Down about $70, 1-15Apr

I'm guessing because you get more Yen to the dollar the COLA rate would be reduced. If my hypothesis is correct, you can expect to receive less through the summer based on the outlook.

Japan Yen to US Dollar Currency Exchange Forecast

Japanese Yen per One U.S. Dollar.  Average of Month.

Month	Date	Forecast Value	50% Correct +/-	80% Correct +/-
0	Feb 2012	78.47	0.0	0.0
1	Mar 2012	81.4	0.8	1.8
2	Apr 2012	81.6	1.0	2.3
3	May 2012	82.2	1.2	2.7
4	Jun 2012	83.0	1.3	3.0
5	Jul 2012	84.3	1.5	3.3
6	Aug 2012	84.4	1.6	3.5

As one who does not get COLA, I could not be more pleased. This is like having my rent drop by $100, not to mention all my other expenses. Let's see that dollar go up!

As I was looking at some historical data, I discovered that in the past.... the rate was 1.00 USD to 350 Yen back in the 70's. I bet your rent would have been sweet back then at about 24% of what you pay now.

http://www.forecasts.org/data/data/EXJPUS.htm

Yes, that's true. The "old timers" in '84 were complaining about the rate of 250 per dollar, remembering when it was 350. I do recall the days of 250. Just imagine what it was like, eating out every night for like $3. Those were the days!

Im on Kadena, living in base housing....I hate to see this lol

I feel your pain mocity...were on base too lol

I would go around punching people I was so happy if we had those good ol days exchange rates!!!! I just cant imagine!

COLA Rate Update

To all our serviced customers: Due to the rise in the dollar/yen exchange rate, COLA has *decreased* as of the month of April and should show in the upcoming payday. This specific change has been driven solely by exchange rate: Your dollar goes further in the local economy, so your COLA has decreased.

Please help pass the word.

COLA increases for May and Im happy again...

I got 79/100 at my local ATmripoff yesterday so I decided to do the math for that 45000 Yen and from 79 to 80 it's a 7.00 difference.

As retired military and current Department of Defense, we know that they take longer to give back what they have taken away.

Posted By yokota on 05-01-2012 6:06 PM
I got 79/100 at my local ATmripoff yesterday so I decided to do the math for that 45000 Yen and from 79 to 80 it's a 7.00 difference.

I got 79.75 at the 7/11 ATM at noon today.  The current international exchange rate is 79.81 per USA Today financials so really you wont' get any better than that.  I keep posting on here that 7/11 has the best rates going.  Considering that I withdrew 80,000 today and will do the same tomorrow (my max daily rate, fee-free) the savings really do add up.

Compared to Community Bank, I'll save $20 on the 2 transactions.  Usually the savings is greater but the yen went up today & my timing was bad. By tomorrow, the rate at Community Bank will be much worse.

Community Bank is sheer robbery. I hate the fact that they are getting free space on bases and making a lot of money off people who a lot of times have no choice but to use them.

I think I saw the other day that they were buying at exchanging Y->$ at 79 and $->Y at 84.

ThaiGuy, May I use my USAA card at 7-11 atm. When I first got here, I was told Americans cannot use any bank atms off base...

Double Post.

Posted By Jennybean on 05-02-2012 4:35 PM
ThaiGuy, May I use my USAA card at 7-11 atm. When I first got here, I was told Americans cannot use any bank atms off base...

hmmm..... who told you that?  Anyone in an official capacity? 

I have not been able to use my USAA card at a 7-11 ATM, but it works at the Post Office near out house.

maybe i am not doing the math correctly, but yen to dollar in feb was 78, march 82, april 81 and now may so far 80. However I can tell you every time I get money out of my ATM or went to a cash cage I have been given the 79 rate. So how does those averages of a couple of pennies equate to 20% decrease in our COLA? and btw cola is only raised by about 6% for the next pay period.

The DSS isn't very forthcoming with the formula for COLA, Yokosuka is also 3 levels below Tokyo due to the way everyone filled(s) out the COLA surveys...civilians were just asked to fill it out again but with the yen rate so low to the dollar I fear people will answer that they don't shop off base and COLA will get reduced even further...only time will tell.

Additionally the DOD banking contract says that community bank can shave 2+ (decimal point) from the rate they buy Yen at the offbase bank on the day they buy it and community bank usually buys a few days worth at a time so when the Yen fluctuates on the news, that's not the rate you're actually receiving...

Hope some of what I said made sense?

the bank explanation makes sense now, I will now only go out in town for yen; no point losing more money.

Yokota,

when I was in AOB, someone said it. Now that I think of it...the person who said it may have just been a sailor or his wife sitting next to me. Of course that is not official in ANY way. It is good to know. A co-worker JUST told me that you need to remove at least 10,000 yen at a time, but that is fine with me. Is there an "English" button on them like the ones in Germany or like the train station?

Geewhiz,

Thanks for that information. I will try the 7-11 near my house and if that doesn't work, at least I know that I can use it at others. I have always thought it was weird but just chalked it up to one of the things we have to learn to live with in a foreign country.

5 Year Chart from USD / YEN



1 Year Chart from USD / YEN



6 Month Chart from USD / YEN



3 Month Chart from USD / YEN



1 Month Chart from USD / YEN

I believe when they make the determination to lower the COLA its highly based on the current yen rate. Yes it has a lot to do with surveys and measuring how many shop for their goods out in town, but the exchange rate is graphical measure on a month to month basis that they use to measure the COLA calculation.

So if you look at FEB 2012, we had a very very low dip. Also last OCT 2011 was a bad month as well.

In March of 2012, all you saw was an upward trend. It continued this way into April of 2012.

This is when they must of measured the trend, and performed the calculation to lower the COLA.

It will take a few months to level the chart in the 79-80 range, for them to raise the COLA back up a little.

I dont want to share too much about where to get the best exchange rates, or pulling out money in this thread.

You can find other discussions like that here:

Best Way In Japan To Change Japanese Yen to American Dollars
http://www.japanbases.com/forums/aft/3445.aspx

Getting the best exchange rate
http://www.japanbases.com/forums/aft/2133.aspx