You may be wondering where’s the best place to exchange money or how to spend money internationally without incurring massive fees. As we all know currency exchanges absolutely rinse you in fees, whilst giving you terrible exchange rates. Everytime you make a transaction into a currency, you lose money!
We all know those counters at the airport or even in city centres can be pretty terrible. It’s clear now that even places like the post office or the little M&S banks aren’t exactly great.
Whilst credit cards are a decent alternative, they detract from the happy go lucky vibe you want from travelling abroad. For my fellow Millennials and GenZ credit cards can often seem intimidating.
If you don’t want or can’t get a credit card then you’re probably looking for another way to spend abroad. One that doesn’t require withdrawing large amounts of cash. Whilst credit cards offer a viable solution, I would prefer a live action visual of events rather than paying it all off another month later.
Disclaimer: This article should not be considered as financial advice. You are responsible for your own financial research and decisions. Please note this post contains affiliate links.
Andrew | Mr Money Side Up
Where’s The Best Place To Exchange Money?
As it turns out, it’s no longer a physical location but a digital space.
I didn’t even check the exchange rates in any of my local currency exchanges. It was obviously going to be cheaper. The digital service I use was hands down going to be the most competitive. I’d used them on previous trips abroad and knew that the service would be impeccable.
It was only when research rates for this article and I actually said “what the f**k is this” when I saw some of the rates available from other banks and currency exchanges.
I was getting nearly 1.19 euros to the pound but major high street banks, supermarkets or local currency exchanges, are offering under 1.16. You can use this money saving expert tool to see how much you’ll get ripped off. However, there are usually fees and then to get it delivered you can expect a £4.99 delivery charge from the likes of Sainsbury’s.
To add a final blow, once you’re finished you have to ‘sell’ your surplus currency (at additional cost), then go and put it back in your bank. That means on a rate 1.16 to 1.19 you would have lost £45 on a £1,500 transfer.
How To Spend Money Internationally
The tragic exchange rates and fees I mentioned earlier are just for cash too. You want to pay by card, you’re getting hit by 2.99% fees or flat £4 charges! That’s if you’re lucky! What makes it worse however, is the fees are often hidden behind the terrible exchange rates.
So, how can you spend money internationally all whilst looking like a local. How can you spend money internationally on a card and not incur horrendous fees?
The Solution…A Multi Currency Account
Wise – Formally Transferwise when I first started using it is a revolutionary currency exchange platform, or that’s where it all started. Now it’s one of the most exciting Fintech startups around and there’s a whole host of reasons you need to download this app right now.
Whilst there are other currency exchange platforms. There aren’t many other apps I know of that allow you to create a bank account in the country you are going to. That’s right. When you go abroad you’re not only using a card to transact money and relying on whatever exchange rate you’re given, you can actually manage your money in multiple currencies.
With Wise, you can actually open up the equivalent of a bank account in over 54 currencies: AUD, BGN, CAD, CHF, CZK, DKK, EUR, GBP, HRK, HUF, JPY, NOK, NZD, PLN, RON, SEK, SGD, TRY and USD. You actually get the equivalent of a sort code, account number, bank location etc. It’s amazing. You can send money in to a total of 80 countries too! Check them out below.
You know, there’s nothing like the feeling of opening up a bank account in a forein currency and actually spending as if you are a local. We all have extra things to remember whilst travelling in the covid era. It made our recent trip to Cadiz that much easier. We didn’t have to exchange any pounds for euros of mess around with actual cash, while there.
My Experience Living In Australia
I also used Wise when I was in Australia as I could quickly set up the equivalent of an Australian bank account so I could start spending in the local currency ahead of actually landing.
When I landed both my girlfriend and I secured jobs in Australia it also meant we didn’t need to rush down to the bank to set up an account in order to get paid.
Although, we did later try this and despite copious time and effort, never actually managed to get a bank account! So, Wise actually saved the day numerous times! Without Wise, we would have struggled to spend and struggled even more to earn! Which would have left us in an already precarious situation.
By the time we returned to the UK we had several thousand in $AUD, so it’s great that the fees for transfering it into GBP were mininal. As you can see below, they’re significantly lower than major banks. You can compare these fees using the interactive tool below.
The true cost of sending GBP to EURReceive & Make Business Payments In Multiple Currencies
Wise is also incredibly useful if you want to build an online business. You can work with clients from all over the world. It no longer matters if they are in the US or elsewhere in Europe. You can get paid in their currency and that makes things so much easier!
It’s easy to get started, with both the personal or business account. Once you have one setup it’s easy to open up the other. I started using it for the latter as I needed to get paid ad revenue in $USD. Within the same account I could easily transfer it into my £GBP balance and bank account.
Since then I expanded my business account to get paid into £GBP too, but as I set up my domain name and website in USD (for some weird reason) I can easily transfer my earnings over to pay for that.
Where’s The Best Place To Exchange Money … Instantly?
Wise claims that 40% of their transfers are instant, not that I’ve noticed anything but instantaneous transactions. You’ll also be impressed by just how cheap transferring money is. Wise have made expensive money exchanging a thing or the past!
For example, it recently cost me just £0.52 to transfer £150 into 117 euros. I didn’t have to wait on any currency to be posted to me or go down to a local currency exchange. Just like that it was done! You can test out how affordable it will be to convert money with Wise using the below interactive tool.
However, with my affiliate link you can actually get your first £500 money exchange or international transfer for free. In fact this is just one of some great offers (including free cash and share offers) you can find on my fintech for you page.
Stop Those Currency Exchange Headaches
What I like about Wise is that every transaction you make whether in the UK or abroad is instantly visible on your account. As a result you know exactly how much you have left to spend. This is a far cry from constantly counting your cash throughout the holiday!
However, should you miscalculate and start to run out of money, you don’t have to start asking where’s the best place to exchange money? You don’t have to start searching for currency exchanges, you can simply transfer money from your GBP balance into your desired currency.
…and that’s how to spend money internationally in the modern age.
Should you want to save even more money with Fintech, then check out my Fintech for you page. Oh, and Wise now have an assets feature, meaning you can now invest with Wise.
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