My experience is different. Because getting cash means getting it from money changer and their rate can never be as good as Bigpay's. And if you change too much cash and didn't use it, converting it back to RM with money changer means you lost again.

I would use BP as my primary usage.

Hi touristking. May I know what's your experience with withdrawing cash overseas (through the local bank's ATMs and not other type of ATMs) with malaysian debit cards vs bigpay prepaid card? Do you still recommend withdrawing cash with bigpay instead of malaysian debit card overseas (as bigpay rates are very close to xe rates)?

Also i see that you mentioned 'getting cash means getting it from money changer'. Would this be different in your eyes if I get the cash through withdrawing from the local banks' ATMs with bigpay/malaysian debit cards?

I do note that you've mentioned you use card for most of your expenses overseas. Haha sorry for the confusions caused to you and ajay67, as I have already decided to withdraw most of my cash overseas and in the following order in terms of preference:
1. withdraw cash overseas with bigpay/malaysian debit cards
2. bigpay for main card transactions
3. CC / debit cards as backup
4/1A. A bit of cash for emergency already with me upon arrival overseas.

Any feedback/or even criticism would be appreciated.

i cant tell the difference

What do you all do with the leftover foreign currency?

1. Keep for next travel (anticipate a higher rate in future)
or
2. Dilute it (might lose the exchange rate but better cost opportunity)?

My bank doesn't charge me for withdrawing cash from overseas's ATM machine. For some people they do charge RM 10 or RM 20 per withdrawal, you have to check with your bank. Having said that, I notice they charge me about 1 - 2% higher than xe.com rate.

Bigpay charge me RM 10 per withdrawal. So withdrawing large amount of foreign cash, BP may be better. You have to do your own math whether to use BP or your bank's ATM card for your case.

Again you have to do your own math whether to get cash from ATM machine or from money changer. It all depends on the exchange rate they are giving you and the amount you are getting.

In some overseas airport arrival hall, to use the trolley, they are coin operated and sometime accept small notes. So don't only carry 100 dollar bills.

This is a "trap" we sometime fall into. We sometime tend to think all ATM are operated by bank but in reality, they are not.

And in a foreign country, there are bank with names we have never heard of. So what I do is, I did a quick Google.

You can call me paranoid but my No.1 preference is an ATM inside a real bank. Less chance of an ATM machine that have bobby trap like this video


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ll4f0Wim4pM

It it's widely used currency like US dollar, that is fine. I have lots of different countries currency sitting in my drawer going nowhere. That's why I now carry minimum cash of a foreign country and sometime just put them in donation box in airport, if there is any.

Good info this. Will check next time. So basically u r saying wdraw cash from BP at a bank's ATM is much better exchange rate than at money changer's ATM right? The reason i wanted to wdraw cash at airport at the time was to pay back my son since he used his own debit card to pay for hotels etc. So i decided to pay thru TT from msia instead.

Ok, thanks ya for the sharing and useful information.

1. Always Keep it

Not really. Mainly yen, euro, and Swiss franc which have been losing based on the last exchange rate. Looking at the opportunity cost that I missed if I put the money to work somewhere else.

That's my initial thought too in case I am planning to go or MYR drop more. Lol

More discussion welcomed! (=

USD. What I meant is, with USD, I can use it in many other countries. USA. Europe. ASEAN. It's widely accepted everywhere.

So any left over, I keep it till the next travel.

I recently changed rm250 worth of THB at ioi mall and the staff ask for my ic, work position, i wanted to know anyone else being asked for detail when exchange small sum of foreign currency? Is it bnm changed ruling for currency exchange?

from my experience, sometime they ask, sometime don't ask. even at the same kiosk. maybe at random?

yes, even you changed small amounts...

Buying thai baht with 200 pounds. Pm me thnks

Merchantrade booth at MATTA Fair offers pretty good rates on currencies

Nowhere in Europe they accept USD. And the exchange rates there are mostly not good. Actually you would make a better deal if you exchange USD @ Mid Valley to MYR and then to EUR than using European money changers.

I prefer to hold EUR, can use better than USD. Except in all parts of America surely. Where I almost never go.

What I meant is, it's easily convertible by practically all money changer around the world. Compare that to Ringgit and you will know what I mean.

USD is the world reserved currency so its accepted worldwide with any money changers in the world. I hold a good amount of USD and also Euro cause I travel a lot and I make those currencies from my job