I will bring U.S.currency to Taiwan and would like to
know where to convert the currency to Taiwan dollars,
should I use the currency exchange at the airport terminals,
or should I just withdraw money from the ATM machine in Taiwan?
Which is the best way for less damage to my wallet
Thanks very much, Ric
Check with your bank to see what fees and exchange surcharges they have when using your ATM card internationally. If they don’t have a fee and charge 1% or less surcharge then it’ll be pretty close. Anything more and exchanging cash at the airport will be a better deal.
It costs me 8 US dollars to withdraw 10,000NT (just over 300 USD) from the ATMs here in Taiwan. With my bank (Bank of America) it seems that this is the only option. Not all ATMs will work by the way, you’ll need to find an ATM at an international bank.
Right, in my experience living in Taiwan also traveled to over 35 countries multiple times… ATM is best if you have good bank and they give you low service fees, etc. I always use ATM over airport, except for unexpected needs or last minute pick-ups…
But beware, the first 3 times I used my ATM card in Taiwan a year ago, it charged my account but never gave me the cash. 3 different bank machines and banks, all in 101, all within about 15 minutes. Tried to withdraw the cash, but did not give me anything, yet billed my account. And this happened to some other here I know also.
And I usually use cash instead of credit or debit when traveling. Once in awhile, someone will get the carbon or card number and charge it. So I just withdraw lots of cash as needed from ATM and pay as much as possible with cash. Hotels, almost always on credit card, but not much else.
[quote=“tango42”]But beware, the first 3 times I used my ATM card in Taiwan a year ago, it charged my account but never gave me the cash. 3 different bank machines and banks, all in 101, all within about 15 minutes. Tried to withdraw the cash, but did not give me anything, yet billed my account. And this happened to some other here I know also.
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Last week I was in a hurry and didn’t have time to run across town to go to my usual bank, so I went to two ATMs down the street from my apartment. They both excepted my card, I put in my PIN, and got as far as entering in the amount of money I wanted. Once it started processing this they both spit my card out, said declined, and printed out a receipt showing the amount I wanted withdrawn. I have since triple checked my online banking to make sure that I wasn’t charged. Thankfully I wasn’t. I would recommend that everyone always check their bank statements if you experience something similar, as you might not be so lucky (tango42 wasn’t).
Yes, as in (Vertigo’s) example, I was given a receipt that showed how much I tried to withdraw. The charges actually showed up on my account more than 5 days later. I could tell by checking online because I immediately checked and it looked ok. But then later it showed up on my account as a withdrawel.
I spent long minutes on the phone with my bank back home, and they were finally able to correct with all three banks locally. I possibly could of gone into the local banks, but I was here only about 3 days so far and had not clue how to work locally. So I let my bank back home take care of it.