Exchange rates in fiji at bank or airport

Does anyone know what exchange rates they are getting for Australian/US or Canadian dollars for cash? Are traveler’s checks hard to use? Has anyone seen their visa bill exchange rate?

I spoke with my visa representative and the rate they were going to give me was 15% less then what the exchange rate is. My bank is showing 20% less then international rate to make a cash with drawl plus a $5 fee.

So now I want sort out if I should bring travelers checks... any advice???? I hate getting ripped off from my bank for cash with drawls.

Steve

No problem with t-cheques in my own experience. But you'll no doubt have to go to a bank in a major town.

I rarely if ever change cash. I only have enough for special situations where small amounts are needed. ANyway, in my experience you get better rates with high denomination t-cheques.

I only use a debit card (not credit card) in ATMs. Again, limited to main towns. There's little charge in using them - my bank charges a fixed 5 Euros per foreign withdrawl. That's under 2% on a 300 Euro withdrawl. (for sake of argument, consider euro = $). They also convert the foreign currency, and make their percentage that way. But the cost is still minimal.

wonderful, thanks for the advice. I think that travelers checks are the way to go as it seem that making a cash withdraw from my bank is very much a rip off as i checked the rates and there was a 30% gap btw buying and selling Fiji dollars. Where for example to make withdraws in USA or Aus the gap is only 6%.... I guess they see Fiji as a unstable country or something like that.

Do you have a Visa-supported bank card (through your local bank) or a major Visa (through a large company, say Bank of America) card? Many of the major banks (or ones that haven't gone under :) offer really competitive rates of exchange, and very minimal credit card withdrawl fees. They are banking (bad pun) on you coming back from a trip with a heft bill you're unable to pay, and so they make money off the interest rate. But if you have the cash to pay off the bill immediately, generally there is no extra fee other than the 1% charged by all national exchanges.

With the exchange rates varying so much on a day-to-day basis over the last two months, due to the US and other economies' meltdown, I think the banks are hedging their bets and charging up to a 10% (or more differential. When you charge your card or cash your traveler's check, it may actually take two or three days for it to go through a "corresponding" bank (one that handles int'l transfers), and the exchange rate could vary by a few percent over that period of time. The NZ dollar dropped about two percent in one day last month! So, they are also exploiting this by even taking larger fees.

One thing to check on your Visa/ATM card is the known "foreign conversion fee" etc. which is indicated on the back of each monthly statement. Some are only 2%, others go as high as 5%. From there, they will also give you the worst rates, but at least if you start with a 2% card fee, it would total a little les than those that indicate a 5% card fee.