He guys,
I have an indo surf trip booked for later in the year that I have to pay for in US Dollars. I've been on a couple before, but never organised one for a group.
What's the best way to get the money off the other 10 guys and into the charter co's indo bank account in one hit?
Hints, tips and suggestions would be appreciated...
Could they all transfer money into your account, then you can do the conversion and fire it off. Saves 10 different people trying to do a currency exchange. As long as you're happy being responsible for it and having to organise everyone, which can be a pain in the arse.
Yeah that's what I did for the 10% deposit.
I got everyone to transfer the equivalent into my account, then we would only have to make one foreign transaction. Only problem was that between Guy1 and Guy10 paying their deposit, the value of the Aussie Dollar dropped sharply, leaving me to make up the difference.
I'd rather avoid that next time round if possible.
If you are the one organising the money add an extra ten percent or something to cover contingencies like currency fluctuations, transaction fees etc, if there is coin left over us it for taxis etc or buy a round of beers once it's all paid for and you know what's left.
Swings and round-a-bouts...
I've found these things eventually even out in the wash. That being said, when I organise these things (diving), I have a 'cut-off date' to have money in my account. After that, you are on your own.
The larger the group, the more you will be out of pocket as people start pulling out closer to the date.
I haven't looked into it yet, But i was told this morning to get a OZ Forex debit card. Apparently they only charge .5% to transfer money. Instead of 2% by most major Credit Cards..
Currency Fair
I use it for all overseas currency transactions and cash transfers to bank accounts abroad etc.
Way way cheaper than any bank.
www.currencyfair.com/
Select to expand quotejbshack said..
I haven't looked into it yet, But i was told this morning to get a OZ Forex debit card. Apparently they only charge .5% to transfer money. Instead of 2% by most major Credit Cards..
Been using these guys for years. You can transfer money to USD accounts online via B-Pay and with a huge saving in rate raping you get from the banks.
Normal banks not only charge you a transaction fee but give you bad rates. eg if the Interbank (like you see on TV) is 90cents they'll change you at 95 or 96 cents and then whack you for $40 for the transaction...... A joke.
Oz Forex have very small transaction fees and will save you around 4 cents on the same transaction. Make that over $20K USD you need to pay and you just saved yourself almost a grand. That's a lot of Bintang and you don't even need to go the branch.
Probably not the preferred option (CMC's option is a good one) but an alternative is:
You transfer the full amount in USD and then collect the equivalent AUD from your mates.
For example, let?s say your trip is costing you US$10,000. You go and buy the US dollars at an exchange rate
of say $0.90 so it costs you A$11,111. You have 9 mates that are coming with you so each one transfers A$1,111
into your account. This way there is no fx risk to you, the only risk is your mates not paying. (Of course this
assumes you have the spare muller to pay the full amount upfront).
Are you booking it through surf travel co or one of those mobs or doing it straight to the boat? We ended up going though a travel agent so we were covered if the charter didn't go ahead for some reason...apparently there have been cases of boats not going in the past.
Select to expand quoteTux said..
Are you booking it through surf travel co or one of those mobs or doing it straight to the boat? We ended up going though a travel agent so we were covered if the charter didn't go ahead for some reason...apparently there have been cases of boats not going in the past.
My normal credit card has the same feature, plus it gives me and family full travel insurance..Thats the only thing that has held me back. I may book with my card and use the other for normal spending..
