Every time I travel out of the country, I make it a point to buy the currency of my destination from money changers here in the Philippines. It has advantages if you already have the currency of your destination because you save yourself the hassle of looking for money changers or banks. I often take budget airlines and most of low cost carrier flights arrive at past the office hours, so the most convenient way for you to exchange your money is at the airport, and most of the time exchange rate at the airport is a rip-off.
The next best thing that you can do is to bring an International ATM card. These cards usually have the Cirrus Logo. Cirrus is a worldwide interbank network operated by MasterCard all over the globe. You can use your card in over 1 million ATMs in 93 countries.
 |
| Check your ATM card, if you can see this logo at the back that means you can use it internationally. |
But,there's a service charge of around 2-5 USD every time you make a withdrawal. So if you make frequent withdrawals, it would be costly.
If you want to avoid these charges, the best way is to make an account in a bank which has branches domestically and internationally. So if ever you make ATM withdrawal, you do not incur charges, or if there is, it is minimal.
Today, my friend Mariz, revealed her birthday gift to me. It was an account in a Maybank which has branches in Southeast Asia such as Brunei, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam and even in HongKong, New York, and Bahrain.
This will be very useful in my future travels. The bank officer told me that for every withdrawal I will be charged 30 pesos or less than one dollar, irregardless of the amount. This fee is acceptable.
 |
| My Maybank ATM, courtesy of MAE Therese. Oh well I think she is a major depositor of this bank. hahah |
Thank you very much for the gift...but I do not want to use it yet. Hahahaha.
No comments:
Post a Comment