SGD to MYR - where to change

Further to my post on the best place to exchange currency, I decided to put my recommendation to test for my trip to Penang, as I need to change my Singapore dollar to Malaysian Ringgit. The penang laksa still lingers in my mind, but thats another story.

Essentially, there are 4 places to change your SGD to MYR

1. Money changers in town/neighbourhood.
2. At the airport 
3. At the destination airport 
4. Credit Card rate

My recommendation

My take is still as previously mentioned, 

If you have a substantial amount: 

Know your target rate and go to your preferred local currency exchange stall.

If you just need a small amount (eg. less than $500): 

Change at the airport. Why? The time you spend making a trip to and finding the best rate at your local currency exchange hotspot will not really justify your savings.

In fact, my experience this time further reinforced my recommendation.

• I went to Mustafa and got a rate of 2.45 MYR to 1 SGD.
• I could get 2.45 MYR from one of the currency exchange shop in my neighbourhood. (Mustafa might not be the best place for MYR it seems...)
• Airport rate was 2.41
• Destination airport rate was 2.40 (worst)
• Yet to receive my credit card bill

I had only $500 to change and I changed at the airport this time. My loss was a total of 0.04 * 500 = 20MYR , in which converted back to SGD, its around S$8, or 1.6% loss.

Personally, the time and convenience i could save with the $8 loss is something i consider not such a bad deal. I would not need to make a trip down to town, save the hassle of running around shops to compare rate and the elk. What about you?

Hope this was useful to you!

EUFASS

Best place to change foreign currency in Singapore:

UPDATE 20 Apr 2016: Changing Large Amount of SGD to JPY? View my experience here
UPDATE 23 Dec 2014: Cash or Credit in Japan? view my recommendation here
UPDATE 12 Nov 2014: SGD to KRW comparison of exchange rate here
UPDATE: view my currency exchange experience on my recent trip to Malaysia here

When travelling to Japan, one of my first questions was - Where is the best place to change Sing dollar to Japanese yen? From SGD to no matter which currency, be it taiwanese dollar, norwegian kroner or the US dollar, that is always the big question in a savvy's traveller mind.

I recently went on a trip to Norway and did a survey of 4 main sources of currency exchange - lucky plaza, at the airport and at the destination airport, just using my credit card.( Note: for my foreign readers, lucky plaza is one of the popular currency exchange hotspot in Singapore. ) I need to change SGD to Norwegian Kroner, and here are my experiences:

The rate from google was 4.65 kroner to 1SGD.

1. Money changers at lucky plaza : some carry the elusive kroner and some don't. For those which did, their range quote span as low as 4 to as high as 4.58.
2. At the airport : Only selected kiosks carry the kroner. Of the one I found which did, it offered a rate of 4.5.
3. At the destination airport (Oslo Gardenmoen) : The good news is all money exchange kiosks carry kroner this time (duh). The bad news is, the demand, or just the rate, for Singapore dollars is quite bad.
4. The rate at which the bank charges on my credit card was slightly better, at 4.52. 

My recommendation

If you have a substantial amount: 

Know your target rate, go to your preferred local currency exchange hotspot, I.e the Arcade, Mustafa, Chinatown, Suntec, Lucky Plaza, etc

If you just need a small amount (eg. less than $500): 

Change at the airport. Why? The time you spend making a trip to and finding the best rate at your local currency exchange hotspot will not really justify your savings.
(Advice from another reader on 27 April 2014: Some currencies like the saudi riyal(SAR) have limited quantities, so it is no guarantee that you can get your currency at the airport) 

For this trip, I only need to change SGD 500, thus it was an interesting experiment for me. Even though I was able to, and really tempted to lock in the 4.58 rate at the money changer, my greed got the better of me thinking I could get a better rate at the airport kiosks.

That said, my loss was a mere 0.07 x 500 = 35 kroner in other words close to S$8 (ok, not that mere after all, but still I spent 2 hours traveling and transport took $4). It is always a good idea to have some destination currency with you, even if you have your credit card.

The loss was minimal this time but I gained good experience on changing currency rates next time! Hope this was useful for you.

EUFASS