How do you do purchases and withdraw money when on Holidays abroad?

Thanks for the tips. I opened a neon account.

For the part about it being a debit card I understand that I need to have the cash on my account to be able to pay stuff with it, just not clear about what you mean by making payments “off the grid”. I guess those are not possible at all?

Good point about the 1.5% only also, I didn’t realize it would be cheaper than UBS.

I’ll buy land in Bosnia and my father has a local EUR account (no SEPA as it’s outside EU).

What’s the cheapest way (in terms of exchange rate) to transfer 8k EUR to this account? I was thinking about Neon.

If you don’t bother about the 0.4% fee from Neon, I would use it to transfer this 8’000 EUR. Otherwise, I think that could use (Transfer)Wise to avoid the neon fee.

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Thanks for the suggestion. I’ll transfer 200 euro from Revolut and Transferwise at the same time and check whats better.

@Yanikuza
Btw. Does it make a difference if I first convert my CHF to Euro or just send Euro with CHF deduction?

Most probably Revolut will be cheaper for the first 1000.
Not necessarily on the remaining 7k though.

EDIT: does Wise allow transfers to Bosnia at all?

With Neon ? When I used it last summer to transfer some Czech Kruna to a friend, I just made it in the app from CHF to CZH and neon apply the conversion from Wise plus their fees. I don’t know if it will make a difference if you convert your CHF in EUR and then send the EUR.

By the way I don’t have Revolut neither Wise, I will stick with Neon to do this kind of transaction as I look to keep thing as simple as possible.

Here is my transfer to my friend in Czech Republic:

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Why should Bosnia be an issue?

You’re right. Are there any limits with Revolut?

Is Revolut fix 0.4% fee? I don’t know.
But if so, Then the comparison at e200 cannot be extrapolated to e8000 as the % fee at Wise reduces as transfer amount increases.

It’s not on their list of countries - but upon second look, a SWIFT transfer in EUR may be possible.

Not if you’re on their premium plans.
But “free” currency exchange is limited to £1000 equivalent a month on their lower tiers.

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Thanks for the info. So it will be Transferwise, EUR transfer outside of SEPA is possible. It just takes longer and there is an additional small fee.

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In Europe for euros, I will use the French card or my online bank account Boursorama and book most of the hotel on booking in advance.

Otherwise I will use Revolut+Wise cards so it will give you 200*2 euros withdraw without fees.
I planned usually my trip months in advance so I will load the card with 1000 chf converted in usd every month until I reach the amount I will spend.

I found 2 limitations for the US.

  • They are not working as classic debit card so no cashback possible at the till in USA. Most US bank imposed fix fees ( 3-5usd) to withdraw with a foreign card.
  • Also you cannot use them as credit card for car rental in the USA as it is not a credit card so you need another one. At the end of the trip, I ask to switch the payment card for the prepaid.

Sent 200 Euro with Wise to Bosnia, 182 Euro were received. What the hell? Never using this again.

Will try Neon and Revolut and decide. Maybe I’ll just go with cash and exchange it at Post.

You should check whether the receiving bank is not taking a cut for incoming EUR transfers. Happened to a buddy of mine before.
When sending from Wise, you have a full breakdown of how much they charge you (for cheapest EUR to EUR transfer on 200 amount should be roughly EUR 0.5).

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Nothing to do with Wise.
They are transparent with the breakdown and you see precisely what is going to be converted, at which rate, at what fees and what will be recieved on the other end.
Probably the receiving bank took their bite.

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Btw did everyone experience banks blocking Revolut cards at ATM withdrawals? :slight_smile:
Happened to me in Croatia and Spain so far, I wonder if you saw it elsewhere too?

Happens also in Switzerland, most bank do not allow EUR withdrawal using Revolut. Same atm same time with postfinance worked as expected. Happened 3-4 times

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As I said: SWIFT transfer only, no SEPA.

Your problem is, that you tried to be (too) clever by only testing the waters with a small amount.
I wouldn’t be surprised if you paid the very same fee one the whole 8000 CHF.

…and intermediary banks, possibly.
Especially sending to Bosnia.

My father sent money from UBS to this account in the past (all costs covered by sender for 20 CHF) and the bank never took their share.

I’m not sure what the ideal thing would be now. Don’t want a bad currency exchange rate.

Send self-mined doges!

Or what about revolut to revolut?

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Wait… so Revolut doesn’t alwasy work at ATMs?