Australian travellers have to pay exorbitant fees when making transactions abroad. Bank charges in currency-conversion fees eat into their travel money, with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission finding that consumers forked out more than $2 billion in foreign transaction fees per year. These are higher than those imposed by other countries.
Holidaymakers are often restricted in the amount of money they can withdraw from overseas ATMs in one go and are stung by fees. An average Aussie traveller may be adding $155 to each international trip due to foreign exchange rates.
It is possible to avoid these charges altogether with the right planning. Banks like Commonwealth, ING and others offer special travel credit cards for people going on holidays. These allow travellers to automatically change their money to different currencies when using their cards abroad and not incurring any fees in the process.