Currency rates (added every week or two).

[griffin]

Considering the AU$ has been at 72 US cents for a couple weeks now, and 73 since yesterday, they shouldn't be charging a 5 cent difference.

[TAAUBlaster]

The banks always have a lower rate than market rate. Same way Paypal does.
Still, 5 cents is a bit much.

Buying cash there is a fairly big discrepancy between market rate and the sale rate.

[jazzcomp]

Use 28degMC, better rates than paypal and no foreign transaction fees.

[DELTAprime]

Use 28degMC, better rates than paypal and no foreign transaction fees.

Where do you get a 28 degrees card from? I've seen people on Whirlpool mention using it to buy games from the foreign versions of the Xbox store.

[TAAUBlaster]

http://www.28degreescard.com.au/ is probably the best place to start.

I've been meaning to get one, but I don't know if my wallet can hold another card

[drifand]

http://www.28degreescard.com.au/ is probably the best place to start.

I've been meaning to get one, but I don't know if my wallet can hold another card

Same here.

Stating that, is a weigh up as other credit cards do give rewards so you do get back money for what you pay.

You need to weigh up which is the better way to go.

I found it surprising that Amax from commbank gave better rate than my mastercard from the same bank.

[davieanix]

Just paid for an eBay item from the USA, and the conversation rate was 67c. Ugh

[Smint]

Same here.

Stating that, is a weigh up as other credit cards do give rewards so you do get back money for what you pay.

You need to weigh up which is the better way to go.

I found it surprising that Amax from commbank gave better rate than my mastercard from the same bank.

28 degrees was great when you used to be able to withdraw cash from overseas atms without being charged a transaction fee. People would load up the card with cash before they go on holiday and use it just like an atm card.

I still use mine for international purchases in foreign currencies. Like on amazon where the conversion rate is terrible. No international transaction fees and MC rate probably makes it the best card for online shopping. The saving on international transaction fees usually far outstrips points earned on any rewards card.

For purchases made in AUD i'll always use my citibank rewards card.

[griffin]

As of today, according to xe.com, these are the current rates for AU$1...

- US$ - 0.6962 (down over a cent this week after being stable since November)
- GB£ - 0.4795 (up since November)
- JP¥ - 81.698 (down 6 yen since November)
- EU€ - 0.6392 (down almost 3 Euro cents since November)
- NZ$ - 1.0630 (down almost 3 NZ cents since November)

(bank and paypal rates are 2-3% less than the figures above)

[TAAUBlaster]

Been keeping an eye on this the last few days (and preparing for all the good stuff to start hitting Ebay US ) and I just heard on the news now that financial analysts are predicting the AUD/US won't get back above .70c

The current situation in China is really hitting the markets hard. I'm really not looking forward to going back to the dark days of 0.55c to 0.66c rate.