travellers cheques in NZ
 

My folks are travelling to New Zealand and will be taking travellers cheques. Which are the best? I suggested American Express, but upon looking at their website, are not available in New Zealand Dollars. Does this mean they should purchase in Australian or USA dollars, and in either denomination cannot be used at outlets for purchases; only be exchanged for cash at banks etc?
Thanks

Forgot to mention they are travelling from Australia.

I am pretty sure that you can only cash them. Propbably only the airports will accept them at outlets. I think if you present a travellers cheque to a shop assistant in NZ they will ask what it is!

Sorry I can't answer you other questions but I presume it won't matter what denomiation as you'll just cash them at the exchange rate at the time.

Please remember that they will only be able to cash them 9-4.30 Mon-Fri. They had better plan so they are not cash less outside those times.

Really, the best idea is to forget about travellers' cheques, take a debit card and just withdraw cash from ATMs as they go. Of course they should ensure first that their debit card will operate overseas via the Cirrus or Maestro networks.

I'd definitely agree with Neil_Oz. The proliferation of ATM's everywhere has made is much easier to get cash in local currencies and not have to worry about tracking down places that will take/exchange travelers checks. Also, you can take as much as you need so you're not stuck carrying large amounts of cash around. We've never had problems anywhere using our debit card from a US bank on the cirrus system.

US dollar travellers cheques are accepted. Our au pair just used a cash card and withdrew cash as she needed it.Hey- banks are'nt the only place to cash Tchecks. Most large cities have facilities at the airport. but in the provinces it can be a hassle.

cheers

www.geocities.com/go2nelson

Thanks for the responses.
The folks are looking into obtaining a debit card, but I have taken travellers cheques with myself on overseas trips previously as a back up, just incase the machines go down when you need some cash, you can still walk into a bank and cash the travellers cheques if required.
Neil, you mentioned the Cirrus or Maestro networks! Would you know for sure if this network is available at ATM'S in New Zealand?

Hi navgator. I just returned from 3 weeks on the north and south islands in NZ and had no problem using my cirrus card anywhere.

Navgator, you have a point about having travellers cheques as a back up. Although we use credit cards to pay for major expenses like hotel bills and withdraw cash from ATMs, we still go abroad with a few travellers cheques, in case all else fails. However, I can't even remember how old our TCs are now. They've made a few overseas trips with us, and we've always brought them home unused.

Our TCs are in US dollars, which we feels gives us maximum flexibility. We've taken the US dollar TCs (but haven't used them) on trips to Europe, Australia and Africa.

It may be of interest to you that Westpac is in New Zealand as well as Australia. I've never been to New Zealand, but Westpac's presence in NZ came to my attention when I investigated reciprocity between American and Canadian banks to help American Fodorites who were travelling to Canada.

An American traveller tipped me off to the fact that the Bank of Nova Scotia and Bank of America are part of a Global ATM Alliance. The member banks of this alliance have agreed to waive the International ATM Access Fee for each other's customers.

Other members of the alliance are BNP Paribas (France), Barclays (United Kingdom and some African countries), and Deutsche Bank (Germany, Poland, Spain and Italy). Westpac's coverage includes Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga, Cook Islands, and Samoa.

More details at:

http://www.scotiabank.com/cda/conten..._LIDen,00.html

So, if your parents happen to have a Westpac ATM card, they will not incur an extra ATM fee if they use it at a Westpac ATM in New Zealand.

However, I can't imagine that it would be worth their while, from a financial or any other point of view, to open a Westpac account if they don't already have one.

Hi there Navigator

All our banks except Kiwi Bank are Australian owned. Therefore chances are your folks will have a compatible ATM card from their Aussie bank that will minimise the bank tranaction fees.

When I go to Aussie I do not carry travellers cheques I use my ATM card. Overall even with fees it is cheaper.

By all means carry a few travellers cheques as a back up but the rate is never as good as using an ATM.

Cheers

Steve

Thanks again for your replies.
I think that just about covers everything we need to know.

Cheers!