The rising Australian dollar

Economists are stating that the AUD is rising against the USD. Some predict we might hit the .80 cents mark. Is now time to convert AUD/USD for trips on cruise ships in USD

Do any of you believe that over the next year that the AUD will rise considerably more against the green back?

Hit the 80c mark yesterday. Here's a news article about the outlook - likely to reach 83c but unlikely it will go too much higher without interference from Reserve Bank. They are comfortable with low 70's and meeting today to make a decision whether they should 'intervene' or not.

http://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/australian-economy/aussie-dollar-looks-set-to-crash-through-80c-mark-after-rapid-climb-to-twoyear-high/news-story/f8167d8a269381657a5ad769642a24cb

I did read one financial article where the person thought parity was likely by 2020 from memory.

So now may not be such a bad time to convert AUD into USD for cruises which charge in USD.

So now may not be such a bad time to convert AUD into USD for cruises which charge in USD.

It is much better than it was. Depends when you are travelling but may be an idea to wait a bit longer.

At the end of the day it is only a few cents. Even at 80 cents US to the AUD, you don't buy at that, you will only get around US 75C for 1 AUD.:p

It's only about 2c above the range it's been in for the past year, not a massive change.

And interestingly, even to a couple of weeks ago, they were still predicting it to fall below 70c.

So, I'd go for the status quo, that this will stay within a similar range, and wouldn't be surprised for it to head back down in the near future. Not seeing any reason for it to go ever upwards.

Do any of you believe that over the next year that the AUD will rise considerably more against the green back?

I think that if it did, the Reserve Bank would act to pull it back.

But trying to predict currency movements is a mug's game. You are better off betting on the Melbourne Cup.

We monitor AUD-USD rate very closely in our business. On a widely available on-line index au.investing.com

- the lowest rate for 2017 thus far was actually on first trading day of the year Jan-2 at 0.7160.

- the highest was yesterday 20-Jul at 0.7897

- that's an increase this year of 9.42% ,which is significant

As other have posted where it goes is almost anyone's guess. Only last year there were experts predicting 60c or even less. For our 2017 budget, set in Nov last year, we set the Fx rate at 0.725. It has worked out better than that :)

In reality as someone posted, going to the Fx counter at bank, TA or similar, you will never get the 'published' rate, usually more like 2-3c less, plus sometimes a transaction fee.

We (DW & I) have a little kitty of USD on our travel money cards, enough to see us thru a few USD 'on-board account charge' cruises :D

Seems the RBA have already put a kibosh on the Dollar as it has dropped 1% back under $0.78 due to the announcement of their rates possibly remaining steady.

I got $2,220 US for $3000 AUD yesterday at our local Crown that gives a senior rate,

I'm happy with that and we don't travel till next year if it goes up further so be it .

If it drops low for some reason I am still in front

Cheers

Sorry, I meant under $0.79.

The ABC news has reported the AUD sitting at $0.7900 USD even. (@7.20pm)

I've been tracking it on the XE currency app on my phone. It's been bouncing up and down all day - low 0.7880, high 0.7966. It's sitting at 0.7926 at the moment.

Very useful app that one, it even has interactive graphs.

wouldn't be surprised for it to head back down in the near future.

How prescient was that!

Just checked Qantas cash and they are showing the exchange rate as being .754 USD.

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Just checked Qantas cash and they are showing the exchange rate as being .754 USD.

 

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And that is what you get in your skyrocket, bottom line.;)

Just checked Qantas cash and they are showing the exchange rate as being .754 USD.

Because the rates they offer aren't the current foreign exchange rates.

It's 0.7916 at present, and has been varying by a few points up and down over the last 12 hours.

Just checked Qantas cash and they are showing the exchange rate as being .754 USD.

 

 

 

 

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Do you use that card Esilef,it's got terrible reviews

ANZ have a buy rate for cash of $0.7609 USD and sell rate of $0.8331 USD,

Commbank has $0.7520 USD and sell rate of $0.8292 USD.

Westpac has $0.7459 USD and sell rate of $0.8281 USD

National has $0.7531 USD and sell rate of $0.8287 USD

All of which makes it not too bad to buy, from ANZ at least, but terrible to sell from any of them..

The best option is to open a Citibank Plus account which gives you a Visa Debit card with no foreign transaction fees on overseas withdrawals. I'll let you know in three months time how accurate the exchange rates were. ;)

Assuming this account isn't your primary bank account it also has the benefit of isolating your travel funds from your primary account and you can transfer fuinds in and out electronically.

The best option is to open a Citibank Plus account which gives you a Visa Debit card with no foreign transaction fees on overseas withdrawals. I'll let you know in three months time how accurate the exchange rates were. ;)

 

Assuming this account isn't your primary bank account it also has the benefit of isolating your travel funds from your primary account and you can transfer fuinds in and out electronically.

I use that card for cash withdrawals and the currency exchange is pretty good, I had worked it out with a Euro withdrawal and it was around 1.25%.

Citibanks' rate for USD is $0.7835, and $0.8074, respectively,

compared with the current rate of $0.79171. which is only just over 1.03 %

That's very reasonable.

We're all geared up for our Med cruise with the new Citibank Visa debit card and the 28 Degrees Mastercard (which we've had for about a year).

I would never had known to get these without hearing about them here. Joining Cruise Critic is one of the best things I've done in recent years. :D

That's very reasonable.

 

We're all geared up for our Med cruise with the new Citibank Visa debit card and the 28 Degrees Mastercard (which we've had for about a year).

 

I would never had known to get these without hearing about them here. Joining Cruise Critic is one of the best things I've done in recent years. :D

YES, it is a marvellous source of info. Those cards have saved me money but more importantly they have saved me a lot of time and hassle organising travel cards and/or cash for our trips abroad.

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That's very reasonable.<br>

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We're all geared up for our Med cruise with the new Citibank Visa debit card and the 28 Degrees Mastercard (which we've had for about a year).<br>

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I would never had known to get these without hearing about them here. Joining Cruise Critic is one of the best things I've done in recent years. <img title="Big Grin" class="inlineimg" alt="" src="images/clear.png?emoji-grin-1677" border="0" smilieid="3">