Lori

Can anyone tell me why travelers checks are a bad idea to carry for the bulk of expenses? I was told if you have American Express checks that they were cashed for free at any of their offices. Is the exchange rate bad? I'm asking because the hotels I have chosen offer a better rate if you pay in cash. ATM has a couple of hundred dollars per day limit which I don't think would be adequate. Any thoughts?

Patrick

Where are you going? The only place I've taken travelers checks in the last 10 year is Turkey, for the same reason you mentioned -- up to 10% discount for cash including traveler's checks. But, yes, the exchange rate is normally the big problem. You are at the mercy of taking whatever rate they want to give you, assuming the checks are in dollars not Euro or pounds. On the other hand if you get them in Euro or pounds, the exchange rate buying them tends to be equally bad. <BR><BR>Don't you have a credit card? Charging will get you a far better rate than exchanging cash or paying for things with travelers checks, even if your card adds the 1% plus extra 2% for foreign exchange. Also you may have a hard time finding places that will even accept travelers checks.

Danna

Lori, I carry a few hundred dollars in traveler's checks for back up. Our ATM only has a $200 per day cash limit too, but the charge limit is higher. Travelers checks are harder and harder to cash in, for day to day travel they aren't worthwhile. But, if you don't remember to take out all that limit one day, and need it the next, a travelers check (and an accepting bank) can be a life saver to pay for your last night's room bill. We try to cash out the max per day as needed, charge the rest and hold the checks for emergencies, and then cash them back when we get home. Have a grand time!

Marilyn

Lori, you have to GO to the Amex office to cash the checks. I consider that a waste of good vacation time. (It's not always in a convenient location to where I am staying.)<BR><BR>Talk to your bank and get your ATM limit raised. That's what we did.<BR><BR>I take $100-200 cash as backup, just in case.

Patrick

My favorite American Express travelers check story. A number of years ago we were ending our vacation in Geneva. We would be flying home the next day and realized we had no US cash on us. Since we had a $100 US travlers check we went to the American Express office in Geneva to cash it. They wouldn't cash it in US dollars. They could only cash it in Swiss francs at a terrible exchange rate. Then if we wanted they could exchange those francs for US dollars at another horrible rate. In the end we would get something like $70 for our $100 travelers check. Needless to say we didn't cash it, but waited till we got home.

janis

re ATM daily limits: My ATM normally has a $200 daily limit. But before going on a European trip if I know I will be needing a lot of cash - like an apartment rental that gives a 10% discount for cash -- I just have the bank raise the limit to $500.<BR><BR>Then I can reduce the limit back to $200 whenever I want to. <BR><BR>I use credit cards for major purchases, car rentals etc., and cash for most small purchases and inexpensive meals<BR><BR>I usually have maybe US$200 in travelers cheques just for emergency use when credit cards and/or ATMs won't work. I don't usually need the Tr Cks - but in the last 10 years I have had to dip into them twice.

StCirq

Lori: It's a bad idea because most merchants won't take them, all banks will charge you a commission for charging them, and the Amex offices where you can cash them for free will make you wait in line for an hour to obtain that service. Moreover, there aren't Amex offices in anything but major cities in Europe, so you'll inevitably be stuck trying to pay for something with people who won't accept your method of payment.<BR><BR>Travlers cheques are a thing of the past. Bring some if you must as a back-up, but don't expect to use them day to day.<BR><BR>I don't know why your ATM has a limit of $200 a day , but heck, my personal limit, which is $300 a day, is more than adequate to cover my expenses for a family of four on most trips. If anything is beyond that budget, it goes on a credit card.

Greg

For once I have to disagree with St Cirq!<BR>Amex T/Cs in Euro can be cashed without charge at banks throughout France. You can look up which ones for a particular region on the Amex website. We have just returned from a couple of weeks spread between Perpignan and the Perigord and the nominated banks for both places were Banque Populaire and BNP. Assuming that arrangement applies throughout France you should have no difficulty cashing T/Cs - as long as you take ?s. We like to have some T/Cs in case something happens to our card/s.<BR>We have also often paid our hotel bill in euro T/Cs without difficulty - as long as we aren't looking for too much change.

MH

The American Express office in Cairo, charged my friend 30% of the face value of the transaction. There was nothing free about it, and yes they were amex checks. I posted the whole story on the atm ate my card thread. Maybe the clerk decided to make a little extra money that day, who knows...

amy

Even if there was no problem with the exchange rate, bank hours, etc., we still would eschew travelers checks in favor of ATMs. You've already paid beaucoup ahead of time for each second on your vacation, and the most convenient method of obtaining cash retains the value of those seconds.<BR><BR>That said, we're still lugging around some back-up travelers checks and we're still using our credit cards wherever possible.<BR><BR>As to the cash limit. At home, we have a $300 limit. Ironically, for a few years in France (this didn't happen in Switzerland or Italy), we could go above that limit. Even on New Year's Eve for the Millennium. Strange. My husband would have a field day testing the limits at various ATMs (note to self: must get the boy a more interesting job).<BR><BR>Then the Euro came. And now the limit seems to be the same.<BR><BR>

Bob Brown

I find it difficult to believe that a bank in Europe would exhange a traveler's check denominated in US dllars for no added cost. I doubt if they would do it cost free for a euro denominated check either.<BR><BR>Is the situation not like the one I face when I acquire euros from my bank?<BR>It claims NO FEE. True, there is no line item on the exchange invoice listing a fee for the transation.<BR>BUT, the exchange rate is NOT the bank wholesale rate; the rate is about 5% in the bank's favor based on the financial markets streaming quotes.<BR><BR>Higher in this case means I get fewer euros for my dollars. The flip side being that I pay more in dollars for the euros. So my cost is higher with respect to what I pay.<BR><BR>Of course if you are clueless as to the bank wholesale exchange rate, you have no knowledge of what you are being charged for the check cashing.<BR><BR>If you convert currency at a bank, such as euros to Swiss francs, you get clipped a substantial fee. Something like 5%. I know; I did that once because I did not have any plans to return to France at that particular time.<BR>

Eye Spy

I think all of the responses are interesting to read. I usually pay with a credit card and carefully track the expenses day to day in order to compare the banking statement to pay off the balance immediately when I get home. However, having a few travellers checks is a good idea -- in the unlikely event your ATM card gets eaten by the machine. I cashed some travelers checks in Venice at a reputable bank and they gave me a comparable exchange rate at that time (it was still into Lire) without extra commissions (but each bank varies). If you have a Gold AMEX card, AMEX will issue you FEE FREE travelers checks in which case it would make sense to have some in Euro or Pound Sterling or Swiss Francs. I believe if you know what store you are going to use them in (say, for example, a high-end store or one of the big department stores), they'll take the travelers checks no problem.

Dick Yeager

Lori,<BR><BR>You might want to check with your bank regarding &quot;cash machine&quot; withdrawal limits. They are not called ATMs in Europe. <BR><BR>We belong to a Credit Union. I found out before our trip to Europe in May, that we could &quot;each&quot; withdraw $400.00 daily. I did not know this. I thought our maxs was $400.00.<BR><BR>Might be worthwhile to check.<BR><BR>Dick

trying

We have done ok with a combo of TCs and credit cards. Some peopleexpect too much out of TCs. I use them to get cash, but pay most major bills (hotels, restaurants) with the credit card. Here are my tips for TCs: 1. Assume merchants won't take them. 2. Assume Amex won't charge you an exchange fee, but will NOT have the best exchange rate. Int'l companies, like Amex and Thomas Cook often have poor exchange rates. 3. Most major cities frequented by travelers have a number of money changers (not just AMEX). While siteseeing and wandering around, note rates, and return to the better places. The possible exception here is the UK. I have had difficulty finding money changers in London and Bath (other than AMEX). 4. Don't change money in an airport or train station (I always end up doing this, despite knowing better, and it is close to robbery!). 5. Ask what amount you will receive before actually cashing the TC (to make sure there is no small print, hidden fee). 6. Unless you can get Dollar for Dollar, don't get US Dollars with a US traveler's check. Get the local currency.

couple

I'm guessing the ATM approach is better, though I haven't used it. Question: Does each machine tell you exactly how many $US it has debited your account? Or do you just find that out when the debit comes through on your statement? If so, it could be a month or so before your checkbook balances, it seems. Also, in theory you could replace lost/stolen checks at the local AMEX, i.e. the same day. I'm not sure an ATM card would get to you as quickly, for what that is worth. Please note that credit cards charge a conversion fee, which may or may not make their exchange rate similar to that for cashing checks. Finally, I might be less inclined to use checks if I had to pay for them.

XYZ

TC's are a relic of the past. This is the 21st century believe it or not.<BR><BR>1. You should use a credit card everywhere they are taken and in this day and age they are taken almost everywhere. The Paris Metro now takes credit cards for transactions as small as 1 Euro. The machines in the London Underground take credit cards for single fares as low as 90p. Museums all take cc's, many branches of McDonalds in London take cc's. Even in out of the way places, merchants take cc's.<BR><BR>2. Therefore you will not need much cash. When I go to London for a week, I pull &pound;20 out of the ATM and it lasts 2 or 3 days as we use our cc's everywhere they are taken.<BR><BR>3. Yes you should have a back up in case there's a problem with ATM's. US cash will do fine as if by some chance the ATM's are down (and it has never happened to me), you can go to the exchange and suffer the loss and get local currency to cover items such as newspapers, drinks at pubs, quick snacks at food stands always located (I wonder why) just outside tourist spots. I could go 2 or 3 days on the &pound;20 and then hit the ATM again....<BR><BR>TC's, if you want to inconvenience yourself by getting some as a back up, can't say that's the dumbest idea in the world. But, remembering this is a back up, why bother? Cash in your own country's currency serves every bit as well.

Patrick

In regards to &quot;couple&quot;, no, the ATM won't tell you how many US dollars your withdrawal is equal to, but I assume you wouldn't be coming that close to a zero balance. You should be able to figure within a couple of dollars. Meanwhile so far as I know, every bank now offers internet balance checks so you can check within a day or two or as soon as you get to a computer to check the exact amount, now wait for a statement.<BR><BR>One other comment regarding mimimums allowed on ATMs. Our cards both allow 1000 US dollars, but we rarely take more than 300 Euro or 300 US equivalent at a time. In Sicily, the bank machine limited us to 250 Euro when we wanted more to pay cash for our three day hotel stay when our hotel requested cash. We withdrew 250, put the same card back in and withdrew another 250, so I didn't get the point.

Patrick

OOps. another proofreading failure. At the end of paragraph one above, I meant &quot;NOT wait for a statement.<BR><BR>One additional comment regarding the use of credit cards for &quot;everything&quot;. I did find that my credit card would not work this summer in train ticket machines in both Netherlands and Italy. From another post here I was told that is because some of those machines are set for a &quot;chip&quot; card which most European cards are, but US cards are not.

frank

I bought travellers in euros last summer and I found then useful to pay for train tickets and hotels. The reason why i bught them in euros was that at the time. the dollar was dropping in value one day after another. I would buy my travellers in euros at a AAA branch. No charge. I found them useful. You ca definitely use them at the train stations in France and there is no extra charge to do so.

Bob Brown

There are some banks that issue credit cards and DO NOT slap on an extra 2% conversion fee. Visa and MC both add on a 1% charge for the conversion; the extra add-ons are bank transactions.<BR><BR>Some contributors to a theme similar to this one have reported that according to their calculations even the 2% add ons were more like 1.4%. I don't know how accurate that is because I saw no actual figures, and they were not my calculations.<BR><BR>I use a credit card issued by AAA based on MNBA, and I figure the add on is 1%, although I never have been able to reconstruct exactly the daily exchange rate so that it matched the wholesale rates posted by a big bank in Toronto.<BR>(Best source of Canadian-US dollar historical exchange rate data that I can find so far.) I can shoot all arond the target, and never hit it. At any rate, I have not paid the highest rate for the day. Conversely, I did not get the lowest daily rate either.<BR><BR>As for carrying traveler's checks. Yes, I find it beneficial to have a few of them along as a safety net. I can buy them at no charge from my bank. ($100 gets me one $100 check. No hidden stuff.) Every once in a long while I need one in Europe or Canada.<BR>If I don't use them, they turn into greenbacks very easily when I get home.<BR> <BR>I have had three occasions where having a few traveler's checks was beneficial.<BR>Once in Z&uuml;rich, the ATM at the airport train station was not working and I needed Swiss francs. Another time in a small village in Switzerland, the only bank was Master Card network only. No Visa. My cards were all Visa issued.<BR>Again, tc to the rescue. <BR><BR>A third time was almost funny. I had finished eating in a small cafe in Paris and handed the waiter my Visa card. He came back swinging his arms wildly and jabbering excitedly. I managed to understand that my credit card did not work. My wife said she would go across the street to an ATM and get some more money. When she stood up, the waiter about popped a circuit breaker. I guess he thought she was skipping out, although I was still seated. In desperation I laid my traveler's checks on the table.<BR>That calmed the fellow down; he saw that at least I had some money. Fortunately he knew what the checks were. Then I suddenly remembered that I had my check (debit) card, too, and used it to pay the bill. Fun and games at La Petite Leo, all 7 tables.<BR><BR>I haven't been back since! <BR><BR>