Changing CHF to USD

Hello everyone,

I need to change CHF to USD for a trip and rather than using my regular avenues such as Revolut, Fx conversion on IB or anything else, I need hard cash.

Does anyone have any experience or tips as to where I can order USD to be sent to my house, or alternatively to the bank where I can collect them.

Many thanks
JM

I’ve always used the SBB for that. Probably not the best rates but not the most awful either and home delivery is available:

https://commerce.sbb.ch/en/currency-exchange.html

Spread is slightly more than 10%. So about 5% surcharge on the exchange.

Quick look (for banknotes):
SBB: 0.9814 CHF/USD
UBS: 0.9675 CHF/USD
ZKB: 0.9800 CHF/USD

If you’re going to the US, it’s probably best to withdraw from an ATM locally.
The USD is, of course, unofficially used in other countries and regions as well, where you might not get it from an ATM - though these tend to be better covered by bureaux de change.

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Or you can talk to @Pidgey who is looking for a buyer for some hard cash USD here

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For actual bank notes we used “Coop Depositenkasse” in the past because I read somewhere they have better rates than SBB.

But if possible, use a local ATM when you get there.

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@Bojack
Suggestion to create a “Hard cash forum forex thread” to pair up folks like these in the future? :slight_smile:

Can be combined with meetings.