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+1.

We rajababues stayed at Bintang warison hotel and the forex dealer cabin is right at the door of the hotel.
He gave best exchange rate, the guy is tamil living in Malaysia since his birth.
Go for that dealer blankly, he will give best rate.

In singapore, its Mustafa.

Have anyone used Citibank world money card for Forex ? I am travelling to US on a short trip and do not want to carry cash much. There is something called "cross currency markup charge" mentioned in their website but not sure if this is applied even if you load the card with US$ and spend in US or if we load in US$ and say spend elsewhere. If anyone has any idea,please let me know.

Thanks,
G

Hi Guys,

Am going on a trip to Europe. Am quite confused with the basic travel quota procurement.

My boss (wife) says to buy them so no hassles later, where as I have been pondering if I can just withdraw them from ATMs / use international debit or credit cards

Already gone through the below but cant make up my mind on what's the right approach

http://www.axisbank.com/FeesAndCharg...ndCharges.aspx
https://www.online.citibank.co.in/po...tigold-SOC.pdf
http://www.thomascook.in/tcportal/Fo...reign-Exchange
https://www.sbicard.com/header_foote..._0_011914.html

For the first time, my wife said "for everything you go to your forums then why don't do ask your mates on this too"

(Her opinion is that till the time someone from T-BHP / My exOffice whatsapp group does not instill some sense in me . I will keep on arguing with her stupid: )

As I am flying this weekend, need to decide fast

Can the members share your experiences on this scenario being faced by me

A very good thread ,in a few months down the line me and my school mate will be on the same Europe trip and might as well be in the same dilema though.
I have traveled to US ,Australia and UAE but most of the time have managed with Travelers cheques provided by Foreign exchange agent in the ICICI bank.
Infact when i went to UAE my friends too care of my expenses and i paid them in American Dollars.
When i had ventured for Higher studies had to carry some $'s ,so had used the services provided by Pheroze Framroze & Co Private Limited located in Richmond circle near Malya Hospital Bangalore.What i had observed then was that the customer is in profit by a 1 rupee compared to other locations.
For travel u have now Travel cards available,its a good option where u load Your currency into it and swipe accordingly anywhere.

Personal choice would be carrying travelers cheque of bank so that u dont have to spend much on the exchange rates.Somehow i am not a big fan of cards as every swipe will be charged.
Else talk to ur Credit card company make a deal with them on the exchange rate ,get it activated for that country and use it.

I have been using the travel card-ICICI bank Travel Card on VISA. network, for such trips, very convenient. Citibank world money card is another option - IMO,Travel card is the best option for international travels.
I have used both ICICI and Citibank travel cards and absolutely no hassels in using them.

Ensure you carry some Euros in currency(~400)

I am looking at approx 50 GBP (Just 2 days in UK - food & accomodation already covered) & as you estimated, planning to carry 500 euro agree:

Only concern is additional shopping (Who can stop their wife from indulging in shopping experience)

Need to start checking the different rates available today itself & rechek on friday morning to confirm

Will be keeping the price on google+ as baseline and see how much has been added as mark-up

I have lived in the UK for 3 months.

If you are able to source a forex card from any of the banks, it could give you a sweeter deal than carrying currency plus it will be safer. Every store there accept cards. You will need cash for bus travel if any.

My suggestion, go for a forex card and keep some cash handy.

Its cheaper to use your ATM card(of Indian bank) to withdraw cash. You pay some 2-3 EU + 3.5% extra.
Shop around. I think citibank charges nothing on its own ATMs and prolly 3%.
Using own credit card is also good, just 3.5% over the bank rate.

Difference between buying and selling rates is more than 3.5% always

Checked with axis bank , their multi currency card seems to be a good option

On the flip side , it was charging 85.7 whereas sotc and thomas Cook were charging 85.2

Correct. In fact, Citibank doesn't charge any ATM fee irrespective of the card you use. I withdrew cash using my StanChart card from the citi ATM for free while the StanChart ATM the next door was charging some $5 as ATM fee :Frustrati.

My wife has an upcoming Singapore tour (for around a week) which is being sponsored by the Organization where she is working. Expenses towards airfare, food, commuting and lodging will be borne by her Co.
She is planning to carry 100K INR for shopping and for this I'm thinking of providing her a ICICI Bank travel card (loaded with SGD equivalent to 90K INR) and rest 10K INR converted to SGD in currency. Is this the best option?

@ Night Rider, yes ICICI Forex card is a good option. Another good option is use Vijaya Bank/IOB/IDBI/OBC debit card to withdraw SGD from preferably any Indian Banks ATMs (SBI has many ATMS in Little India, Farrer Park MRT stations in Singapore) .
Using Indian PUblic sector bank debit card at Indian Public sector bank ATMs in Singapore is DEFINITELY cheaper than converting INR to SGD in Mustafa.
Confirming from my personal experience.
SBI, IOB, UCO, Bank of India, Indian Bank, ICICI Bank have good presence in Singapore. Be Desi in Videsh :)

Yes, tsk1979 I agree with you. Please confirm if OBC International debit card really charges 1% as currency conversion markup !! Their website and customer care say so. If true, it is definitely the cheapest.

Live update from Thailand. Obc debit card charged me 1.935 when the spot rate was 1.90. It means 1.84% mark up. It is the CHEAPEST till date on any credit or debit card. In fact, I bought baht for 1.99 rs in India to show for visa on arrival in Thailand.obc, hats off. Keep it up. I will post other currrncy exchange rates on my obc debit card. Thanks.

So the verdict is out. The top 5 cheapest forex methods for overseas purchases:

1) Buy currency from Centrum/Prithvi forex if in Hyderabad. They offer best rates
2) Shop by using Oriental Bank of Commerce DEBIT card.
3) Shop using Union bank of India DEBIT card
4) Use Corporate Prepaid Travel card by Axis Bank.
5) Use Indusind credit card for purchases

I have used all the above 5 methods and posting from first hand experience.
I have rated the above based on the spot rate on the day of transaction and the rate that each of the above 5 methods offered.
The rates range from 0.9% (Centrum forex) to 3.4% (Indus Ind) over the spot rate.
Hope the information helps frequent travellers.

I have an American Express card which has sufficient limit to cover my travel expenses for my upcoming Europe trip. I called up the customer care and was told that the maximum fee that I have to pay for every time my card is swiped is 3.99%.

So assuming my stay related expenses are going to touch 1 lakh rupees, I think paying 4k for 100k worth of INR transaction is decent.

Now I understand that Amex might not be accepted everywhere so I'd also be carrying cash, say about 1500 Euros and 600-700 Swiss Francs.

Does it make sense for me to get a Forex card also? Would a Forex card get me better rates than the 4% that would be charged by Amex?