Current Wisdom on Buying Shekels?
 

Hi all -

I apologize if this is a re-post. I haven't been active on FT for some time and I'm a little lost...

...I also haven't been back to Israel in about 3 years, which feels like 300. I used to withdrawal NIS, either from a US bank account, or by using a Visa card. In the past, with certain cards, as long as you had a credit balance, you could trust getting an institutional-level exchange rate, and you didn't have to incur any per-transaction conversion fees.

I gather from a friend that none of the cards we're currently carrying are very good for this kind of cash withdrawal.

Suggestions?

Well, the answer is so complex that there is no way to start.

A. what credit cards do you have?
B. what is the exchange rate they give? institutional? official? commissions?

The only people who can answer you these questions are your bank card issuers.

You also should check with them what are the charges associated with just swiping your card.

On the other hand, exchanging bank notes into Israel Shekels at the airport is among the worst things you can do. It's better to buy train tickets in the automatic machines (in case you need to go to Tel Aviv/Haifa) which speak sufficient English.

You can exchange USD into NIS (and for that matter EUR notes into NIS) in many places in the big cities, with relatively good rates. As usual - check before hand the rates and charges.

Thanks - I definitely understand the need to contact my own card companies. I'm gathering from friends and family that the cards I carry have already essentially 'crossed over' to having unappealing transaction fees and such.

Rather, I was hoping that perhaps there's a card or cards out there that somebody has identified, that DO have good terms, and to which perhaps we might want to switch before our next trip.

I guess LY just started selling Sheks,Otherwise this thread does not belong here in the LY Forum.

Please people this is not an everything Israeli or Jewish Forum. But the LY forum

Id say this should have been placed into the Middle East Forum and hopefully a Mod will move it there ASAP

Done.

Regards,

Canarsie
Senior Moderator

Some specifics:

I have a Capital One Platinum card for many years.

Every transaction in Israel, be it an ATM withdrawal or a charge in a store is $5.

Pending on the trend of the dollar, I will usually make one significant ATM withdrawal at the airport.
It is the most recent bank rate, no fee (other than the $5). Then if I need to buy something with the card I factor the $5 into the cost.

I do call them before I go, and I enjoy a great rate with them.

are you using a Debit card??

cause I always use my Cap1 Visa CC and never had a $5 charge or fee added to any purchase in any location, that doesnt include using an ATM = ca$h advance

This page should help answer your question.