I have yet to find an easy answer. I want a cheap way to buy new zealand, swiss, and canadian money. anyone here do it?
You could go to a money exchange, but I don’t know if you would consider any of them cheap.
You can get gold and silver francs and maple leafs? Those are really undervalued in terms of the currency they denominate. You can probably buy foreign paper money (cause i think that is what you are referring to) on eBay. Zimbabwe bills are all over eBay.
Hello Mike,
This is one of the greatest businesses in the world. No risk and ridiculously profitable. As a result, it is also highly “guarded” and due to increased government regulation, the barriers to entry have also gotten tougher. Therefore, there is little need for service providers to adjust prices for competition, especially in the USA, where foreign currency is a foreign subject to most.
OK, since we all know that “cheap” is a relative term, I’m going to assume that you’re looking for a small volume solution.
Your request doesn’t provide a lot of detail, such as what currency you’re looking to “buy” it with, where you’re located, do you need physical currency or just transferred digitally to an account.
Assuming you’re already aware of the “exchange rate” profit or loss (and slippage) that will occur and that you will be charged a transaction fee depending upon the size of your transaction, here are some options and rate expectations to compare.
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- Volume may be limited with these options.
- Street corner currency exchanges: 5% - 10% of transaction.
- Airport located exchange services: at least 5% - 10% and higher, depending upon your location.
- Small banks: source their exchange services out as well, so you will get charged not only by the bank but for the third party service as well. Expect the same range of rates. (e.g. http://www.worldcurrencyusa.com/website/landing/)
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- Online services: there are many and most are operating under the same business model as small banks. Again, depending upon what you’re trying to do and your volume, costs will vary but should be less than the options above. (e.g. https://www.everbank.com/personal/foreign-currencies.aspx?tab=deposit-accounts, http://fxglobaltransfer.oanda.com/?srccont=belowgraphic),
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- Big banks: Will have the lowest rates but most likely will require a large minimum volume or existing account to provide this service. (e.g. https://www6.bankofamerica.com/foreigncurrency/index.action)
P.S. Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a “cheap” foreign currency transaction, at any size. Hopefully this is of some help to you. If you have any more questions, please ask.
Phillip
A great site to compare dealer prices is Gold Shark. For example, you can check the prices of different dealers for Krugerrand gold coins. There are links to the dealer websites if you want to buy.
If you belong to a large bank or AAA, those are your best options. Still, you’re looking at about 5% markup over the forex numbers.