Tips to escape the forex traps while travelling

Don’t we secretly admire prudent travellers who meticulously plan every inch of their vacation? But what even the most seasoned travellers miss is the forex aspect of travel. Most of us are blissfully unaware that foreign exchange is one area where a major chunk of your cash could be unknowingly lost. With increasing bank fees, unscrupulous forex agents, hidden charges and volatile markets, the currency exchange rates are in a constant flux.

So, what can you do to avoid losing cash in money exchange? Here are our tips to escape common forex traps.

Elude local forex peddlers

Local forex operators get ready to pounce and corner, when they see foreign tourists. Having marked you as a vulnerable target, they’ll easily intimidate and force you to take whatever exchange rate they offer.

Don’t be carried away when the local operator offers you low rates. Sometimes these local peddlers trick you into quickly stashing the exchanged cash inside your wallets citing security reasons. They would not allow you to count, as they’ve not paid you the entire amount. So, it’s advisable to avoid these local peddlers and reach out to reputed, reliable currency exchange services provider for trustworthy deals.

Shop and pay in the local currency

Shopping is the most exciting part of any vacation. After bargaining hard and carefully weighing the pros and cons of each product, you finally go ahead to bill the items purchased. When the staff at counter asks if you want to pay in your home or local currency, please opt for local currency.

If you opt for home currency, the merchant takes the liberty to convert the amount to be paid to your home currency with ridiculous exchange rates and hidden charges. This is called dynamic currency conversion. By this method you’ll end up losing a lot of money while purchasing. Hence it’s always advisable to pay in the local currency of your destination. The dynamic currency conversion is one of the easiest ruses that will rip off your travel money.

For bigger purchases, use a credit card

If you are looking to make high value purchases, then the most economical way to pay is via your credit card. Since the purchases would be charged, based on the interbank exchange rate, you’re sure to get the most competitive currency exchange price. Hence before travelling, get a "no foreign transaction fee"credit card as well as a debit card that does not charge extra for purchases or ATM withdrawals in other countries.

Opt for travellers cheques

Travellers cheques are safe, pre-printed, fixed-amount cheques, intended to allow payments across currencies. They are secure and easy to use in almost all leading destinations around the world. If lost or stolen, they can be cancelled and replaced. They are also redeemable for the current rate of exchange at most banks in several countries around the world for no fee.

Sounds good, isn’t it? You need not keep worrying about looking for currency exchange houses or forex deals.

Use a multi-purpose travel card

You can also opt for prepaid travel cards, which are the evolutionary successors of travellers cheques. With the exchange rate lock-in facility available, you can lock exchange rates when they are ideal and use the same later on. Managing and using money across countries will become hassle-free with travel cards.

There are several prepaid travel cards such as Gocash that offer multi-currency usage, ATM withdrawal, POS and online payment, and 6 out of 20 world currencies reload facility.

Do your research

Always look around and evaluate the providers of foreign exchange for competitive deals. In addition to offering best exchange rate deals, they should have also been in the market for a reasonably long time with good reputation and have a solid trust factor in the market.

There are several forex service providers such as UAE Exchange that offer competitive currency exchange rates. To facilitate better decision making, they also provide the exchange rate calculator services to their patrons.

So with the tips mentioned above, you need not worry about being ripped off your travel money by getting caught in forex snares.

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