My home debit/ATM card also gives me a better exchange rate than any Forex desk I've ever seen. Why do people still use those? Is it solely due to familiarity with cash?
2. Some people like to have local currency before they enter the foreign country so they don't have to rely on finding a reliable local ATM before they can spend cash.
2. Depending on where you're from, some countries won't even grant you a visa unless you show them proof that you have sufficient foreign currency (e.g. Germany requires this of South Africans applying for a Schengen visa)
3. Specialist banks offer you additional benefits, e.g. Bidvest gave me 2 electronic bank cards to access funds in a separate, new, account when I travelled in Europe, which had 4 distinct advantages:
* lose one card I have a spare (my local bank couldn't offer that, nor would AMEX)
* my cards were not linked to my 'real' cheque account, protecting me in the event of theft and ensuring I had a backup plan if something really bad happened.
* I could protect myself from currency fluctuations by choosing to hold an account in a currency of my choice, e.g. EUR; if the exchange rate got worse, I used the EUR card, if it got better I used my local bank's credit card
* managing my budget was easier because I had allocated funds for the trip to my new travel account
[1] http://www.nedbank.co.za/website/content/travel_check/forex_...
[2] http://www.bidvestbank.co.za/foreign-exchange/retail-rates.a...
The bank are always apologetic when I return. But so what? I don't want to spend 45 minutes on the phone to somebody in the airport in a foreign country. It's time-consuming, and ridiculously expensive. So I go to the bureau de change.
I've found bureaux de change to give better exchange rates anyway - mostly. Shopping around can be worthwhile, as the favourability of the exchange rate seems to be inversely proportional to the convenience and salubriousness of the place.