I withdrew cash at an ATM in Saudi Arabia and selected Accept Conversion because it sounded safer. Later I saw the rate was terrible. Is this normal?
It happened to me in Dammam in June when I withdrew money from a Al Rajhi ATM at a petrol station using my Australian Westpac card. The prompt said something like Charge in AUD or Continue Without Conversion and I picked the AUD option because I thought it would avoid surprises. Turns out that was a mistake. I was charged at a rate way below market and there was an extra margin on top of that. The key thing is to always decline ATM conversion and let your own bank do the math. The ATM conversion is never in your favor in Saudi Arabia.
I recently returned from a trip to Mecca and Medina and I can confirm this is a very common trap. I used my French Mastercard at an ATM of SNB Al Ahli in Medina near the Haram and accepted the conversion because I thought it was mandatory. The screen made it seem like I had to agree to see the amount in euros. But when I compared it later with the official rate I lost around 8 percent. I withdrew again two days later in Mecca from a Samba Bank ATM and chose to decline conversion and was charged in Saudi Riyals. My bank handled the exchange and the rate was far better. Always decline conversion at Saudi ATMs even if the screen makes it confusing
Yes totally normal unfortunately. I was in Jeddah last month and withdrew 1000 riyals from an ATM operated by SABB Bank using my Barclays Visa card from the UK. The ATM gave me two options and I chose the one that said Accept Conversion because it showed me the amount in pounds and I thought that meant less risk. But later I saw they used a really poor exchange rate plus a hidden markup. A friend of mine used the same ATM and chose Decline Conversion and his bank gave him a much better deal. Never accept the ATM conversion in Saudi Arabia or anywhere else if your card is already optimized for international use.
I had the same experience when I landed in Riyadh in April. I used my Revolut card at an Al Rajhi Bank ATM inside the airport and the machine asked if I wanted to accept conversion and charge in my home currency. I hit yes thinking it was safer but when I checked my app later the exchange rate was much worse than what Revolut usually gives. I ended up paying close to 5 percent more. Found out afterward that if you accept conversion it means the local bank applies their own rate which is usually inflated. Always choose to be charged in local currency Saudi Riyals and let your bank handle the rate. Lesson learned the hard way