Bringing money into Bahrain

Do you want to know whether its better to get your pounds converted to BD in your home country or in Bahrain?  I hope this is what you are trying to ask. Bahraini dinar is pegged to dollars. Its always better to carry dollars since conversion in bahrain will be easy. For your information, one BD is equal to 2.65 dollars. Its fixed and there wont be any day to day forex fluctuation. But mind you, you cannot carry more than 4000 ddollars at one stretch. Please check with your custom rules and regulations so that you dont land up in trouble at airport. Since you seem to be from UK, just check exchange rates in banks for dinars and dollars and calculate whether it will be cheaper to convert pounds to dollars or dinars and work out that way. Dont go to airport currency exchange counters. They loot you. Take care

Before I moved to Bahrain I was in the same situation, change pound to dinar in UK is limited, at least where I was.

M&S has to be informed a week in advance as they do not stock dinar. other places they do not have it. maybe in central London you can find some but i doubt you will get a good rate.

Thanks, so if I bring cash either USD or GBP into Bahrain where is the best place to have the, exchanged? I've been using the BFC app yet there's a two rates and I'm not sure which I would get if I walk in with an amount of foreign currency in order to exchange it for BD

The best place based on my experience will be Bahrain Financing Centre (BFC) located in all major shopping malls and the airport in Bahrain. Their rates beats most bank accounts and certainly other places like MoneyGram or Travelex.

Is there anything stopping you leaving it in your UK bank account? We brought a small amount over and then either used our ATM card or transferred the money to our Bahrain account when it was open. Almost all places take credit & debit cards and a lot now have credit card machines that take the amount in GBP or any currency so you don't get the charges. I personally haven't found the charges to be an issue as they are very small.

Not allot stopping me , I can use my halifax card which is a mastercard and pay that off using GBP from my current account. So maybe best to do that for large purchases but will still need an amount of BD to survive until first Bahrain pay day.

I would leave as much in your UK bank account as you can - Lloyds offshore is a good account. Building societies tend to have much higher fees. Getting your currency exchanged by the post office is a good option but you may need to book in advance or book with your bank. I get my currency here and don't find the exchange rate to be too bad.

Have to agree, when I moved here did not bring any cash with me. That's what the ATM's are for, just tell your U.K. bank you will be using your card in the Mid East and no issue. Some banks will stop transactions unless they are informed in advance, that you will be using it in far off places. On top of that a lot of companies will give you a salary advance when you arrive for rent etc, if you need it, pay back over a number of months.

Just draw it from your UK account using the ATM machines for the time being.  There are charges but at the moment you are getting a whole lot more Dinar for your Pound than you were 6 months ago.  You should also be able to use your debit card in most places.

Do tell your bank.  We told ours but it took them blocking the card twice for them to finally realise we lived here!  If they do block it a quick call sorts it out immediately.

Does it make more sense to use your uk debit card in the atms rather than drawing out here and exchanging for dinar at the bfc shops? Charges and rate wise?

Well, for the initial period, you can use your UK debit card but once you get paid here, you won't need to do that.

I still use UK cards all the time here. A lot of stores can now process your payment in GBP so you get no charges. Depending on your bank in the UK the charges should be minimal

The school I will be working for in Bahrain is headquartered out of Princeton, New Jersey, USA, so the school will be direct depositing my paycheck into my US account I provided for them.

Should I also open up a Baharani bank account while I am there?  Or is it just fine to use my US ATM card and pull money when needed like I do here?

Thanks!

You can use your US Card but depending on your bank, you will be charged per transaction. The fee might seem minimal but it all adds up. I recommend you opening a bank account here and transfer some money here on a regular basis.

When I first moved here I had a Lloyds TSB international account for the salary to be paid in to. The charges were quite high though. Maybe stick with HSBC in UK and here which will cut down on your charges

Good advice!  I have contacted my bank and will see what their fees are - and apparently my new employer will help set up a local account if I request one.  Thanks!

Yes do that. It makes much more sense in the long run.