Visa Exchange Rate
One of the best thing about traveling overseas is VISA. Having a VISA credit card allows you to reduce the physical cash to bring when traveling. In addition, when situation arises when you need to spend more than you have budgeted for, your can always use VISA. You do not need to go to a money changer to make purchase in your destination country. Finally, you can immediately call and deactivate your VISA credit card if you have lost your valuables/wallet through theft or forgetfulness.
There is actually another hidden benefit of using VISA. The exchange rate, when making purchase using VISA, is usually better than what you will get compared to any money change/Bureau De Change from airports. And there is no commision fees as well. This benefit is especially pronounced when the currency which you use to purchase is not active on the forex market. For example, spending in Bahrain Dinars or Denmark Kroner – you might be better off using VISA to make a purchase than changing your USD/GBP or any other currency into these currencies at the airport.
It is interesting to note while VISA might give better exchange rates compared to what you get at the airport, it will not give you the BEST exchange rate. For example, the US Dollar/GBP or US Dollar/Yen pairs is active in the forex market, leading to a very lean Bid-Ask Spread. As such, money changers/Bureau de Change may offer comparable rates close to the forex Bid-Ask spread. As such, it make sense to change into these currencies (for example, if you are an American, to change your USD into GBP before traveling) rather than using VISA.
Do you maths. And of couse, which you might mathematically be better of not using VISA, factor in the risk of losing your cold hard cash should theft happens. And also, the inconvenience of waiting for change or having thick swats of notes in your wallet.
At the end of the day, maybe.. just use VISA.
