elg26

Exchange currency with Travelex and earn 1 mile for every 2 U.S. dollars exchanged. Plus, if you exchange more than $500 USD, you earn 1 mile for every 1 U.S. dollar exchanged.
The more money you exchange, the more miles you earn.


Have others received this? Is it worth it? I am planning to go to HK next month and was going to just use local HK ATM to get cash..... Is the fees with Travelex not worth it even with the UA Miles earned? I would exchange for about $2000-3000 if worth it.

findark

ATMs give you the interbank rate usually; especially if you avoid the fees (e.g. with Schwab) then no, even 2% isn't going to cover your losses. You can do the math for your particular exchange though.

Billiken

First thought......rip-off.

findark nailed it....hit an ATM at your arrival airport.

WineCountryUA

Received this today also.

The offer for Euro / USD is " 1 USD U.S. Dollar = 0.8039 EUR" from Travelex with free shipping
Today's googled bank exchange rate is " 1 United States Dollar equals 0.89456 Euro"
A bit over 10% exchange commission!!!

A 1 mile for $2 mileage offer is worth something the equivalent of under 1% equivlent rebate

With my Schwab card I get no forex and no atm fees with bank rate exchange rates (the google result), so 0% commission but no miles
With a poor credit card you with get up to 3% forex and maybe a 5€ fee (so about 8% on 100€ or 5.5% on 200€)
Depending on your card you would be somewhat in between those two extremes
With ATM machines the rate will fluctuate, but a 0.1% change in a day or two would be highly unusual.

But the Travelex is the worst of all options

Plus of any the spending (instead of cash) could be done on Chase MP credit card with no forex, you lose out and a even higher mileage earning rate.

The one limitation to the ATM approach is you will have withdraw caps and daily limits ( likely between 250€ to 500€)

jsloan

Absolutely not. Forget the fees -- the real money in foreign exchange is in the buy / ask spread, and travelex is one of the worst. Your "free miles" would literally cost you hundreds of dollars.

Use ATMs, or bring US currency and exchange in Hong Kong. You should be able to get exchange rates that are fairly close to the market rate from a number of the independent exchange places -- there are plenty either in Kowloon or on Hong Kong Island itself.

If you end up with leftover HK currency, plan to exchange it back to US dollars before you leave, use it to pay your hotel bill, or save it for your next trip. The rates you'll get in the US will be atrocious.

seenitall

Typical Travelex premium for a foreign currency's buy or sell price over the Interbank rate is 11% for a major currency like the Euro -- and significantly higher for a minor currency. In contrast, the VISA or MC premium to the Interbank rate is 1%. Even a CC that charges a further premium for forex transactions only takes this to around 3%.

The value of UA mile is 2 cents (at most). So if they give you 1 mile for every $2 exchanged, they are rebating you back 1% out the 11+% that Travelex is charging you. So equivalent to using a CC that charges you a 10+% forex fee. Don't do it. Use an ATM.

elg26

This is why I love Flyertalk! Thanks all!

jsloan

Especially for USD/HKD, as the HKD is pegged at HK$7.85 / US$1. The exchange rate rarely, if ever, moves away from that point, because the Hong Kong Monetary Authority is required to maintain reserves in USD to redeem HKD at that rate. Any movement in the exchange rate is essentially a bet against the stability of the HK government in general and the HKMA in particular -- you'd only see it if people thought that the HK government was going to collapse or be ousted by the PRC or something.

WineCountryUA

Travelex offers a generous
" 1 USD U.S. Dollar = 7.0200 HKD", again a 10% commission for them. A high price for convenience and a few miles.

TomMM

Ever see one of their locations in an airport? Their signs say $XXX = XXX Euros and don't show the actual exchange rate. You have to do that manually.

findark

Yeah, I couched my answer with some weasel words because I assumed I had to be doing something wrong. A 10% one-side spread is highway robbery to a degree I would be surprised to see in person at the airport.

jsloan

That's extremely common at US airports, and still fairly common at non-US airports. It's also not that different from what you'll get from a US bank if you buy or sell foreign currency with them directly.

In a few major US cities with high numbers of international visitors, you can find independent money exchange places that offer better rates, but they're really not that common here.

DutchessPDX

And not all ATMs are a safe bet anymore. Far too many ATMs are still using the Dynamic Currency Conversion scheme to scam you out of money. Recent trip to London, Travelex branded cash machines immediately give you a DCC rate when you try and withdraw money. If you cancel it tries to give scare people because "We can't guarantee your exchange rate" if you don't accept our offer. If you hit cancel you do eventually get the the interbank rate. The last time I checked, it was easily 15%-20% spread between what they offered and what hit my bank accounts.

It's not just ATM's either, Harrods, Prada, Louis Vuitton, and several other high end stores I was shopping at all offered DCC prices that would have drove up my purchase price considerably. So ignorant.

WineCountryUA

Use bank ATMs and stay away from ATMs inside an establishment.

And use noforex credit cards as much as you can and purchase in local currency -- decline offers to do USD purchases (if not the local currency).

jsloan

Personally, I'd use a bank ATM, not a Travelex ATM. That said: always use local currency, everywhere: credit cards, ATMs, whatever. You're never going to be offered a better exchange rate at the point of sale than you'd get from your bank. And, if you're using a card with a foreign transaction fee, and you're trying to avoid it by paying in USD -- you'll still get dinged with the fee, because the transaction itself is still foreign. (Also, consider changing your card .