Currency Converter

1 . How do I use the Currency Converter? Use the Currency Converter to calculate exchange rates for any day back to January, 1990. Add percentages to get more realistic rates like what you’re charged by banks or credit card companies. Type currency names, 3-letter ISO currency symbols, or country names to select your currency. Convert world currencies, precious metals, or obsolete currencies, which are marked with an asterisk (*). Type values in either side of the converter, depending on if you  have   money to exchange or if you  want  money to purchase items costing a certain amount. Choose a percentage from the Interbank rate list to better approximate the tourist exchange rates actually charged by your financial institution. How do I choose the Interbank rate that applies to me? The "Interbank" rate is the official rate. I’m in Europe and want to buy something that costs 500 euros. How much will it cost me in US doll...

Preparing To Travel As you get closer to your arrival at UC Santa Cruz for International Orientation, we want to share with you this article about Currency Exchange Advice and Oversee Currency Exchange by Susan Breslow Sardone, from About.com Guide. We want to ensure that you have a great travel experience so please read these helpful tips about currency exchange: Currency Exchange Converter Before you travel or as soon as possible, learn what the currency exchange rate is in the country you plan to visit by using the Universal Currency Converter. This utility provides an idea of the latest available exchange rates, based on the mid-point between buy and sell rates of large-value transactions in global currency markets. To Exchange Currency Before You Leave Home Many travelers, especially those flying a long distance and landing in a foreign country early in the morning or late at night when banks and currency exchange desks may be closed, prefer to ac...

Cash advances One can use regular credit cards for cash advances at ATMs overseas but the cost seems unlikely to be less than when using debit cards. Interest charges will also be counted from the day of the cash advance, unless the card is prepaid or paid on the same day. Long or frequent trips On longer trips, or for people traveling regularly, such high percentage costs cannot be ignored in the name of convenience. Credit cards Some credit cards have no exchange rate surcharges on foreign purchases, so that the only cost is the half spread charged by the credit card company. The amazon.ca Visa card from Chase is an example that is popular on the Financial Wisdom Forum. Such cards can be used for purchases overseas, with balances paid in full every month to avoid interest charges. On a $1000 purchase in the US, the total fee is $3 (0.3%, note 1). The cost would be about 0.4% or $4 a $1000 purchase in Europe (note 2), assuming no surcharge by the merchant. Cash...

Calculating the hidden costs of foreign exchange To calculate the fees hidden in the exchange rate, one can try to compare a specific quoted rate to the mid-market (neutral) rate available on a number of websites, but the mid-market rate changes all the time. The easiest method is to get two rates from the same provider at the same time: both the currency X to currency Y rate, and the Y to X rate. For example, on December 1st, 2015, the CAD to EUR rate offered by a big-5 Canadian bank on non-cash transactions smaller than $1000 was 1.4719, whereas the EUR to CAD rate was 1.3670. Sometimes the second rate looks very different from the first (e.g., the second rate would be expressed as 0.7315), in which case divide the number one by the second rate to get 1.3670. The halfway point is (1.4719+1.3670)/2 = 1.4195. Therefore the bank was charging (1.4719-1.4195)/1.4195 = 3.7% to convert CAD to EUR, or EUR to CAD. Presumably on larger transactions the rates offered would be somewhat ...

Currency conversion Currency conversion, also known as foreign exchange (forex), for Canadians is the exchange of Canadian dollars to or from another currency. Many Canadians have financial transactions involving funds that involve a requirement for currency conversion and they should be aware of the fees and margins involved. Banks charge retail customers substantial fees to exchange Canadian dollars to or from foreign currencies. Credit card companies typically charge 2.5% to convert transactions made outside of Canada into Canadian funds.Most Canadian financial institutions offer US dollar accounts and US dollar credit cards, but there is still a need to minimize costs when exchanging between currencies. Prudent consumers have a number of techniques available that can help to minimize the costs of currency exchanges. Within brokerage accounts, there is a low cost way to convert CAD to USD, or vice versa, that has become known as Norbert's Gambit...