Wise or Similar Card for Use in Oz

Drcspy on 01/02/2024 - 07:12

So Cheapies - I know several of you are well travelled. I haven't been to Oz for about 10 or more years. Last time the Mrs and I just used our bank cards and extracted $500 in cash now and then from an ATM at $5 per transaction cost. This seemed ok. This time I checked with the bank and I think Westpac said 1.9% and ANZ said 1.4% transaction fee per transactions for using the Eftpos/Debit card for ordinary transactions. Yet we have friends who say "Get a Wise Card". Now, tbh we may travel a bit more after this little adventure but not sure yet so it's not an issue to have easy multinational card - yet. So what's the point of getting such a card as opposed to paying a small fee of less than 2% for using the existing card as Eftpos. I reckon that if during the week we're there we spend $1000 then less than $20 on top of that for bank fees wont mean much….

What say you Cheapies ?

General Discussion

Comments

  • boovohh on 01/02/2024 - 08:51
    +2

    With bank cards you would pay a transaction fee and they would have a foreign currency conversion fee (about 2%). With wise, you can load your money in NZD on wise and then convert it to any currency you want to with minimal fees. For example, I converted $1900 NZD to AUD, I got the best rate (which my bank would never give) and the fees were $8 for that transaction. Thats like 0.4% fees. And when you convert it to AUD or any currency, you do not pay fees on transactions. It acts like a domestic debit card and the money will go from your AUD account on wise rather than NZD

  • Jizah on 01/02/2024 - 08:58

    From what I can gather, you don't even need to convert to AUD before you spend, you can just leave it as $1900 NZD? Letting it transfer on the fly costs the same in fees as changing it in advance.

    This means you don't have to change any remaining balance back and pay fees again then.

    • justaddwater on 01/02/2024 - 09:02
      +1

      yep, however if you know you're going to spend 5k+

      you can setup auto conversion when exchange rates are low

      but then again money in Wise is not earning you interest rate so, swings and roundabouts

  • bigcheese on 01/02/2024 - 09:15
    +1

    Wise also gives you the ability to have virtual card numbers that can be frozen or deleted after use.
    This is much more secure - you can literally buy something and then immediately delete the card number so the chance of anyone skimming your details are almost nil.
    Deleting the card only works for paywave or online transactions but it's definitely something I have utilised.
    You can then immediately generate a new unique card number for future purchases.

  • LupinS on 01/02/2024 - 10:59

    Do you have a credit card?
    Are you spending over $1000?
    Do you need to take any cash out?

    If yes, no, and yes, then your EFTpos and credit card are your best options. It's like a 1% difference on the CC (and you keep all the protections and points), and your EFTpos card will enable free international withdrawals ($7.50 was the cheapest one for Wises on the Gold Coast).

  • nigglej on 01/02/2024 - 19:32

    When I travel to Australia I don't use cash. It's less secure and more admin to handle. There is pay wave everywhere so you don't need it unless shopping at farmers markets type places. If you'll spend enough, Wise card is best as it is lower conversion fees and gives you the option to withdraw cash from an ATM if you need it. I'm going there in May and will use a combo of Wise card and my own points earning credit card

  • Drcspy on 02/02/2024 - 07:12

    Yeah these lower conversion fees on Wise card etc, is it worth the bother ? We'll only be there a week and it's not any kind of 'shopping' trip just a bit of a holiday/change of scenery. I can't see spending above $1k really.

    • nigglej on 02/02/2024 - 20:53

      If I was you, I'd just use my usual credit card.

  • Aba22 on 02/02/2024 - 07:38
    +2

    Revolut is cheaper than Wise. No fee for topping up using Apple Pay and almost no conversion fee to AUD. Can also get a physical debit card for free whereas Wise charges for that now. Also very quick to transfer the money back to your NZ bank account. Their current exchange rate is 0.9327.

    • ace310 on 02/02/2024 - 10:53
      +1

      So if you have credit card linked to apple pay, that would mean it's a cash transfer right?

      • Aba22 on 02/02/2024 - 11:01

        Not entirely sure. I was actually able to use Revolut applepay to get cash out of a prezzy card so maybe not?

  • CJ on 04/02/2024 - 23:29

    Westpac has a NO FEE card, no annual card fee, and no currency exchange charge. I recently used it on my trip to Korea. I have also taken some NZD to exchange in a local bank. After making one purchase, I checked my transaction on the Westpac app, the exchange rate is almost the same (in fact even slightly more favorable than the cash exchange). But it depends on the destination, such as Thailand, I would say cash is more welcomed on food etc than card.

  • psychowei on 05/02/2024 - 01:03

    I use my ANZ Platinum Cashback card instead of my Wise. I found the rates to be almost similar…

    Visa Wholesale is currently 0.93039 NZD/AUD
    ANZ has a 1.3% CC fee. This brings the effective rate down to 0.918300
    Wise currently has a rate of 0.931286 NZD/AUD

    But ANZ's cashback rate of 1/120 offsets some of the CC fees.
    0.925953 is the final rate for NZD/AUD with ANZ.

    So the effective difference is $5.34~ per $1000 (0.534%) for using a cashback ANZ instead of a wise.

    Doing the same for a TSB Mastercard Platinum, you get $5.08~ per $1000 or 0.508%.
    Note that as forex fees are charged separately, it's not exactly $5.34, but it should be close-ish.
    Also note that for some credit cards, 50% of your prepaid travel expenses must be put on your card. This may also include hotels depending on what card you have.

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