Hi all, I'm from Singapore, and for my 3 months trip, most has been paid in advance before departure. So I will only need about 4000 Euros left. I am planning on bringing 3500 Euros as cash, and get the 500 Euros later either by ATM or pay by credit card. Which one will give me a better value for my money: exchanging my Singapore dollar to 3500 Euros from Singapore (using money changer), or just bring around 500 Euros and get the rest later in Europe (using ATM) ? My ATM card from my bank will charge 5 Singapore dollar per transaction + exchange rate. So, which exchange rate is better: bank via ATM machine or money changer from home? Any advise is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
What does your Singapore money changer charge? In the U.S., banks charge about 3% to buy Euros.
Posted by
Bend, OR, United States
1167 posts
You will almost always get the best rate from the ATM plus not have to worry about carrying around a lot of cash.
Posted by
OP
Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
56 posts
Thanks for the responses. Larry, I'm not sure about the charge. Usually in Singapore, the money changer will have a board mentioning the buying and selling rate. And that's it. For example, today the exchange rate in a money changer is 1 EUR = 1.75 SGD, so if I want to change 2000 Euros, I will need to pay 3500 Singapore dollar, without any additional charge. Jeff, I forgot to mention that of that 3 months, I will be based in Nice, France for 12 weeks. And as I'm staying with host family in Nice, it means that I don't need to bring all my money when touring the city or going overseas for the weekend. I can leave most of the money at host family house when doing that. So, is that safety issue still a concern in my case? My other concern is that my ATM card has 5-PIN, and it can't be changed to 4-PIN. And I'm worried that I can't withdraw money from French and Italian ATM machine (which many people say only accept 4-PIN), thus the need of bringing hard cash for 90% of my total future expenses from the beginning.