better exchange rate with travel's check

Yes, he is right, if you go to a place like Amex directly to get the Euros.

I don't think so, but I'll let others weigh in on that. I think it's the opposite, that you get a better exchange rate with cash than with TCs (both being in USD).

I don't know what kind of fees you pay for buying TCs, can't you get them free somehow? I can get them free either from AAA or from my bank. All the banks I've ever used gave me free TCs (granted, I keep more than the bare minimum in my account).

I take TCs with me, not cash, just because I don't want to carry around large amounts of cash with me in Europe and I don't use them that often, they are just for emergencies. I mainly use credit cards and my ATM card.

ATM/Debit card withdrawls (not Credit Card withdrawls) will be better than either cash or Travelers checks.

I don't know if TCs are better or worse than cash. TCs are safer. Remember - banks are closed more often in Europe than in the US - and do you really want to spend much time standing in line at banks. TC exchange rates from Hotels & restaurants are a rip-offs.

Stu Dudley

No.
Best deal is taking your ATM card and use it in Europe to withdraw from your checking account. Even if your bank charges foreign usage fee and loads exchange rates, you still pay less overall than using TCs.
Trouble with TCs is that fewer and fewer banks are taking them in Europe, and even if they do, they charge a high fee (often 10 euro per check!) plus lousy exchange rate. True, Amex checks are exchanged free of charge at Amex offices, but there are fewer of them in Europe, and exchange rate is still poor. Then you are limited to bank opening hours, while ATMs are 24/7.

Also, note that when you are looking at currency transactions, there are always two components to consider. Fees and exchnage rate.

Many exchange bureaux will advertise "no fees!!!" but then make up for it by charign a worse exchange rate.

So if you do get TCs "free", verify what exchange rate they are using.

And yes, time to move TCs to the museum. Only use might be for emergency funds, but if you both have ATM and credit cards...

ATMs will give you the best overall rate. And you don't have to wate vacation time trying to unload TCs.

You can find a list of European AmEx office on the AmEx website. There aren't any in Germany and in only two cities in France.

I just call AMEX EX. There will be no fee since I am a gold member but there is a fee for non-gold members. Today's exchange rate to buy Euro Travelers checks here is 1.70 terrible ! so I have decided not to get TC and just use my ATM debit card over there and bring some dollars cash.

My husband on the other hand is bringing over TC in dollars.

Can't advise on the exchange rate, but check with your banks - my sent me a letter with the monthly statement, the TCs are free.

>>My husband on the other hand is bringing over TC in dollars.<<

And he will probably return with 100% of the travelers checks unused. Will your local grocery take them??

Stu Dudley

Better than cash at a german bank. Reisebank today has a rate of 1.7175
You need to look around, where you change cash! And it may get more expensive.

In our experience of one major (five weeks) trip to some part of Europe or another every year, Alec is spot on. We have been unable to beat the use of our ATM card to take the local currency on demand. Every single negative written here about travelers checks is correct: poorer exchange rate, reluctance to accept, arbitrary fees, etc.

Also, for several years we opted for a cash-only basis paying everything from hotels to fuel for cash obtained from local ATMs. In spite of the fees for ATM use, we have found that, in order to get the most enjoyment out of our trips with the least amount of hassle, we use ATMs for local cash and credit cards wherever we can.

Bon voyage,
BigBlue

In 2004, in Edinburgh we could not find a bank that would exchange our US dollars for Pounds unless we were a customer!!

That was the first year we had taken our ATM card and we were finally forced to use it.

So easy and our bank only charged $3 per transaction and gave us a better rate than the so-called Exchange Bureaus.

Take TC's or a little extra cash for emergencies if you like, but use your ATM card.

You may want to check your daily withdrawal limit with your bank before you go and DEFINITELY let them know that you will be using your ATM card overseas.

When I said I got them free, I meant that literally and know I do -- because I only take them in my native currency (which is USD). You will know if they are free in that case. They wouldn't be free if I got them in euro, they charge a markup any place I know of in the US for that, but I don't do that and don't recommend it.

Out of curiosity, I checked with one bureau de change in Paris (where I am most familiar with the rates and practices), and today they charge $1.601 USD to buy one euro if you pay in cash, but $1.631 for one euro if you pay by USD TCs so they are worth less. Maybe it's different in other countries or even other places, but I thought I had noticed that. I don't know why TCs in USD would be worth more than actual dollars in Germany, as TCs are checks and there is some administation involved in cashing or depositing them for the exchange place.

You will pay at least 5% above the interbank rate to buy the traveler's checks and when you cash them you will not get the same rate as a general rule even if you have AE checks and go to an AE office.

If you have AE checks and do NOT go to an AE office you will pay through the nose. The checks could end up cost you 10% or more than the interbank rate of exchange.

With an ATM card for which you do not have to pay a fee, such as to Bank of America if using its card off net, you pay 1% above the interbank rate.

I don't think TCs are a way to go.

Besides they are lumpy. If they are in euro, what do you do with the leftovers? If you cash them there for dollars you pay the euro to dollar rate, and if you bring them back you have to redeem them into dollars. It will not come out even unless you budget very carefully.

At least using an ATM card you can take money in amounts closer to what you need to get you through the final hours of your trip.

If you're trying to minimize

1) loss of funds due to bad rates of exchange

2) hassle of finding a place to change checks (very rare) or cash (open only certain hours)

you should simply pay for all you can with cc and pull cash from your checking account at ATMs.

Just as in the the US european banking is almost primarily electronic - and forcing them to deal with cash or paper in a foreign currency will cost you a lot extra, waste valuable time and be a mahor pain in the butt.

Even back in the early 1990's, bank tellers looked at travelers checks with a grimace. Europeans didn't like or use them then, and they sure as heck don't now.

IN the 21st century of traveling,take two ATM cards from two different bank accounts along with two different credit cards-all you will ever need. Then don't use the credit cards and when you get home you won't have the VISA bill from hell!

It depends on where you're traveling to. For folks to say not to take travelers' checks at all, well I don't agree with that at all. I personally am a travelers' check person and have been for 30-plus years,of almost annual trips to Europe.
I also take along two credit cards for big charges like hotels and shopping. I also take along cash.
And this last trip to Paris, a few weeks ago, I took along my credit union ATM/ debit card...NOT my bank ATM card since it charges $5.00 per transaction, plus that card is connected to my direct deposit salary, so I won't use it overseas. I didn't use my credit union debit card at all.
I got on the bus and hopped over to the Amexp Office, on rue Scribe,Paris... that I've been going to for decades and cashed the money that I needed for the whole week. Then I was finished with money exchanging as I can exchange whatever amount I want and not a fixed daily limit as on an ATM card.I got a rate of 1.62 per US dollar.
I also like to take travelers' checks because if they are lost or stolen, then I can get new ones, which once I had to do. I can't do that with cash and who knows how one would replace a lost, stolen, or ATM machine-eaten card overseas. So, I only take the ATM/Debit card in case of an extreme emergency for getting cash, but have never used it.
Now, if I get into a situation where there's no AmExp office nearby
that I can hop over to, then I'd have to move on to Plan B. I never take only one means of money anyway.

If you do decide to use your ATM/debit card, be sure to call the bank or credit union to make sure that it will be good in that country. Last summer, I took my credit union visa debit card with me to Bangkok where I rent an apartment twice a year for vacation and although I had gone in person to my credit union and told them that I would be using it, for the first time to pay the rent, and they made a notation of it in the computer that I'd be away, when I got to Bangkok and tried to pay the rent upon check in, but the card was declined. I had no idea why so I used my Amexp Platinum card. I also had plenty of travelers' checks and cash.
When I got home, and called the credit union, I was told that Thailand was one of the countries on their high theft list and that no card issued from their credit union could be used there. The person who had okayed it screwed up and later admitted that she didn't realize what country Bangkok was in. I could have been stranded. But AmExp came through once again!Happy Travels!

I'm not sure what American Express offices logos is referring to. The last time we took US dollar TCs to an American Express office (in Geneva), they were charging well over 10% to exchange them to local currency! Although they were proudly saying "no fee" to do so. If they are in euros, then there is NO charge at all, but of course you've paid something like 7% usually at home for the exchange rate to buy them in euros. Still -- that seems to be cheaper than cashing them in Europe if they are in dollars. Where are you IM? You don't have a AAA office?

OK - there has been some great info and some totally incorrect info above -- and you are probably totally confused by now

One thing (and I am not kidding here) - in each city be sure to have a list of things you can do on your own while your husband wanders around looking for somewhere to cash his TCs. Many banks will not take them. When they do there is a major fee. There are VERY few Amex offices so he cannot depend on cashing them there. Your hotel most likely won't take them -- and if they do it will be at the exchange rate they choose

Your husband is being foolish - TCs are a real PITA (if you know what that means). They will cost him money, they will cost him LOTS of time, and they are no safer than just using an ATM card.

Janisj-had to laugh as I have been calling my husband PITA for over 30 years!!!
To IM-seriously,don't waste your vacation constantly looking for the right bank or American Express office...time overseas is too short. Travelers checks are in the same category as "beta",cassettes,dial phones,etc.
I fly to Europe(primarily) and other parts of the world everyweek for my job with the airlines and travelers cheques are seriously dinosaurs in banking overseas!

You're smart to bring the ATM card. Once you're there, just keep saying "Let's use this ATM, since it's right here, and look for an American Express office later."

Many, many years ago, and just ahead of receiving our ATM cards on the international networks, we could get travelers checks in the foreign currency with no fees at AAA for a much more modest markup on the conversion. Typically, we could cash them at the front desk of our hotel for the face value with no fees. Those days are gone forever.

One thing about all this mess remains true. They are better than cash if you find an AMEX office. Otherwise for Europe! there are better options.

Downtown Munich has two Amex office by the way.

AXTCs. How much is being able to replace lost or stolen checks worth?
Fodor's notes,"...avoid hefty surcharges by cashing Amex checks at Amex offices.".
They also say that, "...they're a cheap and secure way to carry extra money...". Fodor's advises against buying the Travelers Cheque Card. Business classes usually explain that AX benefits from TCs because they immediately begin to draw income from the deposited money.

It stands to reason:

(a) you buy traveller's cheques from the provider and then you sell them again when you arrive at the other end. Both the people you're buying from and the people you're selling to factor in their overheads for handling all the paper and accounting, and charge you accordingly. You pay twice for the privilege.

(b) with an ATM, all the calculating and accounting is done electronically rather than by people handling paper, and you're communicating directly with your own original account. Lower overheads = less cost to be passed on to you, lower margins needed to provide them with their cut.

Thanks for all the information. I tried to get my PITA husband to read the responses and he read only the first two and said "I knew that ATM was the better option!"....I guess I got my point across.

NEOPATRICK - I live in the US Virgin Islands - no AM EX or AAA here. We were going to NYC for a few days before going to Munich (has two AM EX office there by the way). If you all had said that travel's check was a good idea , I would have gotten the the TCs in NYC. Thanks for all the good information.

Just make sure your bank knows you plan to use ATMs abroad, ask them about getting a 4-digit PIN.

I had to laugh, because Janis said exactly what I was thinking - you'd better plan your own days so you stay occupied while your husband wanders around trying to get cash (which he will pay a significant premium for - my bank in France charges about 10 euro per 100, plus gives you a crappy exchange rate).

And for heaven's sake don't check into a hotel with him or go out to lunch or dinner with him if he plans on paying for those things with TCs. You will find virtually NO place in Europe that will accept TCs for payment, especially if they're in $$.

TCs are dinosaurs. All you need is an ATM card for cash and a cc for large payments.

The bottom line is to take more than one source of money...whatever you choose to do... so that you have a Plan A,B,and C. Happy Travels!

IF you buy TCs at least get them in USD so if/when not used you can keep them for other trips, or redeposit into your own bank account without ever exchanging.

Once again, I'll speak up and disagree with Suze on that last point. MOST travelers stay in a hotel and can dump all their leftover TC's in EUROS to pay their hotel bill at the end, so why even worry about bringing them home? There are VERY few hotels in Europe that won't accept them as PAYMENT (I'm not talking about cashing them now), and rarely if ever will they charge you anything to take them as payment. So why have US TC's that you will even a more difficult time using in Europe than Euro ones? And why have something that will definitely NOT be accepted at face value. I'm personally MUCH rather pay the exchange rate up front when (and if) I choose to buy them in the US, than depend on being in an emergency situation and having someone in Europe deciding what he wants to give me for the exchange rate -- generally MUCH worse than the rate you'd pay to buy them at home.

I know some don't agree with this, but I'm standing by it.

If you are going to uses TCs as a emergency backup, then they should be in the currency of where you are going...pounds,euros, Canadian $,etc.. Your emergency will play out smoother if you don't add someone looking at a TC and deciding what exchange rate to use.

But...you pay for that convenience up front when you buy them. And unless you cash them will on holiday, they are "dead momey" at home, unless you want to get dinged again by exchanging them at home for cash.

Michel, absolutely. Which is why I say use them up before you come home (and generally your final hotel is the place to do that without any cost to you). And as you say "you pay up front", but isn't that better than "paying more than you'd have paid upfront when you're stuck using them over there?"

IM We are traveling to Europe this summer and I am the type of person that I don't want to land in a foreign country with just my ATM card and credit cards. I am not getting traveler's checks because they are just not what they used to be. I am bringing some cash in Euros, ordered by my bank here, just to have some money for the firs few days. This will help our transition into Europe be smoother. I have a money belt and I plan to put most of it in there for safekeeping. I think Ishould have about 250 euros to start my trip. After that, I plan to use ATM for cash and credit for hotels. The 250E will be for taxis and simple meals. Good luck!

If we take 4 different "cards" to Europe that we can get cash on, what type of emergencies are likely to hit the cards that will not also hit the TCs.

My wife & I carry 4 different cards, so if my wallet or her purse is stolen - we still have 2 cards that we can use. The same would apply to TCs - I would take half & my wife the other half. If my wife was the only one who "signed" the TC and if she became incapacited - I would be out of luck.

In about '00, there was an ATM strike and the ATMs had no cash. Within a day or two - the banks ran out of cash also, so TCs could not be cashed.

We have probably used over 200 different ATMs in Europe - and we have never had trouble getting cash. Sometimes ATMs don't work, but we just find another - usually in the same town. Banks are quite often closed because it's lunch time, or it's a Sat or Sunday - so ATMs are MUCH more "available" than banks.

Once, we forgot to call the card issuer to tell them we were in Europe, and transactions were refused - but that was cleared up immediatly.

Stu Dudley

Amex desn't charge anything for cashing checks in Europe you've bought YOURSELF from them anywhere. (receipt needed) That's a fact. You need to find an office and there are still plenty of them. If you buy €-checks in the US, you get face value at Amex in Europe. Other statements regarding this are simply not true.

logos -- we KNOW that. Amex fees are not the issue. It costs quite a bit extra to buy those € TCs. So even if one finds an Amex office, those € will have cost more than using an ATM card.

Here's a list of 120000 locations worldwide, where you WILL get face value for the check you bought:

https://www.americanexpress.com/germany/tc/feefree.shtml
Citibank in Munich is one.

This is where you have to pay fees and how much:

http://www10.americanexpress.com/partner_offerings_new_ss/pdf/Non-Fee_Free_Partners_for_%20FFL.pdf

This explains why TC may be good sometimes. (Attention GERMAN)

http://www.zeit.de/2007/51/Reiseschecks


There's SO much discussion on the subject, but nobody ever cares to check the facts. As if the internet wouldn't exist at all....

1.70 for a TC is an o.k. rate compared to exchanging cash.

It's a LOUSY rate compared to using an ATM, but what if the USD is much lower by then?

Yes, janisj of course that's correct. TC are pretty lame compared to using an ATM, but what if the options are cash versus TCs. Here TCs win.

Logos: "Amex desn't charge anything for cashing checks in Europe you've bought YOURSELF from them anywhere. (receipt needed) That's a fact. You need to find an office and there are still plenty of them. If you buy €-checks in the US, you get face value at Amex in Europe. Other statements regarding this are simply not true."

I hope none of that is aimed at my statements. I agree with every word you say -- regarding TCs which were purchased in euros, but what you don't mention is that if you walk into an AMEX office in Europe with AMEX US dollar TC's, their exchange rate IS likely to cost you upwards of 10%. I know that from personal experience. There may be no fee, but they do NOT guarantee a currency exchange rate, and the last time I looked some of those were really horrible!

No, it's not aimed at you, it's aimed at those statements that claim cash is an option, when it's actually the worst option there is. And even Amex is promoting this. (not telling, how much better ATMs are)

And yes, this (cash very bad idea) only applies to WESTERN Europe. As soon as you get into CZ for example, you'll notice the money changing offices offer better rates for USD in cash.

Yes, I still remember traveling in Turkey in 2000 where a number of hotels told us in advance we'd get a 10% discount for paying in US cash (including US dollar TCs at face value). That's one time I happily took some US dollar TCs.

I paid my whole hotel bill in Istanbul with U.S. dollars back in 1999 and also got a 10% discount. Happy Travels!

I just got back from Ireland and used the ATMs to get my daily need of Euros. When I got home and checked my bank account I got exactly the daily money market exchange rate for the transaction. I have found that to be true in England, Scotland, and the Czech Republic also. I can't speak for Germany since I have not been there since 1976 but it probably is true there also. Maybe some other forum member has used German ATMs.

If you have a gold Amex card and plan to use Amex offices to cash traveler's checks, why not instead, take a couple of personal checks and cash them as needed in the exact amount you want. I think they limit the amount or number of transactions you can make in a daily or 30 day period, but it is a fairly large amount. Check on that. A couple of years ago, when in Rome, my bank put a hold on my ATM use (protecting me?). I went to the Amex office, and wrote a personal check in the USD amount, and received what I felt was a great exchange rate in Euro. A couple of personal checks (don't take a whole check book)is much smaller bulk than TCs.

We had a terrible time in 2005 cashing TCs in Greece and Turkey. Only American Express banks and the 5-star hotels (if you were a guest)would do it. They charged a whopping fee, as well as a poor rate of exchange.

Sorry for the long reply, but my advice is not to use TCs, but use an ATM card and only a credit card if no other choice, unless the issuing bank does not charge a cash advance fee. AND take a couple of personal checks, if you will be in cities with AMEX offices.

So in other words TCs are not best option...either you buy in your local currency at home for free and convert to local over there and get whatever exchange rate they want to charge....OR you buy at home in the desired currency and pay whatever rate they want to charge and convert for free over there. Pay or Pay

I'd agree it is better than carrying dollars over to Europe, but I hope people don't do that. And if it is euros you are carrying in cash from home over to there, once again we're back to what did you pay to get those euros?

Seems we're back to using ATMs

...(Western Europe)...