Where to change SGD to TWD in Singapore

Where is best place to change Sing dollars to Taiwan dollars?

I did not had much to change for the taiwan trip this time round.
As recommended previously when changing SGD to MYR , for a small amount of a few hundreds, it may not be worth the time and effort to make a special trip down for the few dollars savings.

However, there is still a way to get a better rate than the money exchangers at the Singapore airport.

And that way is to think out of the box and...

Change at the money exchangers at the Taiwan Taoyuan airport.

Twd change at the airport in taiwan

There will be 3 money changers,
・one straight after you touch down towards immigration,
・one after immigration at the luggage retrieval belts area, and
・the final one at the pathway after the customs declaration.
The final one had the best rate 21.5, though only slightly better than the one right after you touch down towards immigration(21.3).
I would say go for the one with the least queue.

Comparison of rate

Singapore Airport offered 20.6
Taiwan airport offered 21.3 -21.5.
That translates to a 3~4% savings! which turns out can be quite substantial!


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How to change money at Singapore money changers

Today, I was at lucky plaza to change some money to Hong kong dollars HKD from Singapore dollars SGD. 

Why lucky plaza?

My top choice has always been the arcade at raffles place, simply because of the high density of money changers as well as the transparency of prices displayed on the electronic board
However, today was a Sunday and the arcade is only open on weekdays and half day on Saturday (url). Thus on a Sunday or weekends, I would typically go to Chinatown or Lucky Plaza.

As I am near to Orchard, Lucky Plaza was a natural choice.

Rate quoted verbally at Lucky Plaza

So previously I have shared with readers how to see the rate at money exchangers under we buy or we sell, but bear in mind these are rates quoted on the digital screens.
For lucky plaza, most shops did not have those screens and you have to enquire verbally.

In my case of HKD, it would have been 0.18 under we sell, but when quoted verbally, the money changer person will give you the convertd we sell rate, for example 1/0.18 = 5.62.
In this case of converted rate, the higher the number, the better.

The 5.62 stands for for each sgd, you will get 5.62 hkd.

So after asking around, I got a rate of 5.63 and settled at that rate (Rates would not differ that much though there are many shops there ).

Savings versus rate at airport

At the airport, the rate was 0.18196, which translates to 5.49.
As such, I have saved about $18 (2.3%) from my $800 change..
Not much, but since I was already in the vicinity, why not pick up the savings?

Read more: My recommendation on where to change


So in short,
when quoted verbally at the money exchanger,
The higher the rate,
the more foreign currency you will get.




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Changing large amount of SGD to JPY in Singapore

So far, especially taking into consideration my numerous trips to Japan, my conclusion is transferring at a local money exchanger hotspot into cash is still the best choice.

My best friend is going back to Japan and is closing his SG account. Now there are 2 ways to transfer his money back to japan.

1. Directly through interbank transfer

2. Transfer to cash and bring it back

Telegraphic transfer

We went to UOB to enquire about telegraphic transfer.

I must give some kudos to UOB service, great service and we did not had to wait long despite having 20 people in front of us.

The charges were as such:

############ 

The indicative rate is 1.245 (which means 100 yen/ for SG$1.245)

Cable fee: $20

Commission: 0.125% (min $10 charge)

############

Assume for every SG$10000, he would get 800600 yen.

The Cash Way

Now to transfer the cash, you can change at the bank / airport, or change at the money changer.

Having previously written about where best to change SGD to foreign currency, I brought him to the arcade where I am familiar enough to help him get the best rate.

We got a better rate of 0.1230 after negotiating with the owner. 

At this rate, assume for every SG$10000, he would get 813000 yen

It was a savings of 12400 yen, which translate to about 1.5% savings for an amount of 10k.

Other Tips:

• Check your local limit of cash that you can bring through customs.
• Give your cash a good count before leaving the money exchanger
• Go for convenience if it’s a small amount

In our case, I guess the time spent justifies the savings we’ve achieved from this trip to the money exchanger!

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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