Best way to access cash in South Africa

4 replies

drgmarshall

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

Member since 10 May 2012

Total posts 106

Hoping someone can help. I've got a month long trip to South Africa and Mozambique coming up and want to have access to cash over there. Normally I load up the Commonwealth Travel Card or Qantas Cash Card and then withdraw funds locally via ATM. Buth neither card accepts African currency uploads. So any experienced travellers for Africa got good tips on best way to get cash over there (not keen on carrying it with me from the outset).

Mrminivee

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

Member since 05 Mar 2018

Total posts 20

Citibank Plus Everyday Account, transfer AUD to that account, and simply withdraw from the ATM. Qantas cash card overpriced, with their sub-par rates and charges on deposits. Commonwealth travel card is also a bad choice.

Carrots

Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards

Member since 06 Oct 2017

Total posts 39

Was just over there for three weeks. To be honest given the cost of living there and such I tended to just use my Amex or Visa where I could and copped the fees.

Took out cash a couple of times at ATMs - only about Au$1000 which was circa R10k. The local banks slugged me $5 (R50) in fees each time plus the ANZ fee which totaled about $25 from memory for all the withdrawals. Hope that helps.
PS don’t forget it’s a country where tipping is the norm.

ryanoleary

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

Member since 23 Jun 2014

Total posts 4

I just use my regular ATM card when in South Africa. Machines are readily available. If concerned about cost, open an ING transaction account and international fees (including ATM) will be waived.

LondonLad

Member since 20 Sep 2018

Total posts 1

Westpac customers have access to their global ATM alliance which allows for free free withdrawls overseas from partner ATMs.... this used to include ABSA in RSA but looking at their link now, it seems it may have stopped:




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