How to get money (cash) with minimal fees from Europe (Pounds, Euros, Paypal) to South East asia
I have some investments that will be generating revenue in Pounds (UK banks), Euros (Holland, Lithuania) and PayPal.
I am planning on doing a lot of travel in South East Asia (Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia) and will need to withdraw money in those countries, I have both Visa an Master Card (Debit and Credit cards).
After reading a few articles, so far I can see that getting money out in that region might not be as straightforward as going to ATM and not as cheap as I am used to.
What would be cheapest way to move cash and take it out as dollars or local currencies?
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Depending on the amounts needed using transferwise with a local account may be a good solution.
If amounts are lower you can get intra-bank rates for purchases using cards from Revolut and N26. (They also have zero fees on wire transfers and any type of transaction whatsoever.)
If the country you visit isn't very high on card usage, you can always make cash withdrawals using the aforementioned banks either free up to an amount or with a markup of about 1.7% on the intra-bank rate.(just as the other answer suggests always opt for your bank to handle the currency conversion are it will always be higher to do with the local bank processing the transaction)
My experience was that the most cost-efficient way was to find a supermarket that accepts debit/credit card payments at checkout. It is possible in all the countries listed above in all major cities including India.
To take out cash in most of the countries you will have to use ATM, and fees will be around 3-5 USD per ~100 USD taken out. If you get offered 'conversion' at ATM always refuse or you will be hit with extra ~5USD as they will use local (worse) conversion rate than western banks provide.
You can forget (as of 2019) of using mobile providers (Google Pay, Samsung Pay) they are almost nonexistent in SE Asia.
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