Payments and Getting Cash in Vietnam

Payments and Getting Cash in Vietnam

Vietnam is still very much a cash society, with card payments not being common with foreign cards. If they are accepted then there is always a fee of about 3 – 5%, so having cash is always the best solution.

Although many places mention prices in USD it is generally not an accepted form of payment. We do accept some other currencies but this is not the norm. We accept USD, Euro, AUD and GBP for payments or any currency for the deposit. USD is often mentioned by other places and ourselves so that it is clear what the price is as many people are not familiar with prices in the millions of dong.

What money to bring into the country?

Getting VND in other countries can be hard and have higher fees compared to changing money in Vietnam. So it is often a good option to bring cash into VND in USD, Euro, AUD, GBP or another common international currency. 

You can then change this in Vietnam with a very favourable exchange rate, usually 1 – 2% fee compared to Google, sometimes even less. This is normally a better exchange rate that you will get from your own bank when paying on card. 

Whilst the airports and hotels will offer to exchange money these are not the best places to do it. They will offer a worse exchange rate, and the hotels will then just exchange at the better places nearby. While the airports offer convenience or the final option when leaving the country and charge a premium for this. 

In all of the big cities there are gold shops which offer to exchange money. These are easy to spot once you know what to look for and where they are. We mark them on your route maps or you can just ask us and we will give you an address for the city you are in. 

Withdrawing VND in the country

There are some ATMs in Vietnam that will let you withdraw cash without fees, TP Bank and VP Bank. These are only in the large cities so you should plan accordingly and carry quite a lot of cash with you. Vietnam is a safe country so you don’t need to worry much about carrying cash. 

TP Bank allows up to 5mil vnd each transaction and up to 3 transactions per day. These are the more common of the 2 banks without fees. 

VP Bank allows up to 20mil vnd in a transaction per day. Although less common in the big cities compared to TP Bank, you can find some VP Bank ATMs in the smaller cities. 

Other ATMs often have small limits of 2 – 3mil per transaction and charge a small fee. This makes withdrawing large amounts more difficult and expensive. 

Planning to only get cash in Vietnam isn’t a good idea as these ATMs have started to become well known as having no fees and as such many people use them and they can be emptied quite quickly. Over the weekend this is particularly true as they will not be refilled until Monday. 

American Express and Maestro are not cards that are accepted in Vietnam in many places or even ATMs so make sure you have VISA and Mastercard as a backup to cash. 

Summary

The best option is to bring cash in a common international currency and exchange it in Vietnam. Or changing some money into VND before coming to Vietnam. 

Relying on ATMs in Vietnam with low fees isn’t advisable but it is the only option if you don’t bring cash as only having cards can be an issue in many places.