Fiji - Wise Insane NZD → FJD Fees, Am I Missing Something?

LBROX-NZ on 03/06/2024 - 23:22
Last edited 04/06/2024 - 23:43

Travelling to Fiji in October and everywhere I turn, the recommended option is to use a Wise card loaded with NZD and use it as you would any debit card using their superior currency conversion rates. However, when checking out their pricing online and using their currency conversion calculator (https://wise.com/nz/pricing/card-fees?sourceAmount=1000&sour…), the fee is a crazy ~3.2% (https://imgur.com/a/fvci8k2) which appears to be one of the highest fees for any currency. Am I misinterpreting something here or is 3+% typical for Fiji when using Wise?

My only reference point is other forum threads online and places like MoneyHub (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pl_N5SwI6Kc&t=235s) who show a fee of 0.89% from ~8 months ago when using, presumably, the same calculator which is far more inline with what I was expecting. It doesn't make sense to me to use Wise with this high of a fee.

EDIT: Signed up and used Revolut to pre-book some things and it worked fine with no fee and only a marginally lower FX rate than Wise quotes.

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  • bigcheese on 04/06/2024 - 07:24
    +4

    The latest numbers you have look correct.
    Wise did a full review of all fees in the last few weeks which resulted in changes for better and worse depending on the currency and the amount converted.
    I had previously converted a large amount of AUD to NZD and this is actually better after the fee changes.
    Looks like some of the smaller currencies such as FJD are worse off.

    In your case it might be better just to use your normal credit or debit card.

    • mpc on 04/06/2024 - 07:52
      +4

      @BROX-NZ it changed recently; has gone from .83% to 3.19% - https://wise.com/price-change/borderless-convert?source=NZD&…

      • BROX-NZ on 04/06/2024 - 13:07

        Aha, the smoking gun. Thanks for linking this.

    • BROX-NZ on 04/06/2024 - 07:36

      This makes sense I guess. I emailed their support and they just said the rate is correct but no explanation on why it has increased over 250% in the past year, that's a bit more than I would expect for a standard review…

  • Drcspy on 04/06/2024 - 07:13
    +2

    I'm currently in OZ . Friend of the Mrs said to get a Wise Card so that the banks didn't get transaction fees and etc . The banks told us the fee was 1.4 or 1.7%% depending on which banks card we used….. You can use Debit card just like at home…TBH I couldn't be bothered messing around getting this Wise card putting fees on it then transferring them back after the holiday….I figured if I spend $1000 it's gonna cost me less then an extra $20 in fees. Not worth bothering about….(Guess I'm not a true Cheapie lol 🤔…)

    • snarkle on 04/06/2024 - 09:22
      +2

      When using Wise, you don't need to convert and then convert back. If you do that, you're paying conversion fees twice. Just transfer NZD to it, and then when you use it, it will convert at the rate and take it out of your NZD balance. Same with withdrawing cash.

      However, some banks have started being more competitive with foreign exchange fees which is great, but obviously check that yours is one of those.

  • gardengirl on 04/06/2024 - 08:52
    +2

    If u hv westpac no fee card, it has good FOREX n no commission.

  • snarkle on 04/06/2024 - 09:37
    +1

    The Wise fees have definitely changed for a number of currencies recently, some, like FJD for the worse. For hotels/online bookings, you're probably just as well off using your NZ bank card to pay.

    Having recently travelled to Fiji, the main problem I found is the high cost of getting cash with ATMs. The local machines can charge some high fees to withdraw cash $5-10 in some cases. Outside of the main tourist areas, cash is still king over there.

    • Alan6984 on 04/06/2024 - 09:40
      +2

      If staying at a hotel, it's always worth asking if they will give you 'cash out' and put it on your bill. Often they want to get rid of cash (can be expensive to handle), and will offer you a good rate with only a small fee (2% say).

      Obviously YMMV, and sometimes they will say yes or no depending on whether they have accumulated a surplus to their requirements.

      They aren't supposed to do it, as it is strictly a cash-advance, and you should accrue interest on it from the day of the transaction, but it doesn't mean it won't happen :-)

  • digitalbugsy on 04/06/2024 - 09:55
    +1

    Looking at the Wise comparison page, they are still cheaper than a lot of the banks when you factor in exchange rates. Not by much mind. That said, ANZ seems to be the best, no fee apparently.

    Link. Scroll to the bottom for the comparison table.
    https://wise.com/us/currency-converter/nzd-to-fjd-rate?amoun…

    • BROX-NZ on 04/06/2024 - 13:10

      Yes, I found this too and found it funny they were essentially promoting ANZ on their own website.

  • kfr23 on 04/06/2024 - 16:09
    +1

    Revolut?

    • BROX-NZ on 04/06/2024 - 19:10

      Signed up to this as it does appear to have much much better fees. Will edit main post if it works out via prebooking some things.

      • BROX-NZ on 04/06/2024 - 23:44

        It worked perfectly, great solution and no fee.

        • kfr23 on 05/06/2024 - 17:20

          Nice, glad to hear

  • Alan6984 on 04/06/2024 - 00:31

    What kind of rates are you getting when you try other options? If they are similarly 'high fee' (whether explicitly fees or in the rate) then it might be something related to issues within Fiji (maybe a tax they have on currency conversions?)

    • BROX-NZ on 04/06/2024 - 00:47

      I didn't check them all but the big hitters like USD, GBP etc are all around 0.3-0.5% and then random countries I tried in EU/Asia never seemed to go above 2% and many were much lower.

      Historically Fiji seemed to be below 1% but something must have changed with Wise to now be charging more than triple the fee within less than 12 months

  • kiwijunglist on 04/06/2024 - 07:06

    I think the Fiji hotels charge a large credit card service fee, i can't remember what it is. Is it 3%?

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