7... Money, money, money

Getting large amounts of foreign currency is difficult.  I’m not saying it should be easy; the world is a very scary place.  However, I think my experience was just a little overly dramatic.

We live in amazing times, full of conveniences that every one of our ancestors would be envious of.   Medicine, housing, food, entertainment – every aspect of our lives is a million times better and easier than it was for those living even one generation ago. Now it can be argued that there are pros and cons to this age of technological innovation.  I agree.  But that’s a whole other can of worms that has nothing to do with my current topic of conversation. Today we are talking about my experience ordering Yen online.

Because I live in a very, very rural area, getting foreign currency is not something easily achieved.  Getting a debit/credit card that can work in a foreign country, no problem.  Getting actual bills, not happening.  But I needed bills.

In America, money is more of a state of mind than an actual, physical thing.  At least for my generation.  I never carry cash.  I have a card.  I’m not saying that in a flippant way; my mother and father raised me to understand and appreciate money.  But my money exists in cyberspace rather than my wallet.  I check it online, I pay my bills online, and I use my card to make purchases I don’t make online.  I very rarely have physical money on my person. 

Now, anyone that knows much about Japan can see this habit might be a bit of a disadvantage for someone moving there.  Japan is still a cash based society.  You can use a credit card in major cities and at many of the more tourist oriented places, but physical bills and coins are required for the daily life of people residing there.  Not to mention it is rather difficult to rent an apartment, get a cell phone, or handle other moving related expenses when you don’t have a bank account.  These are large deposits that must be paid in Yen.  This is why my company suggests new employees bring a substantial amount of currency into the country. 

All very reasonable, right?  I thought so.  But I also didn’t want to deal with extra charges for cash advances, debit card deduction limits, rushing to exchange currency at SFO during my brief layover, or dealing with it at Kansai after flying for almost a day.  So, in this day and age of technological wonder, I found you can order currency online from the same company that exchanges it at the airport.  Fantastic!  They offer a better rate, too.  Even better! And they will deliver it right to my door.  I’m sold! 

Now if only it were that simple.  I am a huge believer in the idea of cosmic balance.  I have a theory – because we have such amazing technology to make our lives easier, it should never work smoothly.  This isn’t exactly balanced; the ease is still far greater than the tiny bit of adversity we face with flight delays, slow internet connections, and other minor inconveniences, but in a world where we are raised on instant gratification, these small hurdles can really seem much larger.  Ordering money online definitely felt this way to me.

To start with, a lot of the legwork was done for me by my wonderful, amazing, beautiful, caring, and all around super-awesome mother.  As a veteran of the travel industry and a seasoned traveler, she offered to check into where I could get the best rate.  Since she is also frequently at a large, international airport, I gave her a portion of the cash I was going to convert so she could get it exchanged.  We realized pretty quickly that this was probably not the best choice, however, since it would involve either mailing the currency or her making a trip to visit her favorite daughter.  Neither of these were great options. 

Instead, we came up with another plan.  In her research she found that you could order currency online through Travelex.  Since that is the same company as the exchange booths in the airport, we felt confident that this was a safe and reliable option.  I could also use my debit card and avoid transaction fees and cash advance fees that would have applied to credit cards.  It seemed like this option was made just for my situation.  There were two choices for pickup – at an airport or home delivery.  I decided to go with home delivery since recently I have had very little luck with flights leaving and arriving on time (knock on wood) and I didn’t want to risk it.  So far, everything was going smoothly.  I clicked through the options – Yen, cash currency, home delivery.  I filled in all my information.  I hit the submit button.  My card was declined.

Try again.  Click through the options, fill in the information, hit submit.  Declined. 

Sigh.  Under the declined statement, it says that Travelex can’t tell you why your payment was declined.  They suggest you call your bank/card issuer.  So I did.  After I explained the situation, what I was trying to do and why, I was informed that I was declined because I had not signed a form to use my debit card in a foreign country.  Thankfully, I was able to sign the form and have the card released for foreign use immediately.  So, hop in the car, run up the steps and into the bank, fill out form, say thank you, drive home, try again. 

Declined. Ugh.

I called the bank again.  The first teller I had spoken with was out, but the second one suggested that maybe it was the amount.  She didn’t think the amount I was trying to spend was over the daily limit for my account, but she suggested I try again with a smaller amount.  I tried a fourth time.

SUCCESS!  A portion of the amount I needed was now being delivered to my house.  Huge sigh of relief. 

I knew you were only able to order a certain amount per day, so I tried again the next day.  Got it on the first try.  I now had over half of the amount I needed.  But I would still need one more transaction. 

Day three, a Sunday, declined.  That’s okay, the banks are closed, the exchange is closed.  I’ll try again on Monday.  I wasn’t panicked yet.  Annoyed, yes, but at least a large portion of the funds I needed were on their way. 

Instead I decided to wait a day.  I could see where the larger of the two transactions, the one from Saturday, was already deducted from my bank balance, but the purpose of the deduction wasn’t listed in the account history.  I had email confirmation from Travelex that the orders were placed, but only one email confirming payment for the Saturday transaction.  I was a little concerned.  The order placed on Friday wasn’t showing up through the bank, but sometimes it takes a couple days.  Later that afternoon, I got a phone call from Travelex confirming my orders so all was well and good with the world.  On a whim, I asked the representative about why my third order might have been declined.  She informed me, in a delightful British accent, that the amount I was trying to get might be close to the weekly limit imposed by Travelex.  She also told me to have fun and enjoy my adventure.  It was a very pleasant conversation.  I decided to take my victory, wait for my currency on Tuesday, and just let the third order slide for the day.     

Tuesday morning I couldn’t wait.  I wanted this all settled.  I tried again, failed again.  Then I remembered what the representative had said the day before.  You see, when I was ordering, I would put in the amount I wanted to exchange, but the company would alter that slightly to make the conversion easier.  They were rounding up.  I realized this when it was happening, but it didn’t register until I was about to start screaming obscenities at the computer screen.  So I went back to my confirmation emails and added up the exact amounts.  I figured out it was about five dollars.  So I subtracted that from the amount I wanted to get.  In the end, I converted about ten dollars less than I originally intended.  I succeeded in ordering and confirming payment on my final order and it would be delivered on Wednesday.  I breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Mid-morning I got another call from Travelex confirming the details of my third order.  By this time I’m sure I was looking very suspicious, so I didn’t mind answering their questions.  There were more questions than on Monday, but the representative was very personable and he British accent was charming.  We got everything sorted and she wished me a happy early birthday and a safe trip.  Around noon, my currency arrived.  The ordeal was finally over.  Or, it will be soon.  I am still waiting for the money from the original order on Friday to be deducted from my account (even though the currency arrived today).  And the final package comes tomorrow. 

So that was my adventure with ordering currency online.  It is a wonderfully convenient option.  The staff at my bank and Travelex were really, really helpful.  I don’t seem to have made any government agency’s watch list.  I still don’t think I ever want to do it again. 

However, now I can make it rain Yen!

Just kidding, that would be very rude.  I might not know everything about Japanese culture, but I know they think more highly of their money than we do.  So instead, here is the Joker making it rain.  Enjoy.