Why you should not pay for your overseas tours on your credit or debit card ⤵
Imagine being charged almost 6% and not even knowing it!
I'm in the middle of helping a new client who is taking a football group to the USA and has over USD 50,000 to pay in hotels, and transport costs for a large group.
When we did a deeper dive into their current process I discovered the following:
The deposit to the hotel was $5,000 USD, and they paid that via their debit card:
➡ convenient, of course
💰 expensive... you bet!
When I went back and checked the rates and fees they were charged on the day (July), it added up to 5.9% 🤯 made up of poor exchange rates and the card transaction fee!
On 5,000 USD that's $295 USD or $450 AUD.
On the 53,000 balance, well that's $3,127 USD or $4,885 AUD at today's rates.
Not to mention if they had approached me sooner, we could have locked in the rates in July when the deposit was made and AUD/USD was at 0.6761, instead, they are now having to convert at 0.64c, another potential $3,000 AUD in cost savings.
While we cannot predict the future, we can protect you against fluctuating exchange rates and forward plan to help you either not be out of pocket, or have to go back to your customers and ask for more money.
A good currency management plan can save you thousands, and at least we can arrange the final payments and save them almost $5K AUD instead of being swallowed up by the big banks.
If you run international tours for sports or any other reason, reach out to us and have a chat about your schedule of payments, and your plan around protecting yourself and your business.