#90371 - 06/22/11 02:37 PM
Re: Best place to get money?
[Re: Patti.]
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holte
Expert Advisor
Registered: 11/19/04
Posts: 2417
Loc: Duluth, Minnesota
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I think that Am Ex has the highest rate that the vendor has to pay. So lots of establishments do not take Am Ex because it costs them too much
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#90374 - 06/22/11 04:00 PM
Re: Best place to get money?
[Re: holte]
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Poehere
Expert Advisor
Registered: 08/18/07
Posts: 2362
Loc: FP
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Best to order some cfp/xpf prior to flying out of the us... the airport in Tahiti has NO more exchange and have seen a group of travelers being stuck with no working exchange machines etc, it is not a funny sight. Sorry for you but no idea if the airport is going to do something to this situation in the near future, so it's a hassle.
Most stores want you to spend at least 2000 cfp on MC or Visa and 2500 cfp on Amex, the latter is not liked around as some other board members stated already, it's charges are much superior than those of the first 2 cards mentioned.
Smallers stores may not accept any cc payment, so if you can exchange before your arrival you won't get stuck.
Also FYI (I believe you're heading to BB...?) there are 3 banks and a postoffice agency in BB village of Vaitape, however FP's biggest bank "la Socredo" has taken the decision to NO LONGER exchange foreign currency for non-clients. I shall inquire with the other banks and post that lateron. Cash withdrawal on ATM's via CC is limited to an x-mount on a weekly basis!
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* with sunshine *
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#90379 - 06/22/11 04:38 PM
Re: Best place to get money?
[Re: Poehere]
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BarbiJKM
Supreme Advisor
Registered: 02/14/07
Posts: 6150
Loc: Mesa, AZ
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The Am Ex PLATINUM card now carries NO foreign exchange fees. But you will find it difficult to use AmEx in FP outside of a resort. Car rental companies will often take Am Ex too.
When a bank is quoting you a rate, make sure you are asking how many Tahitian francs (called either XPF or CPF) you can get for a dollar. That decimal rate, 0.01358, means that it would cost you $135.80 to get 10,000 Tahitian francs, or 73.63 francs to the dollar. (Someone correct me if my math is wrong. Bob Hammar taught me how to do this conversion a long time ago, and I THINK I did it right...)
The credit card rate (bank-to-bank)is going to be 6-7 points higher than the currency exchange for consumers. Today's bank rate is 83. You can check it daily (under XPF) at www.xe.com.
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#90380 - 06/22/11 04:56 PM
Re: Best place to get money?
[Re: BarbiJKM]
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stanw
Member
Registered: 06/16/11
Posts: 40
Loc: LA
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How do you do that calculation to figure out the decimal version?
Thanks so much everyone!!!
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#90382 - 06/22/11 05:47 PM
Re: Best place to get money?
[Re: stanw]
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Poehere
Expert Advisor
Registered: 08/18/07
Posts: 2362
Loc: FP
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It means that 1 cfp/xpf = 0.01358 us$ , us$ divided by 0.01358
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* with sunshine *
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#90385 - 06/22/11 06:12 PM
Re: Best place to get money?
[Re: Poehere]
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BarbiJKM
Supreme Advisor
Registered: 02/14/07
Posts: 6150
Loc: Mesa, AZ
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Yep, Poehere is right: divide $1.00 USD by 0.01358 and you get 73.637702 CPF to the dollar. You always need to ask for francs to the dollar to compare apples to apples.
I do believe you will get a better rate than 73.6 at Wells Fargo today. At LAX, you'd probably get 66-69 at this rate.
............
Edited to add: I just checked the Wells Fargo site: https://www.wellsfargo.com/foreignexchange/
Today, you can purchase 77.82 Tahitian francs (XPF or CPF) to the $1 USD. When you are searching, look under "Tahiti (franc)."
Edited by BarbiJKM (06/22/11 06:24 PM)
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#90386 - 06/22/11 06:26 PM
Re: Best place to get money?
[Re: BarbiJKM]
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BarbiJKM
Supreme Advisor
Registered: 02/14/07
Posts: 6150
Loc: Mesa, AZ
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Stan,
If you live in LA, you might want to phone the sources in this website too: http://golosangeles.about.com/od/latravelplanning/a/CurrencyXchange.htm
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