CBH Australia
AH legend
- Joined
- Feb 10, 2019
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- 3,505
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- Location
- NSW Australia
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- Sporting Shooters Association Australia, Africa Hunting website!!!
- Hunted
- Australia and now South Africa
just wanted to share what I found when go at a Travel credit card.
Being my first ever international trip I paid deposit as wire transfer or bank transfer. No problem I’ve paid 50%
I went to pay some more but limited to $1000 us per transaction and a fee of $15? Contacted outfitter sorted.
I got to thinking about saving on fees of exchange rates at point of sale. Eg $2 each time or whatever.
I have a credit card and know I can use it globally but didn’t know all the detail.
I applied for a Global Credit Card online(GCC) but the local bank branch closed so worried my card would not come I went to my credit union. Yes they do a Cash Passport . So I loaded it with US dollars the staff did not understand why I wanted US $ in Africa but cash passport do not offer Rand on their card currency. She advised if there is money left end of trip transfer it to my account do not withdraw at local ATM because of fees. Good advice.
We loaded US$ at the Credit Union to cover the fixed expenses I expected to cover. The catch. Loading as US currency straight off incurs a 1% fee, I didn’t know any better.
2 days later my GCC card arrives in the mail, I read a little on it and realised that if I put Aussie dollars in I can set up wallets within the card for US $ and for Rand for South Africa. That’s convenient as I can pay my US $ balance in Rand to the outfitter. I can make a small purchase in Rand in country and know there is no fee for using a foreign currency. Oh, and I can have a Hong Kong dollar wallet too as we have a short stopover there . I can buy drinks or food and only pay the price of purchase.
So with a balance on Cash passport that I can transfer back to my bank there is still a $10 fee and a 2 working day wait to receive funds. That’s not a problem if I spent the money as planned but although I loaded US dollars my guide will calculate as Rand if I use eftpos/cirrus or point of sale machine. The Card issuer will charge a fee for currency conversion at that point. I could have loaded Aussie dollars and paid the same, I could have loaded Aussie dollars and avoided the 1% fee non loading foreign currency, I could have loaded Aussie $ and transferred myself within their online portal to save the 1% exchange fee.
From what I can see the Global Credit Card is better for me, less fees and I can transfer Between wallets without incurring fees. I can make it Aussie dollars on return and spend From it to use the balance. I need fact there are no annual fees on the card but I guess that is because it is a pre paid debit card.
I hope I have explained this well. The Credit union staff were acting in good faith but perhaps did not realise the 1% charge could be avoided had I have loaded Aussie $.
I need short I have lost some money in fees that I was trying to avoid and I have learned from it. I’m hoping others may see this and be “Buyer beware” the small amount I have lost on fees has achieved nothing and may as well be regarded as wasted.
Being my first ever international trip I paid deposit as wire transfer or bank transfer. No problem I’ve paid 50%
I went to pay some more but limited to $1000 us per transaction and a fee of $15? Contacted outfitter sorted.
I got to thinking about saving on fees of exchange rates at point of sale. Eg $2 each time or whatever.
I have a credit card and know I can use it globally but didn’t know all the detail.
I applied for a Global Credit Card online(GCC) but the local bank branch closed so worried my card would not come I went to my credit union. Yes they do a Cash Passport . So I loaded it with US dollars the staff did not understand why I wanted US $ in Africa but cash passport do not offer Rand on their card currency. She advised if there is money left end of trip transfer it to my account do not withdraw at local ATM because of fees. Good advice.
We loaded US$ at the Credit Union to cover the fixed expenses I expected to cover. The catch. Loading as US currency straight off incurs a 1% fee, I didn’t know any better.
2 days later my GCC card arrives in the mail, I read a little on it and realised that if I put Aussie dollars in I can set up wallets within the card for US $ and for Rand for South Africa. That’s convenient as I can pay my US $ balance in Rand to the outfitter. I can make a small purchase in Rand in country and know there is no fee for using a foreign currency. Oh, and I can have a Hong Kong dollar wallet too as we have a short stopover there . I can buy drinks or food and only pay the price of purchase.
So with a balance on Cash passport that I can transfer back to my bank there is still a $10 fee and a 2 working day wait to receive funds. That’s not a problem if I spent the money as planned but although I loaded US dollars my guide will calculate as Rand if I use eftpos/cirrus or point of sale machine. The Card issuer will charge a fee for currency conversion at that point. I could have loaded Aussie dollars and paid the same, I could have loaded Aussie dollars and avoided the 1% fee non loading foreign currency, I could have loaded Aussie $ and transferred myself within their online portal to save the 1% exchange fee.
From what I can see the Global Credit Card is better for me, less fees and I can transfer Between wallets without incurring fees. I can make it Aussie dollars on return and spend From it to use the balance. I need fact there are no annual fees on the card but I guess that is because it is a pre paid debit card.
I hope I have explained this well. The Credit union staff were acting in good faith but perhaps did not realise the 1% charge could be avoided had I have loaded Aussie $.
I need short I have lost some money in fees that I was trying to avoid and I have learned from it. I’m hoping others may see this and be “Buyer beware” the small amount I have lost on fees has achieved nothing and may as well be regarded as wasted.