In this article we take a look at Commonwealth Bank and examine how CBA foreign exchange rates & international money transfer services compare to other providers available to you.
Commonwealth Bank Exchange Rates – Are you getting a good deal?
If you are a CBA customer and looking to send money overseas through an International Money Transfer (IMT) or get some travel money, read on to:
- Compare Commonwealth bank exchange rates to specialist FX providers;
- Understand how to find the right Commonwealth Bank exchange rates;
- Learn to read the Commonwealth Bank exchange rates table to calculate the currency conversion;
- Read CBA FX reviews by other customers of CBA Bank.
CBA Exchange Rates - Latest Rates
This table shows Commonwealth Bank exchange rates for foreign transfers and travel money. The percentages with the rates show how much margin the bank is charging compared to the market mid-rate. The table is updated hourly, for the latest comparison goto our comparison calculators for CBA Foreign Transfers and CBA Travel Money.
How does Commonwealth Bank Foreign Exchange Rates Compare?
The live tables below will give you an indication of how Commonwealth Bank Foreign Transfer exchange rates compare to an specialist FX provider.
Use the live foreign transfer exchange comparison table below to compare Commonwealth Bank exchange rates to the leading FX specialists. The table uses the scenario of a user wanting to send $AUD 10,000 abroad, note the margin refers to the difference to the current mid-rate. You can change the currencies and send or receive amount with our full CBA foreign transfers calculator.
AUD-USD Foreign Transfers
Commonwealth Bank 
| Foreign Transfer Providers Ratings & Reviews | Receive USD($) | Exchange Rate | Fee AUD | Total Cost | Transfer Services | Transfer Speed | Deal Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Commonwealth Bank (CBA) International Money Transfers  More info▾ | 6,737.95 USD Compare | 0.6742 | 6 | 5.86% | Online, Branch, Bank Transfers | 2-3 days | |
  TorFX provide no fee transfers with good exchange rates and excellent customer service. More info▾ | 7,048 USD 310 USD | 0.7048 | 0 | 1.52% | Bank Transfers - Online & Phone | 1-2 days | |
 OFX exchange rates are highly competitive for global money transfers, great customer service. ^Zero transfer fees for BestExchangeRates customers. More info▾ | 7,055 USD 317 USD | 0.7055 | 0^ | 1.43% | Bank Transfers - Online & Phone, Foreign Currency Accounts | 1-2 days | |
Banks - Average Rate        Average rate from selected banks. Click icons for each bank's costs. More info▾ | 6,821 USD 83 USD | 0.6835 | 15 | 4.69% | Online, Branch, Bank Transfers | 2-3 days |
At the time of writing (16/04/18), the exchange rate margin that CBA was showing for Foreign Transfers was 5.26%. The margin indicates the amount above the mid-rate (i.e. the rate at which the banks interchange with each other). The cheapest alternative for Foreign Transfers (OFX) at the time of writing was showing a margin of 1.52%, meaning if you had changed $10,000 for EUR with OFX, you would have received EUR236 more than if you had made the exchange with CBA.
So, what about the other Commonwealth bank exchange rates services? Are they so much better that it makes the higher cost of transfer worth while? The key benefit that CBA offers to existing customers, is the knowledge that you are transferring with a familiar brand. They already have all your details so there will be no need to complete any additional forms or undergo any further customer verification or security checks. With that in mind, if you are making a one-off international money transfer, where the amount to be exchanged is sufficiently low for the difference in cost to be acceptable to you, then going with Commonwealth bank exchange rates services could be the way to go for you.
If, however, you will be making regular international money transfers, then securing the lowest exchange rate, will be more critical. The FX specialists that we list on our site are registered and regulated organisations with a strong history of servicing the Foreign transfer and Travel money market.
Commbank Exchange Rates Explained – Foreign Transfers, Holiday Money & Travel Cards
The below live CBA Travel Money comparison table shows how much you could save on your next travel money purchase. The table uses the scenario of a user wanting to change $AUD 2,000 for Euros. Note the margins for the bank and brokers are compared to the current mid-rate. You can change the currencies and send or receive amount with our full CBA travel money calculator.
USD Travel Money
Commonwealth Bank
| Travel Money Providers Ratings & Reviews | Amount USD($) | Exchange Rate | Fee AUD | Total Cost | Currency Services | Delivery/Collect | Deal Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Commonwealth Bank (CBA) Foreign Currency More info▾ | 674.19 USD Compare | 0.681 | $10 | 5.8% | Branch | - | |
 Order over 60 currencies at best online rate and collect at over 130 locations across Australia. More info▾ | 698.30 USD 24 USD | 0.6983 | $0 BPay, Credit Card 1% | 2.43% | Online order, Branch pickup | 3-5 days | |
 Get great travel money rates from Travelex when you order online. More info▾ | 698.10 USD 24 USD | 0.6981 | $0 BPay, Card 0.72%-1% | 2.46% | Online order, Branch pickup, Home delivery | 2-3 days | |
Banks - Average Rate Average rate from selected banks. Click icons for each bank's costs. More info▾ | 675.04 USD 0.85 USD | 0.6833 | 10 | 5.68% | Branch | - |
If you already bank with CBA, you’ve probably already taken a look at the currency related products and services they have to offer such as – Travel Money (cash), Travel Cards, and International Money Transfers (IMT). Below we explain these different options to help you choose which particular product/service would best suit your needs. Firstly, it’s important to understand that the exchange rate will depend on a few factors, namely:
- The currency you need
- Transaction type – whether you wish to buy or sell the currency
- The product you’re after – Travel Money, a Travel Card or International money transfer
Below is an example of a Commonwealth Bank exchange rate table.
Which Exchange Rate applies to you?
Calculating your foreign exchange conversion amounts
Compare Commonwealth Bank exchange rates with other FX specialists
Finally, it’s worth shopping around for the best exchange rate especially if you are travelling for an extended period or exchanging over AUD1000. There are a multitude of specialist FX organisations that often offer significant savings on your currency exchange.
The Main Points:
- CBA provides extensive foreign exchange services, FX Specialists provide more additional services and generally speaking a higher level of expertise;
- CBA products are available both in-branch and online via their online banking platform NetBank. FX Specialists for foreign transfers are on-line but you can speak to them on the phone, and in some cases you will have an account manager;
- Commonwealth Bank exchange rates for foreign transfers are generally poor compared to using an FX specialist.
- Commonwealth Bank exchange rates for travel money are comparable to those of the other Australian banks but you will, more likely than not, get less for your dollar than if you ordered your foreign currency and travel money online through providers such as Travelex.
- Average to poor exchange rates need to be weighed up against convenience of using a familiar internet banking platform.
Further Reading
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the rate is terrible, No interested paid to CBA foreign currency account, a 1% withdraw fee is charged when taking cash from it.
Absolutely disgraceful bank, the worst of a very bad bunch of thieves.
I love the way that Com bank screws everything and everyone associated with it. The passive aggressive phone tress – the surprise shockers, the intrusive Netbank bullshit.
I’m trying to relocate back to NZ – I transferred $500 + $22 AUD up front fee from Com bank to my NZ bank account. I got $500.32 in my NZ bank account. WTF com bank? So the $22 was a fee, and the intra bank flat fee from ANZ – for the foreign exchange was $30 fee that was taken out of the inital AUD $500, so I was moving $470 – and the $500.32 was the result. NZ bank didn’t charge anything or created any dramas it was just a deposit.
Com bank like to think they are “customer service” orientated. They give you stupid millennials that have no customer service skills and a computer screen as their banking service. They are the worst bank I’ve ever had the misfortune of dealing with. Go anywhere but Com bank.
Exchange rates from the CBA is what its call highway robbery !!
It is disgraceful an appealing that the CBA can get away with those exchange rates !!
I will exit this institution as soon as I get back from my holiday trip to Europe in June.
CBA state their exchange rate on website is a “guide only” but it’s way off the mark and is false advertising. Disgraceful.
Hi we have now setup a BER page where customers of Banks and Financial institution can report accuracy of exchange rates
CBA Is no worse than all the other retail banks who are equally woeful on margin. Considering there is no cash involved for travel cards for example, 6%+ on all of them is dreadful. Oz Forex (Macquarie) @ 3% kicks their backside and best of all the rates are intra-day, on-demand. Been watching CAD for last 10 days off the Xmas bottom and consistently getting up to 3 big figures better with Oz over the retails e.g. 0.936251 in the last hour versus 0.9074, that’s $30 per $1000 and its better off in your pocket!
Very Unhappy. The focus is as usual on profit, do it yourself and pay a transfer fee as well as enjoying a poor exchange rate.
Transferring money to NZ – NZ$1200 cost me AUD $1212.86 at a rate of 0.9894 + AUD $22.00 transfer fee. The Ausforex rate was 1.0384. That’s who I will be using in future.
Not sure how this rating system works? is the first button good or bad?
Terrible xchange rates and constantly hit with exorbitant fees when using any of their products/cards overseas
CBA have the best Vietnamese Dong VND rates of all the banks, I know cos I have a internet cafe business in Hanoi’s old quarter, so changing cash and sending money back and forth very often.
Concerned that the CBA doesn’t offer good customers better rates as their exchange rate is lower and they hit with commission as well double dipping.
Given the convenience on online banking, CBA is okay if transferring small amounts overseas as a lot of FX’s won’t do small transfers.
This bank just doesn’t care anymore about its reputation – all it is after is profit – I say if you belong to this bank – close your account today!!!!!!
some of the worst exchange rates of any of the available options.
I used to transfer money to ukraine through this function because of the convenience but no longer. I cop the 7% fee plus 50.00 commission from other transfer banks like Deutsche.
Looking at your comments I agree but Do you really think that any bank cares?
Terrible rates especially reconverting foreign currency (US dollars) back to Aust dollars. Current official exchange rate is apprx $1.03, CBA buy back at $1.0819, over 5 cents in every dollar and that is after selling at apprx $0.99. They are making about 7% if you buy from and sell back to CBA. Utterly outrageous@!!!
I don’t agree with the some of the below comments, well at least not for Indian Rupee. I use CBA to send money home to India and the rate is much better than the other banks…generally with a margin of just over 1% which is pretty good.
YEAH, TERRIBLE RATES
Now an $8 service fee. On top of terrible rates.
I concur. Extremely terrible rates
Terrible rates, nuff said