Epassporte exchange rate figures?
 

Anyone know which exchange rate figures Epassporte use when cash is withdrawn from ATMs in other currencies? I want to make a reliable monthly average for tax purposes. The numbers I see on sites like XE.com seem to be lower than what they use.

I would ask their support but I was hoping for an answer this century.

We don't set the exchange rate Visas does so I can not give you a number.

I thought it was the bank where we withdraw the cash that sets the exchange rate? no?

Hmm you might be right Ben. I notice the average exchange rate listed by month at the ATO site is around 1 cent per dollar different than the average rate I get from the XE.com site. The ATO figure is closer to what I seem to actually get when I withdraw cash... I don't want to pay the bastards a cent more tax than necessary is all.

If you do an online statement with epass you can see the AUD amounts as well - calculate the totals of both "real" AUD you got out of the machine, and "estimated" AUD based on the ATO's figures, then choose the smaller figure to declare. *taps nose*

You can also figure out the exchange rate from the transaction...

Visa 18 Oct 2008 ****** -500.00 AUD $-358.60 $*****

$AUD358.60 / ($USD500 - $USD2 ATM fee) = 0.72 exchange rate

...but then it would be just as easy to total the AUD amounts.

Looking at Westpac's forex rates, conversion tiers go something like this...

Telegraphic Transfer (wire) - best rate
Cheque - next best rate
Cash - 3rd best rate
Visa - worst rate

XE tends to show rates which are closer to T/T than cash or Visa.

For this quarters BAS I decided to just record the AU$ totals I withdrew from epassporte, but my accountant reckons that could get me into trouble as you are supposed to record the payments received regardless of whether the account is in Australia or not. So I'll go back to using an average.

I thinks it's $3 a withdrawal too now.

Yeah, I see what you mean, I have a similar issue... it needs to be accounted for at the time it's received rather than when you actually convert it to AUD.

There's a page somewhere on the Visa website which shows the exchange rates... Michael? Not sure if it shows history though.

This has been brought up a couple of times and has never really been answered properly. I'm pretty sure Visa would tell epassporte what rate they charge i.e. interbank rate plus 2% or whatever it is. The actual figure value will vary of course, but the the way the rate is calculated will remain the same.

Visa and Mastercard make a fucking fortune from these conversion rates and everyone who travels should check what the rate is with their bank.

For example my first Visa card charged 2.75% commission on foreign currency and my Visa bill has about EUR1,000 of foreign currency transactions every month. Switching to a card that charged 1.5% (premium card with lots of perks, but costs EUR150 a year) pays for itself in what I save so I get a shitload of perks for free.

Moral of the story... read the small print and extra charges on all your bank/credit cards and accounts, so you know exactly what you're paying.

I tihnk its 2$/withdrawal , maybe 3 now.

I have tested it a few times and forgetting the $2 fee they seemed to slug me between 8-10 cents in the dollar more than the actual rate that day for an ATM withdrawl from New Zealand. Thats really really bad. If the rate was 0.69 I was getting it at 0.77-0.80.

Sausage: are you 100% certain the ATM isn't adding on fees? I presume those would be quietly deducted from your NZD amount.

Its not that simple
"Every day?except weekends, Memorial Day, Christmas Day and New Year's Day?Visa calculates the rate for the next day's transactions. The Visa rate is selected from a range of rates available in wholesale currency markets or the government-mandated rate in effect one day prior to the applicable central processing date."

Which rate are you comparing with?
When I compare the exchange rate I look at what I would get if I walked into my bank with US$ in my hand and I normally don't see a notable difference using my Electron card.