Thursday, 4 July 2013

A Guide to Using the Vietnamese Dong

The official currency of Vietnam is the Dong. The Vietnamese Dong is non-convertible and at present its value against the US dollar is approximately 21,000. The website of Vietcombank can be referred to for seeing the daily exchange rate. However, in Vietnam, the U S dollar is also widely accepted in major shops as well as restaurants. But the disadvantage of this facility is that the prices will be converted from Dong at the exchange rate chosen by the vendor, which may be a little different from the official exchange rate, and often rounded up to the nearest USD, thereby making the price of the item higher than its price in Dong.

If you are a tourist in Vietnam and you need to exchange your home currency for the Dong, make sure that your notes are crisp, clean and not damaged, as banks and currency exchanges will not accept any notes which are torn, crumpled or damaged. A good idea while travelling is to use your Visa and Master card which are more often than not accepted in most of the larger hotels and restaurants with usually a surcharge of 3% added to their use.

Remember not to exchange too much money in one go, as you will end up with a large bundle of notes. The largest denomination in Dong is currently 500,000 and since they look similar to the 20,000 notes, be very careful while taking out the notes. A handy tip is to keep the 500,000 Dong note separately to reduce any confusion or mistakes. While negotiating fares with taxi drivers or bargaining in shops, always use the Vietnamese Dong to avoid arguments later about the exchange rate that you were expecting. It is prudent to always recheck the conversion rate you are offered. Also beware of scams run by street sellers, especially with regard to high denominations of the currency. You may be given a lesser value for your currency exchanges. It is also better to go to a trustworthy currency exchange outlet.

There are several international banks in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City with 24hour ATM facilities. Most of these ATMs enable you to withdraw cash using the Visa, MasterCard, Maestro and other networks. But keep in mind that as per Vietnamese law, ATMs in Vietnam only dispense cash in Dong. At present, you can withdraw amounts till 2,000,000 Dong with a 20,000 Dong additional charge if it is not your own bank. Before travelling to Vietnam, you must also inform your bank that you intend to use your card to withdraw cash from ATMs there. The machines in Vietnam employ the magnetic strip technology instead of the more secure chip, hence it is better to be safe than sorry.

The Vietnamese Dong is not accepted outside Vietnam, so keep in mind that there are no currency exchange counters at Hanoi's international airport, once you clear immigration. However, in Saigon airport, you can change your leftover Dong currency before immigration at two bank booths that offer the official rate along with a 2% fee. For more information please visit : dinarexchange

visit here for more information about Iraqi Dinar rv

No comments:

Post a Comment