Living in Moscow

Money

Exchange offices are numerous and easy to locate all over Moscow. Large shops also offer their own exchange facilities.

U.S. Dollar and Euro are accepted equally well at all exchange offices throughout Moscow. However, pound sterling and other world currencies can generally be exchanged only at banks, and usually at a lower rate.

Do not bring pound sterling notes issued in Scotland or Northern Ireland, as you will not be able to change them in Moscow.

Old or very worn dollar bills are often not accepted at banks and exchange offices, even though this is a violation of currency laws. Thus make sure that all the bills are recent and clean.

Visa, MasterCard are accepted almost in any ATM, Visa Electron and Cirrus/Maestro - more rarely, and AmEx and Diners Club owners might have problems cashing the cards.

There're plenty of ATMs (bankomat in Russian) in Moscow, especially in the city centre. However, it's better to withdraw your money from a cash machine located in a bank's office. If your card gets swallowed, the problem will be fixed considerably faster there.

You can easily make your purchases in big department stores and supermarkets in Moscow, as well as pay your bills in a good deal of restaurants.

Some currency exchange outlets will allow you to take cash advances from your credit cards, but it will cost you extra.

You cannot pay with travellers' cheques in Moscow, you can only withdraw money from them in banks.

Few places in Moscow accept travellers' cheques. The most widely accepted ones are American Express and more rare - Thomas Cook. Selected banks will also cash Visa, Mastercard and Citicorp cheques.

AmEx travellers' cheques may be cashed at the American Express office in the centre of Moscow. The American Express office is located near Mayakovskaya metro station on 21A Sadovaya-Kudrinskaya st. Telephone: 933-8432

Expect to pay a 3% commission for cashing the checks in Moscow banks.

You can officially take up to $3,000 out of Russia with no documents. Amounts from $3,000 to $10,000 will require some additional papers. It's prohibited to take larger sums in cash out of the country.

You can deposit any amount of money to your bank account in Moscow and withdraw it in your home country.

In addition, you can buy travellers' cheques in Moscow and cash them in your home country.