Be very careful when u change foreign currency in HK...

[sypen]

During my last trip to HK, had a very unpleasant experience with a money changer there.

I waitde for my wife at the MTR as she was going to change some Hong kong dollars. So i let her do the walking and when she return, i was shock to see that the exchange rate to be S$1 to HK$4.62 which is a ripped off as the rate should be around S$1 to HK$5.2.

So i took my slip back to the money changer and asked her to return me the money which obviously she declined.

When i look at the board, the rate is extremely weird, big spread between the bid and offer rate. 4.76 and 5.96. This is a very big spread which is very unreasonable. I have been to many countries and never see something like that before and therefore, allow my wife to do the changing. She is not well verse is such matters and she accepted the rate and signed on the slip. So no choice, have to honour it. I had calculated, the "losses" for this transaction amounts to S$50, on top of whatever they are earning usually.

S$600 to HK$2856 (based on 4.76)
S$600 to HK$3120 (based on 5.2)
HK$3120 - HK$ 2856 = HK$264
Translate back to singapore dollars based on her rates= S$55.46.

Do be very careful when changing money. Please look at both the buy and sell and the rates should not be too big... around 3% to 5% should be ok... cos banks should only be around 1%...

For example today's rate for HK$ today buy at .1828 and sell at .1808

I never had that kind of experience changing money

[dylanjovann]

best is to change in Singapore first, before travelling to HK. always the safest option!

[Cray]

useful info. deciding to go HK soon in aug.

[bubble]

HK money changer is 1 of the worst in the world. Don't ever change money in HK.

[DESMOND5233]

hk rate so much different than sgðŸ˜

[eone]

I always thought that exchanging money at the destination country is better than Singapore, but it seems that it is not true for HK.
Anyway, thanks for sharing.

[Biancojang]

HK

Most Hk money changer jialat 1 lah, if not all and yes u must be careful when u exchange money in HK.

HK is dangerous u know..

[Ed.YEO]

When go overseas to change to local currencies with our own bills, sibeh boh hua one.
For example, last time(can't remember was it '07 or '04, when we change to KRW locally, we get 750:1SGD. When whatever we changed depletes, we use SGD to change KRW in Seoul, no matter what Ex-Change booths or shops we walked in, we were quoted 680:1SGD.

[jetfixation]

I actually didn't have any problems changing at a Travelex in one of the big Hong Kong malls. I'm normally very weary of Travelex at airports but turns out this one at the mall was fine.
[Money changers in Airports normally give horrid rates, partly because the rents in airports are very high]


Be very careful in cities like Prague. There is a reason why many money changers will say NO COMMISSION, and thats because there are a sneaky few that do - and they try to scam you further by giving a horrible rate for under 300 EUR worth, and an ok rate for above 300 EUR, but then they scam you by taking 15% commission. This 15% commission is printed so small that it is barely visible.

I fell for that scam once and since then I've been very careful with money changers.


For the London money changers, I have found Thomasedxchange.co.uk to be quite good (for EUR - GBP) but you need to do an online reservation in advance (it's free to reserve and no obligation to change in the end) good thing is that it locks in the pricing.

Or else Changelink in Victoria station area is pretty good too.

But an easy tell tale sign as OP mentioned is to look at the spread, just watch out for the commission, what I do now is to ask first - "How much will I get back in XXX for $1000 SGD"

[avn]

Should have changed in Singapore, last minute change in Changi would still be better..

[Jazzgal]

This is useful info since I'll be going to HK year end.usually I'll change in Singapore and should I have lesser money ill just use card. Maybe in that way card is even better.

[EL122]

Change in Singapore if possible

[ThirtyEight]

Will be more aware when dealing with money changers in HK now!

[sunarto234]

During my last trip to HK, had a very unpleasant experience with a money changer there.

I waitde for my wife at the MTR as she was going to change some Hong kong dollars. So i let her do the walking and when she return, i was shock to see that the exchange rate to be S$1 to HK$4.62 which is a ripped off as the rate should be around S$1 to HK$5.2.

So i took my slip back to the money changer and asked her to return me the money which obviously she declined.

When i look at the board, the rate is extremely weird, big spread between the bid and offer rate. 4.76 and 5.96. This is a very big spread which is very unreasonable. I have been to many countries and never see something like that before and therefore, allow my wife to do the changing. She is not well verse is such matters and she accepted the rate and signed on the slip. So no choice, have to honour it. I had calculated, the "losses" for this transaction amounts to S$50, on top of whatever they are earning usually.

S$600 to HK$2856 (based on 4.76)
S$600 to HK$3120 (based on 5.2)
HK$3120 - HK$ 2856 = HK$264
Translate back to singapore dollars based on her rates= S$55.46.

Do be very careful when changing money. Please look at both the buy and sell and the rates should not be too big... around 3% to 5% should be ok... cos banks should only be around 1%...

For example today's rate for HK$ today buy at .1828 and sell at .1808

Normally i changed at Western Union. My boss said that normally they will give a good rate there.

[daveweng]

For hk the best rate is at dbs bank, show your dbs sg credit card or atm card, they will waive the hkd100 fees. But need to take note of the short bank opening hours.

Alternatively if u have a citibank account, open a hkd account to link your sg one, then withdraw from citibank atm.

Didn't know that, thanks for sharing