rebekah202

if i am going to paris do i bring travelers checks in american dollars and then exchange them for euros, or do i get euro travlers checks from american express and then have them exchanged for euros? Thanks so much!

P_M

Exchanging Traveler's checks or cash for euros is a thing of the past, and no savvy traveler does that anymore. Traveler's checks should only be used as a back-up to your ATM card, if you must take them at all. The ATM will give you the best exchange rate and the lowest fees. If you insist on bringing TC's, get them in US dollars but do NOT plan to cash them once you're there. Use your ATM card and get as much cash as you are comfortable carrying around.

kenderina

Travellers Checks are not the best option here in Europe. The easiest thing is an ATM card but if you still want to use traveller checks I think it would be better in american dollars but not sure, my experience with travelers checks has not been very good.

nibblette

Agree with others, use ATM. TC should only be for back-up. If you get TC, get US$ (American Express if possible). If you have to cash them, Am Exp will exchange them with no fee. I think their rates are competitive to other exchange booths.

platzman

Kenderina, I'm interested to know your experiences with traveler's checks. Do Europeans use them?

Gretchen

You will get hammered using traveller's checks. Merchants will not accept them so you must go to a bank to cash them. You'll get a poor exchange rate on top of that. If you want to take some for an extreme emergency get them in USD not Euros. If you bring them home then you can redeposit them without losing on the exchange rate here--if you could even do it. I think I have heard of someone who couldn't redeposit them here.

Patrick

How to use Travelers checks in Europe?

Get a few for emergencies. Store them for safe keeping. Never use them.

If a true emergency happens and you need cash and there is no other way to get it, cash a few and take the financial beating you'll get, as you have little other choice.

Others will disagree with me, but IF I were to take TC's (and I won't) I'd get them at home in Euros, so that in a true emergency, I wouldn't have to find a bank open (do emergencies always happen during banking hours and not at night or on weekends?). If they are already in euro, I'd have already paid my "fees" in the form of exchange rates when I bought them at home, and I wouldn't have to rely on some restaurant, shop, or hotel deciding to charge me a 10% to 20% exchange rate to convert dollars to euros. And besides, at the end of the trip I could put all I have left on my final hotel bill at FULL value.

Patrick

And regarding that idea of American Express cashing them for "no fee" in Europe -- I'd be interested in hearing from someone with personal experience along those lines. The last I knew, cashing a $100 American Express TC at an American Express office in Europe, will gain you about 10% fewer euros than a current exchange rate. They may not call that a fee, but I do. On the other hand, if you are cashing an American Express TC for 100 euros in Europe, I believe you will actually get the full 100 euros. Another reason for getting the TCs in euro if going to Europe.

janis

Patrick: In theory you are right. But very few restaurants or shops accept travelers checks even when they are in €.

So, even if one has paid extra in the States to get € TCs, they would usually still have to got to a bank and pay a fee to cash them.

Robespierre

I haven't carried an Amex card for a few years, but when I did, there was no fee at either end (if you cashed them at their offices).

One reason I <u>don't</u> use Amex any more is because I can travel with a couple of debit cards and a few hundred USD &quot;mad money&quot; for emergencies.

Patrick

janis you could be right, but I can guarantee you that MORE restaurants will cash a TC in euro than will in US dollars, and those that will cash either, will always give you full value for the euro one, but charge you a poor rate for the dollar one. I find it hard to imagine being in a restaurant, having them refuse your credit card (or it not working), you offering them a euro TC for the full amount and them refusing to take it! But I CAN imagine them refusing a US dollar one, or charging you a lot to accept it. And MOST hotels will cash a TC for you (if not too large) -- but again, it will only be for full value if it is in euro, not if in dollars.

platzman

I remember 15 years ago going to banks in Europe to exchange traveler's checks. Even then, I got a lot of rolling eyes and shaking heads from tellers, as if to say &quot;Please! Not those!&quot; Now that TC use has gone down so much, I wonder if the younger clerks and tellers even know what to do with checks nowadays. I suspect they'd have to call the manager in to inspect them!

kenderina

platzman, you almost answered yourself Almost anybody here use them. My experience was in London, 10 years ago and I had a bad time finding a bank which wanted to exchange them for me ! I know that Spanish Pesetas was not a big money, but ...it was not so rare !!
Now I think most of them don't even know what they are, as you say. Everybody here uses ATM all the time for cash. It's easier, I live in a small city and I have 3 machines just around my block so in big tourist places maybe there are even more And of course, the exchange rate is lower.

kenderina

I meant &quot;almost everybody&quot; !!

Grandma

I don't know how to bring up the thread (!!!) but if you search for &quot;Sad Tale of Euro Travelers Checks&quot; you'll find a LOT of information on the subject.

P_M

Here ya go, Granny.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessa...+tale+of+euro+

Flyboy

In response to the original post, the answer is: &quot;Don't use travelers checks.&quot; It's that simple. As a financial instrument in 2005, they are simply a dinosaur that frequently involves extra cost and inconvenience. The days of not leaving home without them are gone.

francophile03

So in the end, what do you all recommend to use if one needs cash (e.g. ATM isn't working)?

nibblette

FYI, I once had to use TC in Italy because ATMs were down and taxi wouldn't take CC. The TC were already in euro and I STILL was charged a fee to exchange! This was in 2002. I think a lot of exchange booths charge a fee for TC, no matter the currency.

kenderina

if the ATM's are not working, which is a very very strange thing, I mean, maybe you find 3 not -working but I'm sure the 4th works , I will carry some money of my currency(lets say, dollars) and exchange them. Maybe you don't get a good rate but hey, it's urgent Or maybe you can use the TC's but you have to be prepared not to exchange them in the first bank you meet.