How much do you think you lose while exchanging currency? | Hacker News Reader

How much do you think you lose while exchanging currency?

2 pointsvishanpopat7 comments

We(Team Fluint) are currently working on an app that will make you exchange foreign currency at live rates and skip banks and high commission fees. We are trying to do some market research and understand how much do travellers lose when they exchange cash. Thanks!

Take a look at our startup at www.fluint.io

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I use TransferWise (https://transferwise.com/) which is focused around larger bank to bank transfers but provides the same benefits rates wise.

I've transferred around GBP100K through to NZD over the last 10 months through it with no complaints.

I'm gathering this is more of a matching service for when you come back from overseas with some leftover currency? How big is that market? I'd be surprised if there is enough scale for a PG start-up = growth start-up, but maybe there is for a decent lifestyle business.

I don't have hard numbers, but as a frequent traveler, exchange fees are honestly pretty annoying, so much to the point that I manually exchange money with wealthy friends in destination countries, horde cash like Japanese Yen in a box until I go back, and other nonsensical-in-2015 things.

A lot of countries still operate on mostly cash (like the aforementioned Japan) so getting by with only a CC isn't too feasible. Then, relying on the ATM will cost you a lot of money over time unless you specifically have a checking account at a bank with no ATM fees.

It depends ... In developed countries you'll generally lose at least 5%, sometimes the airport booths really rip you off for 10% or more. In less developed countries it can be much better. For instance when I was in Turkey I paid about 1% to exchange.

I often exchange from US$ to CAN$ (and vice-versa) and the cheapest way, by far, is to trade in cash. Credit cards use bank rates and bank rates can't compete with currency exchange shops dealing in cash.

The problem comes when you want to exchange larger sums of money.

Thanks a lot guys. We will be launching our app soon on Android. Make sure you get early access to our app :)

I pay abroad with my credit card and [I believe] I'm paying only 1% commission. Very reasonable.

Even though I feel like Jesus in the Temple every time I change money I understand why I am paying these fees.

How are you going to make money? The reason for the spread is the costs involved are high at small scale.

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