How best to get c. £600 worth of MYR?

[The real Swiss Tony]

So I need to pay for some ground arrangements in Malaysia in cash. It’s not much per person – but there are 5 of us.

Any thoughts on the best tactic here? We will be in Singapore for 24hrs before flying on but suspect the days of Change Alley being the place to go are long gone…

Looking at bureau de change rates in the UK, there’s a place at Waterloo that’s around 2.75% away from mid or my local Sainsburys is 6.75% away. A BdC in KK (where we will first be in Malaysia) is about 1.5% away

My ATM card would seem to charge 4.75% total. One of us has a Monzo card which would do the first £200 for free then 3% thereafter.

So I’m thinking take some crisp £20s and change at the BdC in KK then do the rest on a Monzo withdrawal?

[anuj]

Why you don’t just get a chase card for this? They allow £500 per day upto £1500 per month.

[TooPoorToBeHere]

MSE has a forex price comparison. Use it to find the best value and pay by debit card.

I’ve often found best value is M&S travel money – collect in-store – for “major” currencies. High street places in the UK have terrible walk-up rates but can be very competitive if arranged online.

Drawing cash while there on a sensible card with no fees is probably the best rate of all, but you can’t rely on your card issuer permitting a sudden £600 cash transaction on the other side of the world, even if your daily limit permits that and you call them first.

[SamG]

Still plenty of places to get good rates in SG but that’ll involve a double exchange from GBP

The thing to check is the ATM fee itself. I don’t think I’ve ever used one in MY I always changed up before I went as I worked at Raffles Place but in other countries e.g. Thailand the fees can be chunky! In that case taking GBP and changing there may work best. I usually did this (with SGD) if I hadn’t done it in SG before I left

[PeteM]

The real Swiss Tony wrote:

Looking at bureau de change rates in the UK, there’s a place at Waterloo that’s around 2.75%

The guys at Waterloo (Currency Online Group) are good (although it’s a bit of a convoluted set-up to pick up as they are in a WeWork style office), there is a £500 minimum, but that isn’t a problem for you.

[The real Swiss Tony]

Thanks all.

Guess I’m also mindful of the number of notes involved. The biggest MYR is 100 I believe – and would I even be able to get 40 of those? Going to be quite a chunk in the wallet.

With the Chase card (and presumably Monzo too) we are still liable if the ATM operator levies their own fee, right? Using one at a bank won’t be a problem but i’m now erring towards just taking all GBP.

[SamG]

Yep that is the biggest note – I’ve paid for a couple of boat trips out of KK with a pretty big wedge before!

Yes you’re liable for the ATM fee. Even in Singapore some of the bank ones (DBS at least IIRC) charge $5 to foreign cards. I vaguely recall that UOB ones do not

[aseftel]

SamG wrote:

Yes you’re liable for the ATM fee. Even in Singapore some of the bank ones (DBS at least IIRC) charge $5 to foreign cards. I vaguely recall that UOB ones do not

Yes, UOB have fee-free ATM withdrawals in SG. Most others don’t.

[rams]

I have found you get better rates changing GBP there. Often have a money changer in shopping centres