Travelex USA Review including all the fees, commissions and rates

Argentine pesos
Australian dollars
Bahraini dinars
Barbadian dollars
Brazilian reals
Canadian dollars
Cayman Islands dollars
Chilean pesos
Chinese yuan
Costa Rican colons
Croatian kuna
Czech koruny
Danish kroner
Dominican pesos
Euros
Fijian dollars
Guatemalan quetzals
Hong Kong dollars
Hungarian forints
Indonesian rupiahs
Israeli shekels
Jamaican dollars
Japanese yen
Jordanian dinars
Kenyan shillings
Kuwaiti dinars
Malaysian ringgit
Mexican pesos
New Taiwanese dollars
Nicaraguan cordobas
Norwegian kroner
Omani rials
Peruvian nuevo soles
Philippine pesos
Polish zloty
Qatari riyals
Saudi Arabian riyals
Singapore dollars
South African rand
South Korean won
Swedish kronor
Swiss francs
Thai baht
Tunisian dinar
Turkish liras
UAE dirhams
United Kingdom pounds
Vietnamese dong

4.5 / 5 star rating on Trustpilot

Yes. Travelex is the largest travel money exchange service in the world, and it has been in existence since 1976, over 40 years. Travelex processes over 5,000 transactions every hour and services 40 million customers a year. You can find Travelex shops and kiosks in many countries and over 1,000 locations. Travelex is rated by the Better Business Bureau at an A+.

Travelex also scores well with its customers. According to Trustpilot, Travelex US scores an average of 4.5 out of 5, with 86 percent of reviews saying they are “Excellent” or “Good” and 8 percent saying they are “poor” or “bad.”

How much does it cost to exchange money with Travelex?

For online transactions through the Travelex website, the only fees you will pay are hidden in the exchange rate you get. These hidden charges can be very expensive, upwards of eight percent of the total amount you’re exchanging. It’s possible that if you choose to exchange dollars or another currency at a Travelex kiosk or counter that you might be charged a service fee, which will reduce how much you get of a foreign currency.

If you order home delivery for your currency, you will need to pay a fee if you order less than $1,000.

The main concern we have with Travelex is how much it charges to exchange travel money. You could end up paying around nine percent of the total amount you’re converting in exchange rate fees, which is not great. This means if you’re exchanging $1,000 for travel to another country, you could pay up to $90 in hidden charges. It’s a bit of a rip-off!

Let’s look at a few examples.

Exchanging US dollars to euros

If you’re traveling to Europe, you’ll want to convert USD to EUR. Here’s how Travelex stacks up.

The base, midmarket exchange rate* is 1 USD to 0.909 EUR.

The Travelex website offers a rate of 1 USD to 0.829 EUR.

Exchange 500 USD to EUR

If you’re exchanging 500 USD, you would get 414.75 EUR with Travelex, compared to 454.50 at the base exchange rate. That’s about $44 more expensive, around 9 percent of the dollars you’re converting.

Exchange 2,000 USD to EUR

If you’re exchanging 2,000 USD, you would get 1,659 EUR with Travelex, compared to 1817.20 EUR at the base exchange rate. That’s about $175 more expensive, around 9 percent of the dollars you’re converting.

Exchanging US dollars to British pounds

If you’re visiting the UK, you will need to convert USD to GBP. Here’s what it could cost.

The base, midmarket exchange rate* is 1 USD to 0.805 GBP.
The Travelex website offers a rate of 1 USD to 0.725 GBP.

Exchange 500 USD to GBP

If you’re exchanging 500 USD, you would get 367.55 GBP with Travelex, compared to 402.68 at the base exchange rate. That’s about $43 more expensive, around 9 percent of the dollars you’re converting.

Exchange 2,000 USD to GBP

If you’re exchanging 2,000 USD, you would get 1,470.20 GBP with Travelex, compared to 1,610.73 GBP at the base exchange rate. That’s about $174 more expensive, around 9 percent of the dollars you’re converting.

Unfortunately, these hidden charges are similar across many currencies including Australian dollars (AUD), Japanese yen (JPY), New Zealand dollars (NZD)and others.

*The midmarket exchange rate is the rate that banks and other financial institutions use to transfer money between themselves. Although it’s unlikely you would get this rate yourself, it’s a useful way to compare exchange rate fees, with many providers charging much lower fees than Travelex.

You can definitely get better exchange rates elsewhere.

Travelex offers a variety of travel money and currency exchange services to people in the United States.

Order foreign travel money on the Travelex US website

Travelex gives you an option to order currency online through the website. It’s a fast and easy process and you can easily pay by debit or credit card.

Pick up currency you’ve ordered online from a Travelex location

When you order through the Travelex US website, you can choose to pick the money up from a local Travelex shop or kiosk, super-handy if you live in a major city or near to an airport.

Have travel money delivered to your home

Travelex can also send travel money directly to your home address. You should receive the money within one to three business days but there is an additional charge for delivery if you order less than $1,000 in currency.

Buy travel money at a Travelex location

You can easily buy money-face-to-face at a Travelex counter or store. These locations keep more popular foreign currencies in stock, so depending on where you’re going, you can get your travel money straightaway. It’s important to note that the exchange rates at Travelex stores are likely to be very poor compared to what you could get elsewhere.

Use a Travelex ATM

Travelex has over 1,000 ATMs around the world. You can use these to withdraw money in popular currencies, although beware of poor exchange rates.

Spend on the Travelex Money Card

Travelex offers a prepaid debit card called the Travelex Money card. You can preload and top up this travel card in dollars or another currency and then spend on it like you would a debit card in other countries. The card is expensive though, charging a 5.5 percent currency exchange fee, which is much higher than other popular cards.

The Travelex Cash Passport

The Travelex Cash Passport is an older product that’s no longer available. You can still log in to Travelex and manage your Cash Passport through the website.

The Travelex mobile app

If you want to manage your money on-the-go, Travelex provides mobile apps for both Apple and Android devices. The app allows users to order cash for delivery or collection and to manage the Travelex Money card, check the card balance, and see recent transactions. The app scores well on Apple’s app store with a review score of 4.7 out of 5. It does not rate highly on the Google Play store, where it only scores 1.5 out of 5.

International money transfer and payment

Travelex allows you to make international transfers and payments through a partnership with OFX, another popular currency exchange company. If you have a Travelex International Payments account, you can use those details to log into OFX and send money overseas to an individual or business bank account.

You just need to login to OFX and follow the instructions. You will need to provide information on the country and currency where you want to send money and the bank account details of the recipient. You can then pay for your transfer and OFX will convert the money and send it.

Travelex store, kiosk, and counter exchange rates

Unfortunately, Travelex does not list its face-to-face exchange rates on the Travelex.com website, and individual locations do not provide exchange rates over the phone. We do know from anecdotal evidence that the rates charged by Travelex counters are more expensive than those offered on the Travelex website. We’ve heard reports that face-to-face rates can account for 10 to 15 percent of the total amount of currency you’re converting.

If you’re exchanging smaller amounts, Travelex may also charge a service fee, which will reduce the amount of currency you get back.