Traveller's checks or credit card ?

[Piouf]

Hello everybody,


I might go for a 3 month intenship in SIngapore and I don t know how I should organize my self about money. 3 month is a bit short to open a local bank acount, you have to pay quite a lot to widraw money with a credit card, I don t know much about traveller's checks but I always saw quite a bad rate on moneychangers screens. And of course I cannot bring all in cash...

Anyone got any experience or idea on that subject ?

Thank you !

[shri]

Try to find a local branch of a Singaporean Bank (I'm assuming you're in France? Paris?) and see if they will open an account for you in France and give you a ATM card which you can use for free in Singapore.

HSBC might also do this.

[HK_Newbie100]

I would say traveller's checks are pretty obsolete now that ATMs are everywhere. As long as you take several cards with you just in case one of them don't get accepted, including one or two debit cards with sufficient funds back home, there really is no need to mess around with traveller's checks. Loads of places don't take them, and the fees for cash withdrawals are more expensive than cards. I think the only thing going for traveller's checks are that they are a prepaid option should your cards for some reason don't work, and therefore they act as a back up. Plus, they get replaced more quickly should you lose them. Some banks do not charge for using their card abroad. Check with your bank. For cash withdrawals, use a debit card, and withdraw sort of like a few hundred US dollars at a time to save on the charges. Or, if your bank has a branch in Singapore, you could probably withdraw money with ID at the branch for free. Another option is to take a load of cash with you and open a savings account.

[SalseroHK]

Definitely ATM is the way to go. Good exchange rate, no risk (just take care of your cards.

Even better:
Get a Citibank account in France, then you should be able to draw money for free from the Citibank ATMs in Singapore (at least this works with Citibank Germany, but pls double check with Citibank in France).

Have fun in SIN

[OrangeTree]

If your ATM card has the "Cirrus" or "Plus" sign, you can draw money from your bank account from almost any ATM machine in Singapore. Traveller's cheques are fine too as there are many money changers around and they offer pretty competitive rates.