ATMs in Niue keep asking Accept or Decline Conversion - what does that mean? Shows high charges for this
For anyone new to this: always decline the conversion prompt when taking out cash in Niue. It’s a trick to make more money through bad rates and extra fees. Let your bank back home do the currency conversion - they’ll always be fairer than a random island ATM. If you accidentally accept, you’ll notice the difference when checking your bank statement later.
Just sharing my experience - every time an ATM asked about conversion in Niue, I made the mistake of hitting accept at first and definitely got ripped off. The charges were a lot higher than what my bank would normally charge. After that, I always declined and saw better rates on my statement when I got home. Don’t let the ATM screen's big numbers fool you!
This confused me the first time too. Basically, if you accept conversion at the Niue ATM, they’ll show you the costs upfront but you’ll pay way more. Decline the conversion and you get your home bank’s rate and usually pay less. If you want to save money, always hit decline - even if the ATM tries to make it sound better if you accept. It’s just more expensive for travelers.
Whenever an ATM in Niue pops up the ‘Accept or Decline Conversion’ thing, always hit 'Decline'! If you accept, you get charged Dynamic Currency Conversion, which means the bank (or ATM provider) sets a lousy exchange rate plus a fat fee. Declining means your own bank does the conversion, and their rate is almost always better. I learned this the hard way after seeing the high charges on the screen!