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Sorry for late reply.

Unfortunately you have to carry USD / EURO. Only limited currencies that can be bought over here.

Am just back from a trip to Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands. Carry Euro or USD and do not exchange at the airport. Best rates can be had at the main markets and you need to visit a few exchanges before you find the best rates.

Guys, a general query on online forex portals such as buyforex.com in Bangalore
I require some small denomination forex in USD so lazy to travel to forex shops

Has anyone done transaction, and how is the feedback ?
From what i know, HFDC, ICICI deal with forex card and i will mostly go with these cards. But for petty expenses thought of taking USD instead of withdrawing money from ATM.

When we went there we had some Euros. But for the most part we used our credit cards. When we needed a bit of cash we withdrew Swedish or Danish Kronur as needed using our debit cards.
Very peaceful because anyway most places accept cards.:):)

Bumping up an old thread. Need to get some USD before Saturday EOD in Pune. Given the current rush at the banks am not sure how long I would need to wait before being serviced. So any pointers to a good exchanger in Pune would be helpful. Even Mumbai is fine if its around the airport. Also I can pay only through a card transaction and not in case given the current state of demonetization.

Also one question, is it better to take the currency in cash or better to take it as travellers cheques. I am off to Thailand for a vacation of 5 days with family and dont want to be running around to get the cheques encashed. Please help

Thomas Cook is a good option. You can get their Forex card as well. You can try them. They have one office on East Street (the junction where you take a right to join back to MG Road )

Cheers

Thanks a lot. I did check Thomas cook but their rates seem to be on the higher side. So have kept them as the last option as of now, in case nothing else turns up

Check with FRR Forex based in Camp. They do have pretty good rates. You can see the rates at bookmyforex.com, which has a tie-up with FRR. I used them on my recent EU trip and would recommend them :thumbs up

I also recently made a foreign trip and needed to get USD on a short notice. Please do check Cox & Kings and Thomas Cook. These guys can come to your house and deliver the FX within 24-48 hours.

I doubt banks will be able to give you USD in your time frame because they are focusing on other activities and they themselves are short of dollars.

In case nothing works out, get currency exchanged at the airport itself. Do not worry about rates/charges etc. I would recommend carrying some Thai Baht/dollars in cash as you would need to pay VISA fees at Thailand Airport. I am sure you will be able to exchange currency at the Thailand Airport also but I will feel safer if you get this thing sorted at the Mumbai airport itself.

Worst case, make sure you carry a credit card which can be swiped internationally. Just call your credit card customer center and they will help you with this. I had a Citibank credit card and just one phone call did the trick.

You need to show 10000 THB or something per family for Visa on arrival. Generally nobody checks but it is safer to carry this amount in THB or USD. The Visa fee has to be paid in THB only. The remaining amount I would say use credit cards or withdraw from ATM there.

PS: Citibank ATMs don't charge you any fee even when using other bank cards. I am not sure if that is still the case but better to try citi before going to other ATMs.

I finally narrowed down to 2 options for forex - Laxmi forex and Thomas cook. Decided to go with Thomas Cook and tried the entire day to make online transfers but it never happened. Not sure if the issue was with ICICI or Thomas Cook but it would just get into an infinite loop not sowing a success or error message. Finally after 6.30 it go through but the rates had shot up then because it was EOD. Adding to it, when I called Thomas Cook they said they have not received and is under settlement. The guy will call me today for next steps. Hope things work fine because am travelling tonight and at present I dont any Forex.

Thank you for the reference. Did try them and they were on the higher side unfortunately

Thank you. Did try Thomas cook and mostly will get from them. Made an online transfer but for them it shows under settlement for them even though the amount has been debited from my account. Hoping it gets cleared today else am in a soup
Thank you. Yes I did check the rules and it says 20,000 Thai Baht for a family. So taking around 10k Thai Baht and around 350 USD which I feel should be enough. Called up my bank and ensured both the credit and debit cards are internationally accepted but the charges are very high. Will keep it as a backup.

Sorry to hear your experience, but last year I used Axis bank Multi currency foreign travel card without any issues.

As for your suggestion above, I think a PIN is also required for making a card transaction, so cvv and card number itself would not do.

Also, for going to a country like Hungary, is it better to carry my Indian International debit card and withdraw Forints from an ATM (only one conversion) or a prepaid foreign travel card where you are going to lose out on two conversions INR to Euro and then to Forints??

For online transactions made while outside India, PINs or OTPs are not required. At least this holds true for all air tickets/hostels.com bookings I make when i am travelling.

Coming to the Hungary part, I think it worked out cheaper for me to carry Euros in cash and get them exchanged at one of the million exchange shops (you need to keep an eye for the best rate, generally found near the Oktogon).

But then my debit card was a Citi Card and they seem to love charging higher for everything.

Tip: Never exchange money at Bus/train Stations or airports. Ask your hotel for the best place to get cash exchanged.

I have USD currency which I want to convert to INR. Called up Book My Forex and was told to provide PAN and passport copy. Why do they insist on these?

If you walk into the nearby Western Union, none of that will be asked.