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Hi everyone :) I live in Australia. I have a remaining money(2,000USD) from my previous trip in the US. Me and my husband are planning to visit Paris maybe in September. I'm not sure whether to convert all the remaining USD$ to Euro here in Australia or in Paris as I would also like to get better rates. Any suggestion/s are welcome :)

Ari Brodsky
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RoseValencia
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    How is this an "exact duplicate"? The OP has currency from a third country, not his home country. –  Apr 06 '16 at 07:47
  • Don't understand why this was marked as a duplicate. Sure, it's a bad question (simple prior research would answer it), and debatably too broad ("any suggestions are welcome?") of a silly situation (how did it ever make sense to take out 1000s of excess dollars?) - but it's not a duplicate. – CMaster Apr 06 '16 at 09:22
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    @CMaster - actually have a chunk of cash left is not uncommon. A lot of folks who are traveling in the states for a month or more, buy a used car, travel around, then sell it before they go home. –  Apr 06 '16 at 09:30
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    Well, regardless of whether the OP could or should have avoided having large amounts of leftover currency, that's the situation they have, so it's a valid question. – CMaster Apr 06 '16 at 09:54

3 Answers3

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Usually it is better to exchange it in Paris. If you exchange it in Australia, the bank will first convert the USD to AUD, then convert the AUD to Euro. And since every time you exchange money you lose a little bit (the bank has to make a profit somehow), you are getting a double loss.

Occasionally quirks in exchange rate negate this rule of thumb, say if the Australian dollar was exceptionally strong against both the US dollar and the Euro, while the US Dollar was weak against the Euro. So it never hurts to look up the various exchange rates and do the math to be safe.

To do the above comparison, you need to look at the Paris bank's "buy" rates for US Dollars and your Australian bank's "buy" rate for US Dollars and "sell" rate for Euros

  • i usually get my best rate at ANY location by using an ATM, since my bank uses the "official" rate (and sometimes better), i.e., no profit. And they refund any fees. You might indeed get a better rate in Paris if you look around first. I haven't been to Paris but I have seen a lot of places in several countries that have a fairly large spread in their rates. – WGroleau Apr 06 '16 at 07:57
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    @WGroleau - But extracting cash from an ATM does not address the OP's question of having USD cash on hand they want to use. –  Apr 06 '16 at 08:16
  • True. But if depositing it in his/her bank gets a good rate, ... – WGroleau Apr 07 '16 at 07:59
  • @WGroleau - it all depends on exchange rates, as even that way is a double conversion. –  Apr 07 '16 at 12:44
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It is generally best to exchange direct (in other words, from USD to EUR) in a country having one of the currencies. This means, you get most out of your bucks by exchanging in Paris. In a third country, such as Australia, the banks will first change USD to AUD, and then AUD to EUR, which means a double exchange, and (most likely) a double commission.

Now, where to change in Paris? Definitely not at the Travelex booths at the airport. There may be bureau de changes downtown with better rates. Most likely the best rates are available at banks. However note that many French banks have no or only very few places which handle cash; you'd have to find out which one does. They may also only exchange cash for customers; if you are with local friends, you may ask them to do the transaction for you; and then you would get the best exchange rate (…and use your "profit" for treating your friends for a nice dinner…).

In any case, know the approximate exchange rates. Online you normally can find the interbank rate, which is the absolutely very best rate possible (the ones big banks pay/charge for transactions with other big banks). For cash exchange, being something around 3 cents off that value is certainly acceptable (USD to EUR or vv).

Max Wyss
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    In Paris, don't change money in a bank. Go to a specialized shop in town, not in the tourist district. For Paris, most competitive currency exchanges are in an area roughly between Opéra and Gare du Nord. – Gilles 'SO- stop being evil' Apr 06 '16 at 22:59
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From looking at the rate history, I would say wait until the rate gets better than one to 1.15. For a year, it's been up and down around 1.1 (one-point-one) but if it behaves like it has the past month, it's likely to go up a little soon.

WGroleau
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    I don't think this quite answers the OP's question. As I understand it, they're asking if exchange rates at home or abroad are more favorable, other things equal, not for predictions of future behavior of the exchange rate. – Urbana Apr 06 '16 at 05:28
  • Isn't it obvious that OP is asking how to minimize losses?? – WGroleau Apr 06 '16 at 09:24
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    The exchange rate is currently 1.13 USD per euro -- which means that there are significant numbers of professional currency traders who're right now willing to buy euros for $1.13 a piece because they don't expect the rate to go below that soon. What information do you have that they don't? – hmakholm left over Monica Apr 06 '16 at 12:38
  • @HenningMakholm: They probably have the same information I have: history of rates for the past ten years. It has been up and down around 1.1 for a week, but going up every week for a month. When I posted, it was about 1.135. Hence the expectation for it to go up, which it did, to 1.14 shortly after I posted, to 1.1447 about 45 minutes ago. Now back down to 1.1394, still higher than when I posted. You said they don't expect the rate to go lower. I said I expect it to go higher (and it did). No contradiction there. – WGroleau Apr 07 '16 at 07:55
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    @WGroleau: If you expect the price of euros to become higher, then why on earth are you advising anyone to postpone buying them? – hmakholm left over Monica Apr 07 '16 at 08:01
  • @WGroleau I think you have it backwards. Right now the USD is very strong against the EUR (and pretty much every other major European currency) compared to historical values. It's a great time to buy EUR with USD. If you expect the value of the EUR to rise against the USD, you'd want to exchange ASAP. Now, if you expected, say, the USD to fall against the EUR, but the AUD to rise against it, OP could sell USD for AUD now, then buy EUR with AUD later. – reirab Apr 07 '16 at 15:11
  • Whatever. Look at the rates and figure it out. It's quite possible I got it backward. – WGroleau Apr 07 '16 at 18:39