Frequent travellers: Where to get the best exchange rate for foreign currency?

[Master]

Going to Mexico...for the first time.

For those frequent travellers, where is my best bet to get foreign corrency ata good rate?

I tried the bank but they are not as good as the rate posted on finance.yahoo.com.

Thanks for your help.

[NDman]

Family, friends, or friends who work in a bank. Outside of that, you don't have many choices if you don't have the account of that particular currency. You might be able to score some good deals on the local exchange store in your destination. But some are pretty sketchy...

[i6s1]

The best exchange rate is to take your Canadian money to Mexico and exchange it there. I found in PV that the larger banks downtown have a slightly better rate then the little exchange places, but both are better then anywhere here.

[bmwguy]

Use local ATMs. When I was in Colombia I got the same rate that I would get here for USD by withdrawling from the ATM. The service fee was only $3, so it wasn't bad at all.

[YLSF]

Going to Mexico...for the first time.

For those frequent travellers, where is my best bet to get foreign corrency ata good rate?

I tried the bank but they are not as good as the rate posted on finance.yahoo.com.

Thanks for your help.

There are places like http://accu-rate.ca/html/english/index.cfm that you might want to check out. It depends on how quickly you are going down, etc. You might want to try some of the larger currency convertor places in Toronto, but, be carefull on extra fees, etc. In general, if they have ATM machines, that can sometimes be the best way to get foreign currency. It really depends on the country though. When I was in France I found that I was getting a much better exchange rate from an ATM than I could have gotten at home (the fees are $3 or $4 a transaction so you are better to take out a wad of cash at a time.. although, depending on where in Mexico you are going it might not be the best idea)

[scotty]

Whatever you do, don't use your CIBC aerogold card. I just found out that all foreign transactions are subject to a 2.5% admin fee. So if you charge say $500 US on your card, they'll automatically ding you with $12.50 US (or $15 Cdn) admin fee.

Go to the local ATM and the most they'll charge you is $2.50 for the transaction.

[Shaf]

Try http://www.guardianfx.com/home.html

[bobaroo]

for Mexico I've found that its easier just to carry USD. Its widely accepted and the local merchants will either give you 10 pesos to the dollar or 11 pesos. Usually it doesn't make a difference because you never end up paying the listed price anyways, so you can bargain it down to whatever you're willing to pay regardless of the exchange rate.

[Kursor17]

https://www.xe.com/fx/

They are legit and will get you the best rates. It takes a few days to sign up though.

[runamuck]

i went to peurto vallarta back end of august


best rate was there in the hotel lobby..most hotels have a currency convert booth in the lobby, run by the same company everywhre..

i find they had the BEST rate..when compared to those booths that convert cash here in toronto in the malls..(RIPOFF!) ...and better then the banks here in canada....

if u're desperate u can take a cash advance out with ur amex..should be better then converting with the mall booths.

[Ben Jr]

The bank employee rate and the regular rate means about an extra $1 per hundred. I don't know why so many people put a large emphasis on getting the best exchange rate...

[quanvon]

The bank employee rate and the regular rate means about an extra $1 per hundred. I don't know why so many people put a large emphasis on getting the best exchange rate...i agree, my hubby gets frequent request from people wanting to change $200-400 dollars. Not really that much of a savings for all the hassle. The funniest thing is one friend asked us to change $200 and ended up rounding up what he paid us (ie. cost = 176.78 gave us $180) so we actually ended up making money off of him and him paying more than if he changed it himself. Some people just don't think much about finaces!

[Arrow]

I just learned about www.xe.com's Exchange service from felix on this board. Seems legit, and I'll be looking at it myself later on as well. They rates seem really, really good.

[AEmgee]

In GVR, check out Kingmark Currency Exchange. Not as good as bank staff rate but pretty good, at least for USD.

[toban11]

I was in PV 4 years ago and took Canadian cash, traveler cheques and bank card. The hotel gave about 5 pesos to 1 Canadian dollar. There are booths on the streets and the best I could find was 6.20 pesos to 1 Canadian dollar. I used my Royal Bank card once and the charge was around $2.00 Canadian.

[impostor]

In GVR, check out Kingmark Currency Exchange. Not as good as bank staff rate but pretty good, at least for USD.
I'd be very surprised if they're better than Vancouver Bullion & Currency Exchange (http://www.vbce.info), which is almost always 2-3% better than banks and no commission!

(Disclaimer: I have no connection other than being a long time satisfied customer. :cheesygri )

[mlc2000]

So on $400, u save like...$12.
Thats enough to get u a coffee, danish and newpaper at the airport.
Ok, a small coffee.



I'd be very surprised if they're better than Vancouver Bullion & Currency Exchange (http://www.vbce.info), which is almost always 2-3% better than banks and no commission!

(Disclaimer: I have no connection other than being a long time satisfied customer. :cheesygri )

[impostor]

At YVR the prices are virtually identical to off-airport locations. That $12 would get you a decent meal at Milestone's (http://www.milestonesrestaurants.com/lunch.html), that is if you choose to blow your savings before even leaving the country!

[bigknickers]

I agree with the previous posters that its best to use your ATM card abroad on holiday, mainly so you just change just what you need. I have an xe.com account for large currency exchanges but it does take a while to set up and you have to have accounts in the currencies that you are transacting. So if you sold 1k worth of CAN$ into Mexican Pessos I would think that you'd have to have a Mexican Pesso account for your converted funds to be wired to.

Would be very interested to hear if anyone can confirm the previous posting that the VBCE is better than Customs House. I currently have bids totaling $100k entered into my xe account.

BigK

[cko64]

Use ATM for local currency withdrawal. HSBC charges $2 per Transaction using their ATM and there are lots of HSBC's ATM all over Mexico. Royal Bank and Bank of Montreal charges $3 per tansaction plus ATM Surcharge (Fee charged for a non-account holder to use bank-owned ATM. Example: You have an account at Bank A but use Bank B's ATM. Bank B will charge you a surcharge.)