Writing this post to share personal experience of withdrawing cash abroad with IDFC wealth card.
The interest free period on cash withdrawal is a very handy tool and particularly useful when you withdraw money outside. For the past few trips, I didn't carry any forex cash/ card. Just had debit cards and IDFC wealth. Most of the debit cards charge 3.5%+GST as forex markup. The below is an illustration of charges (assuming €/ ₹ rate of 90.0) on IDFC wealth, and why you can consider using it for forex cash than carrying money from India or using forex cards:
Withdrawal- €250 (= ₹ 22,500)
Markup = 22500*0.015*1.18 = ₹398
Advance charges = ₹199
Net markup = ₹597 ~ 2.65%
I prefer to do all transactions in card directly wherever they are accepted and only keep such small amount of cash handy, paying an extra 400-600 rupees only towards forex markup expenses.
PS- DCC is NOT applicable when you choose to transact in local currency at the ATM. Some ATMs do give you the option where they will show you the INR rate and EUR rate. Always choose the latter. In the absence of this option, it has picked up the latter in my experience.
The interest free period on cash withdrawal is a very handy tool and particularly useful when you withdraw money outside. For the past few trips, I didn't carry any forex cash/ card. Just had debit cards and IDFC wealth. Most of the debit cards charge 3.5%+GST as forex markup. The below is an illustration of charges (assuming €/ ₹ rate of 90.0) on IDFC wealth, and why you can consider using it for forex cash than carrying money from India or using forex cards:
Withdrawal- €250 (= ₹ 22,500)
Markup = 22500*0.015*1.18 = ₹398
Advance charges = ₹199
Net markup = ₹597 ~ 2.65%
I prefer to do all transactions in card directly wherever they are accepted and only keep such small amount of cash handy, paying an extra 400-600 rupees only towards forex markup expenses.
PS- DCC is NOT applicable when you choose to transact in local currency at the ATM. Some ATMs do give you the option where they will show you the INR rate and EUR rate. Always choose the latter. In the absence of this option, it has picked up the latter in my experience.
