > Lots of people get cash advances on their credit cards. I never would (I rarely get cash unless I'm traveling), but that doesn't mean that some people would not understand that you don't get cash using a credit card. >> My own rule which doesn't work quite as well on a cruise because the >> wharf vendors and the ship stores often don't have the facilities for >> it, is that I won't buy anything that the seller won't take a credit >> card AND ship home for me. Not wanting to have to have room in my >> luggage (and having the extra weight) is far more important to ME than >> whether I get charged a couple of dollars extra. I used to take an >> extra empty bag, but with the charges for checked bags, that's not >> something I do anymore. > >Depending on what they charge you to ship your purchases at each >individual store and how many stores you do it at, once you total them >up, it could end up being cheaper to just pay for that second bag. But >you probably knew that. And of course if you're buying something big, >it's a pain to have to schlep it around and take it on the plane. > It isn't the fact that it is more expensive. It is that I can only manage one small bag and a carryon when I'm traveling without my husband to carry stuff. Even with that small amount it will take me about half an hour to walk a distance that would take most people 10 minutes at the most. And even with him, I'd rather not have the hassle of the extra bag. Even if I was driving to the port, I'd still have to pick up the luggage and get from the ship to the car. On this last visit, I had a package shipped from Yellowstone to my daughter, and then I had two pineapples sent to her from Maui and sent a package from there to my husband. My grandson, who put all his purchases in his backpack had it stuffed so full that it would no longer fit under the airplane seat and it weighed something like 32 lbs and was in danger of overbalancing him. I also mailed my suitcase of dirty clothes home, and mailed a package from my daughter's to my home with the tour books and stuff (my sister lent me the tour books or I would have either thrown them out afterwards or ripped them up so that I just kept a couple of relevant pages). My mother was pretty good about reducing the amount of space things took up and reducing weight. When we had film cameras, she would take all the film out of the boxes and film cans because those take up space.
From: gmbeasley on 13 Jul 2010 20:00 On Tue, 13 Jul 2010 10:51:04 -0500, Barbara Brown <babrown99(a)wowway.com> wrote: >I just checked with my bank (Chase) and any Foreign ATM Transactions >have a fee of 3% PLUS an exchange rate of 3% PLUS a fee from the foreign >ATM. There is a minimum fee of $5. If it's a Merchant or >Over-the-counter debit purchase there is a 3% exchange rate fee PLUS a >3% transaction fee or a minimum of $5. Got this in writing from them. I check with each card that I have before I leave. Chase is one of the most expensive for foreign transactions so I leave that card at home. I have a credit union VISA card that so far only charges 1% on foreign transactions plus the exchange rate. I also have a USAA MC which isn't too bad as a backup. The other thing to consider is that foreign merchants CAN if they wish charge an extra fee for you to use a credit card. They are not bound by the agreements that merchants in the US have with the card companies. > >To me that doesn't sound like a very good deal! You are better off using >a credit card that only has the 2-3% exchange rate fee and no >transaction fee. > >So it looks like you're going to pay about the same one way or another >unless you go to a local bank in the foreign country. > >I looked back at our receipts when we cashed travelers checks in New >Zealand in 2008 and they only charged us a twenty-five cents fee. We often used to have to go to the bank to cash TCs. They charged us 25 cents each for the entry fee in the Bahamas (on a private sailboat) in 2001, but by 2002, they had waived that fee. >All >the banks had their exchange rates posted in their window and we shopped >for the best rate and we toured the town. You could see the banks had >much better rates than the foreign exchanges. I found more or less the same thing in London and in Spain. When I am bargaining with the shop over the price of the object I am buying, I can sometimes get the price of shipping and other concessions while we are finalizing the purchase.
From: Barbara Brown on 14 Jul 2010 11:15
Thanks for the idea of the credit union. I forgot all about my cu Debit card because I never use it. It is 1%. Best deal so far. Also I found that we can buy TIP PACKS from AAA (Auto club) in Canadian dollars, Euros, pounds, and a few others. They are $95 and based on the current exchange rate you get the equivalent amount in foreign currency. Just enough to get you by for tips and cab. No fee for AAA members. |