janisj

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 <u>exchange rate they choose</u>

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.

dutyfree

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 &quot;beta&quot;,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!

djkbooks

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

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.

logos999

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.

logos999

Downtown Munich has two Amex office by the way.

GSteed

AXTCs. How much is being able to replace lost or stolen checks worth?
Fodor's notes,&quot;...avoid hefty surcharges by cashing Amex checks at Amex offices.&quot;.
They also say that, &quot;...they're a cheap and secure way to carry extra money...&quot;. 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.

PatrickLondon

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.

IM

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 &quot;I knew that ATM was the better option!&quot;....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.

PatrickLondon

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

StCirq

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.

Guenmai

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!

suze

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.

NeoPatrick

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.

Michel_Paris

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 &quot;dead momey&quot; at home, unless you want to get dinged again by exchanging them at home for cash.

NeoPatrick

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 &quot;you pay up front&quot;, but isn't that better than &quot;paying more than you'd have paid upfront when you're stuck using them over there?&quot;

girlonthego

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!

StuDudley

If we take 4 different &quot;cards&quot; 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 &amp; 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 &amp; my wife the other half. If my wife was the only one who &quot;signed&quot; 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 &quot;available&quot; 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

logos999

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 &euro;-checks in the US, you get face value at Amex in Europe. Other statements regarding this are simply not true.

janisj

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

logos999

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

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

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

http://www10.americanexpress.com/par...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?