• Local Currency and ATMs

Hi,

Going to New York in a few weeks and was trying to figure out best plan for usage there.

So from what I can read myself to is that you can pay from your Local Currency USD account with no markups ?

Does this also apply to ATM and taking out cash from the local USD account ? Can you withdraw money free from your local USD account (Ignoring now the potential fee of each vendor ATMs)

With the introduction of the 0.5 % "Network Fee" for normal MasterCard foreign currency purchases even if they never touch CurrencyCloud, I feel it must be smarter to always exchange money first using CurrencyClouds week rates + 0.5 % fee and then pay using local account, then to pay the Mastercard less good rates + 0.5 % fee converting "live" ?

The Mastercard rate is decent but compared to CurrencyCloud rate + 0.5% Fee, that still would be cheaper than using another card that doesn't have any markup on top of Mastercards rates I'm thinking.

Any feedback on this ? Am I missing something or is this the best way to go about it ?

    @Lars-Cyan-Butterfly#276920 So from what I can read myself to is that you can pay from your Local Currency USD account with no markups ?

    You can connect your card to the USD account. If you then pay in USD currency anywhere there is no additional fee.

    Does this also apply to ATM and taking out cash from the local USD account ? Can you withdraw money free from your local USD account (Ignoring now the potential fee of each vendor ATMs)

    ATM withdrawals are billed regarding to your plan. The more expensive plans Easy Money and Easy Green have 6 withdrawals per month included for no additional cost. If you take out USD cash from your USD account then there is also no currency conversion and therefore no fees from bunq at all.

    The Mastercard rate is decent but compared to CurrencyCloud rate + 0.5% Fee, that still would be cheaper than using another card that doesn't have any markup on top of Mastercards rates I'm thinking.

    I'm not aware of any comprehensive comparison of Mastercard vs CurrencyCloud exchange rate. If CurrencyCloud is indeed offering better rates, then yes, it would be advisable to use them at least in a general sense. For a given trip, whether it would've been better to go via CurrencyCloud and exchange money in advance or via Mastercard and exchange it peu à peu also depends a lot on how the currency market itself is developing.

    Any feedback on this ? Am I missing something or is this the best way to go about it ?

    Personally I like things to be easy and hassle-free. Therefore I just use a single Euro account to pay in different currencies. I'd also be interested in a more systemic review of the different options, though. Maybe my gut feeling doesn't completely add up.

      Thanks for confirming the ATM and card payments from a local USD account. I'm on a plan with 6 free withdrawals.

      As for what is best of exchanging before or not, I'm sure it depends on currency and when you exchange etc, but looking at it right now:

      For a hotel check of 3000 USD etc.

      Mastercard rates with the new Bunq transaction fee of 0.5% on top
      1 United States Dollar = 0.9156776 Euro
      Your transaction amount of 3,000.00 USD = 2,747.03 EUR in your card currency

      Mastercard rate with a card that charges no markup:
      1 United States Dollar = 0.911122 Euro
      Your transaction amount of 3,000.00 USD = 2,733.37 EUR in your card currency

      Exchanging the same amount in the app using Currency Cloud and paying from local USD account:
      Your transaction amount of 3,000.01 USD = 2,740,73 EUR in your card currency

      So in this case, while slightly cheaper buying USD first with Bunq vs using the Bunq Card in EUR, it would have been cheaper to use another card that has no markup on the Mastercard rate. It really doesn't make sense bunq claiming ZeroFX when they add 0.5 % on top of Mastercards rate for transactions that doesn't touch CurrencyCloud.

      I think Mastercard only sets their rate ones per day and it seems USD have become more expensive during the day and it would also be the final rate of when the vendor collects the payment for when using the Mastercard rates. So with a few variables I guess it really depends what is best.

        @Lars-Cyan-Butterfly#276925 It really doesn't make sense bunq claiming ZeroFX when they add 0.5 % on top of Mastercards rate for transactions that doesn't touch CurrencyCloud.

        Yes. FWIW here's Ali's take on that subject: https://together.bunq.com/d/55911/23 As for me, indeed if I would care about these fees that make up <1% of overall costs, then I would simply go with any of my other credit cards. They all give Mastercard rate without additional markup. There are plenty like that on the market, and usually don't even have any fees. Probably not something that bunq is currently wanting to compete with.

        Thanks for the comparison.

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