Best Place To Exchange Currency? (From China to USA?)

[HappyDude20]

I'll cut to the chase, .

I'm in China with thousands of Yuans but am wanting to take most of it back home to deposit it into my Citi account back in the U.S. The reason i'm asking here where/how to convert the cash is in seeking the lowest possible service charge. I figured at least one soul out there would provide a useful answer.

The airports seem to charge quite a bit, with a 12% transaction fee. That'll easily amount to a couple of hundred bucks lost simply to exchange the cash.

Nevertheless hope someone knows of a method to utilize. Perhaps Citi will take big red bills with Chairman Mao on them...but in all honesty, i'm sure they prefer Benjamins.

 

[miles01110]

Most banks will buy back currency. You get robbed if you do it at the airport.

 

[TwoSocEmBoppers]

+1 for banks. Also, AmEX has great currency conversion rates, too!

 

[HappyDude20]

Quick Update:

I'm in the process of calling CitiBank, hoping their location in Beijing will allow for Chinese RMB to USD conversion with no fee. I know from USD to RMB it's free, but doubt it would be the other way around.

I have a friend who is staying in China for another year and can give her my $1000+ RMB and have her send me the same amount via PayPal...

Or...I can sneak the money past customs, hope I get past* and deposit the money in either New York or Los Angeles (Assuming they can convert Chinese RMB to USD, (Doubtful))

*I've (unintentionally) snuck a lighter and a bunch of cash past customs before.

Either way, this situation will have a decision by the end of next week.

Thanks for listening guys. Seriously.

 

[And1ss]

I'd say keep it and hold on to it. With the way currency markets are, the dollar is losing value against several high profile foreign currencies.

 

[HappyDude20]

Alright, so I'm restarting this thread again.

I called my bank, Citi, and they've told me they do conversion without any fees. However, I walked into my nearest location and they wanted to take $100 away.

Long story short: I'm about to drive into 2 different Citi branches hoping they don't do the same thing and i'll be walking in there with today's conversion rates.

If this doesn't work out then I believe I'll be forced to go to the World Trade Center in Los Angeles where I hear you can negotiate the rate (w/o fees)...


Aside from these avenues i'm rehashing this thread in hopes of anyone having any information in my search of wanting to convert my Chinese RMB to USD.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

Also it is common practice that they give you the worse conversion rate for like week before and week after. So you will get the exchaged rate that is the least in your favor over a fair number of days.

 

[yg17]

Yeah, the exchange rate you get at a bank sucks. They say no fees, but they make up for it by screwing you on the exchange rate. It is extremely shady. It's like when a store advertises an item as 10% off but they don't tell you that they increased the price by 15% the week before.

I recently went to London and got just enough pounds beforehand to buy my Travelcard for the Underground for the week so I could get to the hotel (in case there was a problem with my credit card or something, I didn't want to be stuck at the airport).

I used my credit card for everything else. Credit cards typically have the best exchange rate, even accounting for the 3% foreign transaction fee they tack on.