Pay by visa debit card in Sydney, Australia

thebourke

Can you pay by visa card in most places (shops,restaurants,tourist attractions in Sydney) or would I better getting money exchanged before i go over?
I am going there in a months time for 5 weeks

cobham

No problem using cash machine in small place outside Sydney......4 yrs ago.

I just returned from 2 weeks in Iceland. In total I was charged €42 in visa debit card charges because it wasn't within the EU. Beware.

jimmy86

No problems using your visa debit anywhere! You should sign up for Revolut or one of the fintechs to avoid bank charges though!

Gael23

You can use it but you will be charged extra fees which over a few weeks will add up

kerry4sam

Thread moved to where it would be better suited.

Thanks,
kerry4sam

Peregrinus

You can buy prepaid Visa/Mastercard debit cards specifically for travel purposes, in which you can put money in one or more foreign currencies. Then, when you spend it (or draw it as cash from an ATM) there is no foreign exchange charge. (There is a foreign exchange charge when you buy the foreign currency to prepay the card, but this tends to be much less. You can set it up so that you can reload the card online from your bank account in Ireland.

An Post sell them, and I imagine the banks do as well.

tuxy

An example of charges from BOI outside EU+EEA

3.5% on ATM withdrawal
2% on all transactions. Both contactless and chip and pin.

Then you also have to deal with their currency conversion rate which may or may not be favourable.

The rates for your bank should be online.

Peregrinus

tuxy wrote: »

Are you sure this was not currency conversion charges?
Some banks give great rates while others are awful.

Card issuers typically give you a not very great exchange rate and also slap on a further charge for handling a foreign currency transaction. It's convenient to be able to use your regular credit/debit card outside Euroland, but it's not especially cheap. Costs are lower if you use one of the foreign currency travel cards that I mentioned, but they need to be organised a little in advance.

tuxy

Peregrinus wrote: »

Card issuers typically give you a not very great exchange rate and also slap on a further charge for handling a foreign currency transaction. It's convenient to be able to use your regular credit/debit card outside Euroland, but it's not especially cheap. Costs are lower if you use one of the foreign currency travel cards that I mentioned, but they need to be organised a little in advance.

Yup, just realised that and edited my post

hussey

100% sign up for Revolut or a similar card. Bank card like BOI AIB etc will lug you with extra charges.
Sydney is a tap and go haven, it has a $100 contactless limit. so no wasting time with pin or signature.