Did you been in Myanmar or Laos, for example? Did you exchange money in Cambodia? Rural Vietnam? Armenia or Georgia, maybe? Serbia or BiH? I've been in all these countries (many times in some of them) and always, always exchange of cash was much better than exchange rate and ATM commissions for any bank of my native country.

Maybe, USA banks are better, but not everybody live in USA and has USA credit card.

The best option for me as a Canadian who has travelled to some (not all) of the places you listed, is to do the exchange in your home country and bring plenty of cash with you. If you're going to Vietnam, you bring VND with you that you acquired from your home bank. Going to Morocco, bring MAD with you.

Good to be Canadian, I suppose. Never see any such currencies in my local exchanges. Maybe, there are some banks where you could ORDER such currency as VND or MMK, but I'm afraid, rate will be disastrous as it will be very special order.

I’m honestly confused. The ATM doesn’t choose the exchange rate, your bank does. I use my own bank’s ATM card to pull out cash in foreign countries and it’s always the correct exchange rate, and always the same as using a credit card (which OP says is a good rate?).

Most people agree the best rates are obtained if the transaction is done in local currency with the network providing the conversion. However, some ATMs and credit card terminals give the option to either send the transaction to the network in local currency, or the cardholders currency. If you choose to let the terminal submit in your currency, you're going to get that conversion rate instead.

I don't understand the advice here either. It's not hard (at least as someone in the US) to find a card offering no foreign transaction fees, and I thought everyone agreed that the card network conversion rates are about the best you're going to find as traveller.

ATM fees can sometimes be unavoidable, but sometimes even finding a functional ATM was a blessing, so ...

I've been to most of those countries, and they're no exception to the rule that the best exchange rates will be provided by the credit card networks. Though, Cambodia is strange--at least to someone from the US--since the USD is still such a strong, preferred, unofficial currency in many places there. You pull USD from a Cambodian ATM in USD and there will be no conversion fee whatsoever.

If your credit card doesn't carry high fees for the service, the network currency conversion is the way to go.

> If your credit card doesn't carry high fees for the service,

Here is the key. My bank takes 2.5% commission on any transaction not-in-card-currency (in addition to about 0.75-1% commission of MasterCard/Visa system itself) and something like 0.5% for cash withdrawal in any ATM of any other bank, no matter in which country or currency.

And, oh, wait, if it is true credit card (non debit one) I don't have grace period for cash-like transactions and need to pay card interest from first day (for "buy" transactions I need to pay interest only if I don't resupply credit card after month end + 20 days).

And it is typical conditions in my country. Some banks has conditions slightly better, but they have other problems.

When typical spread for cash exchange in South-East Asia is about 3% (+1.5% / -1.5%) to FOREX, which is much better.

Typically: you could exchange $1 to 24000 VND now (oh my, I remember when it was 16000), but if I withdraw VND from my debit card (which is in USD, not my native currency) it will be something like 22000 VND per USD.

Other example: I'm in Armenia now, and I exchange USD to AMD on the street as 1:406 (406 DAM for 1 USD) without any commission (xe.com shows 1:401 right now). When I BUY something (not withdraw money!) with my USD card it is about 395-390 AMD per USD.

Another fresh example:

I have Visa card with Euro (I know, strange combination) issued by Serbian bank.

I'm in Armenia right now, and street rate for Euro is 390-394 DAM per Euro (no commission).

My last transaction with this card is 5300 AMD / (13.65 + 0.14) Euro = 386.86... (Don't ask why this bank shows one transaction as two, it is something like sum at block correction at charge?). I can not withdraw cash in ATM in Armenia from this card at all, transactions are simply cancelled, so I can not say, which rate it is for ATM. But in Serbia I've payed 0.5% for cash withdrawal.

it's been decades, but my experience was that places with commission would only be better if you change large sums of money, which, being a student on a budget, i never did. and if the commission is a percentage, then how is that different from a bad exchange rate? it's simply a matter of math.

i remember annoying my hosts once because i insisted on checking 3 or 4 places to compare rates and make sure i didn't get ripped off.