I think it is good idea to carry a second wallet. Actually, I have started to carry two wallets here in Bahrain (where Michael Jackson is currently staying). The second small wallet is to carry a couple of credit cards only. This is in order not to forget the card at the shop. Some times, the Cashier by mistake does not return back the card. With a credit card wallet it is much easier to check and to note if a card is missing. On July 6 will be going to Germany with the family and then Switzerland - therefore i will try to make sure my wallets are safe with me at all times. I have noted some good trausers at GANT shop with few pockets. Normally I would thought not suitable for 53 years old, more for the younger generation. May be because i have not tried them before. Now i am thinking to try some, since i do worry of losing my money and passport when travelling in a foreign country. It is always better to be safe than sorry.

I felt I had to respond. I'm currently the high bidder on three E-Bay auctions. The average price per Euro is probably around $131.276. These are all from the same seller so shipping is combined. the shipping costs will be $5.55 for all the Euros I purchase. The current rate for Bank of America is $136+- for a 1,ooo Euro purchase. I follow the Euros closely and I haven't seen them below $128.00 for quite a while. If J62 bought them for 127.55 I'd like to know where and when?? I have never had a bad transaction on E-Bay. I've bought over 2000 euros for this summers trip and the average price is probably around $1.26. Five years ago the rate was equal 1 for 1, I wish it was the same today

The rate I quoted is what it cost me at an ATM a week ago in Frankfurt airport.

BofA ATM card at DeutscheBank ATM, so $0.00 transaction fees.

the $1.36 rate quoted is likely to buy Euros in the US. The interbank rate today is $1.28/Euro, so in effect BofA is charging you >6% for the convenience of getting Euro in the US.

Here are the rates for for currency exchanges:
May29 1.2739
May30 1.2868
May31 1.2833
June1 1.2824
June2 1.2912
I'd still like to know how you got 127.55 during this time frame??

Not sure I understand your question angeliki. When I quoted $255 I was rounding off.

If you want to know the details to the last penny.

Monday 5/29, 12noon
200 Euro = $254.76, or exactly 127.38 per 100 Euro.

I'll split the difference between 1.2738 and your # 1.2739.

Five years ago the euro didn´t exist.
So no 1=1.

I'm trying to compare the costs of making purchases when I'm abroad in Germany and Austria. If I use my Citibank credit card, the bank charges me 3% for each transaction. I wonder how that compares with the following two alternatives. The first is to bring U.S. cash to Europe and purchase Euros at a local bank. The second is to just bring my debit card and stick it into a local ATM. Which is the cheaper approach, do you think, for buying $500 worth of Euros?

ion, there are many many posts on this forum about ways to get money abroad, maybe you might read some of the most recent ones to get ideas.

However, the idea of taking hundreds of dollars in cash abroad to exchange at a bank for euro to avoid your CC's 3 pct fee is very bad. Besides, you'll pay more than 3 pct to do that, a bank isn't going to give them to you for no cost. I'd guess the bank's rate will be at least 6 pct over, if not more, and you'll have to find one that will be willing to do that for you, during its hours.

Use your debit card at an ATM.

I loved the story about the man who put his card in the receipt printer. It reminds me of when I tried to pay for my car parking fee after being in Scotland for a week. I put my credit card in the slot where I should have put my parking receipt and it got stuck. I could see it and could have gotten it with a pair of plyers. Unfortately no one in the secure part of the airport had plyers. Finally with a plastic knife and fork I was able to fish it out.

Back to the subject. I travel with one ATM card, American Express (to earn Hilton Honors points) and a Mastercard. I like to charge as much as I can so I get points. I don't carry much change because my DH thinks foreign money looks like play money and spends it accordingly.

I alos tend to charge most things - actually get a more favorable exchange rate on my credit card than when I use ATM - but reflecting on an earlier post who was asking about charge vs taking cash because his card charges 3% - then he mentioned the amount of $500 - so we are taling about $15? In which case I say - do which ever seems most convenient - not worth sweating it to me for $15

I did some further research with my bank, Bank of America. For each withdrawal from a foreign ATM, they will charge me 1% of the transaction plus "the international ATM fee" of $5.00. I can avoid the $5.00 fee (but not the 1%) if I use one of their network partners such as Deutsche Bank.

As for the exchange rate, they use the Visa people to compute that, so it should be the same as for my Visa credit card at any particular point in time.

(This is what the customer service people told me, but they seemed a little tentative. The young man on the phone called the German partner "douche bank.")

>"douche bank." ;-)
I have a Deutsche Bank Sparcard. They don't cost anything for a german resident.
When I use this card abroad (partner bank), they don't carge anything!. No fees at all. The exchange rate has up to now always been the official exchange rate for buying foreign stock. ("wholsale rate"). That's about 0.25% above the "real" rate. Not too bad at all!

I checked with Bank of America about buying foreign currency before I leave the U.S. If I buy over $1000 total in currencies, there are no transaction or delivery charges -- just the exchange rate. On 6/11 they quoted me Euro/$ of 1.33240, or about 5% more than the "middle market" rate of 1.26380 quoted on the Internet the same day.

So the piece of the puzzle I am still missing is this: Suppose I used my Visa credit card on 6/11 to make a purchase, or my Visa debit/ATM card on 6/11 to make an overseas withdrawal, what exchange rate would Visa use -- how would it compare with 1.33240? I'll see if I can wring the answer from the Visa folks ...

It should be 1.26380 + 0.25% = 1.26696.
Will be interesting to hear what the VISA people quote.

In my last message I wrote my fraction wrong -- I should have said $/Euro = 1.33240, etc.

In any case, I checked the Visa website and it said that their exchange rate for 6/11 is $1.27/Euro -- which is virtually the "middle market" rate quoted above.

So from all the foregoing, I conclude that a $1000 purchase abroad would cost me:

5% = $50 if I buy cash ahead of time.
3% = $30 if I use my Visa credit card.
1% + $5 = $15 If I use a non-network ATM withdrawal
1% = $10 if I use a network ATM withdrawal.

Good analysis, ion112.

Let me throw another quirk into this discussion. Most of the Euros I've purchased on E-Bay have been paid for with Pay-Pal, using my British Airways Visa card. You accumulate miles for future trips, this also counts for something. I guess it all revolves around what you're comfortable with.

I was in Germany in May and just got back. My friend, German, had a credit card and a EuroCard (a debit card.) Her banker assured her she should use both. Well, we never found a place in southern Germany that took either!!
But I still would be interested in a German debit card. Can an American get one??

99.9% of all businesses accept EC (Electonic Cash) cards. Many take credit cards. Where is the problem? A german resident can get as many cards as she(he likes.

No one has mentioned that because of increased fraud, some U.S. banks (I use Wells Fargo)are not allowing ATM withdrawals in Great Britain. This may be occurring in other countries as well.

Luckily, I had read an article about it in a newspaper right before my trip, so I took extra pounds. I would have been in bad shape otherwise.

I went into my Wells Fargo branch, where it was confirmed that the bank was having big ATM problems in some countries in Europe. Customers were coming home to empty checking accounts.
I was told I could use my ATM card in Great Britain to get a cash advance, and the fees would be waived, but I didn't want to have to try to explain all this to a bank teller in Scotland or Wales.

KarenK, I will be going to Germany in Oct and everything I have read, and my bank says that my visia debit/check card can be used at ATM's. I also have a MC that I plan on using. Where did you go? Did you only go to small hotels that don't take credit cards? What did you do for money if you cards were not accepted?

KarenK,
I too am surprised to hear that you never found a place in southern Germany that took EC cards. What type of establishments were these? I found that many of the places that didn't accept credit cards would accept EC cards.

ion, note that many of the larger banks, Wells Fargo, Chase, and US Bank, that I know of, are now charging 3% (1% network plus 2% "currency conversion"), as well as a fee ($5 for Wells Fargo) for ATM withdrawls in Europe. So, for that $1000, it would probably be $40 (figure it takes 2 withdrawals to get $1000. Actually it probably takes three).

>would accept EC cards.
Drug dealers don't take EC ;-), other than that you can spend you whole life in Germany comfortably without ever using anything but EC. Everywhere...

Back to Croatia travel: I used my Wachovia atm card with no problem. My "spare" Nexity Bank atm card did not work. ATM in Croatia deliver kuna.

Recently returned from Italy.I used my ATM/debit card from Bank of America everywhere,even the smallest villages have at least on machine.I usually took out 100 euros at a time.I never had a problem on this or any trip to Europe.When I returned and added up the fees from the bank,it came to less than $25.Well worth it to avoid the hassle of travelers checks(DO NOT USE THEM)or carrying too much cash.i used my credit card for larger purchases such as rental car

I'm renting an apartment again in Prague, and the owner wants the balance (almost $2,000) in US cash. I don't know what my options would be, other than to carry a large amount of $$s on the plane. I am flying striaght to Prague, barring 1 connection in Germany. So, I'm tempted to just risk it. Any other way would involve transaction fees that I don't want to deal with. Any ideas out there?

Carrying $2,000 in cash for the deposit with the one conection is below my risk threshold - I wouldn't hesitate and would take the cash

"Too much" really depends on where you are. Before we went to Paris 3 years ago, I got 200 euro "just in case" cash, so I would have some cash on hand on arrival. I planned to get more cash from an ATM when I needed to but in a week, I spent about 180 euro in cash.

For this year's trip to Italy, we were going through cash like crazy. Most of the museums didn't take credit cards, and for a family of 5, this can add up. In Venice, a lady from whom I bought quite a bit of glass jewlery said she's give me a 10% discount if I paid cash. As this saved me the fee from my credit card, I saved about 13% on the purchase by paying cash.

Reminds me of the "Far Side" cartoon: the one where the woman is yelling out of her window, down to her husband, in bad part of town (which is visible in the cartoon), saying:

"Sidney! I made a mistake!...Deposit the $50 "check" into savings, and put the $500 in "cash" into checking!"

Unless you wear a sign on your forehead advertising that you are carrying cash, I don't consider $2-3k to be a huge risk, especially if you plan to make a payment with it soon after arrival.

amp322, I also would be comfortable with that much cash for that situation. But I might figure out some kind of hidden pocket for my clothes or use a money belt on the plane ride so as not to worry about having it in my purse/carry-on bag.

I always carry cash and a credit card. I keep the cash in a security wallet and/or the hotel safe. I don't use ATM's and the credit card only for big ticket items like the hotel bill. Cash is king and its pretty safe in that security wallet- no one ever has a problem when I pay in cash!

We are traveling to England in late August. The first to B&Bs we are staying in require payment in cash or Sterling Cheques. So we are getting American Express Travlers Cheques in British Pound currency before we go. These can be ordered online. They have travelers cheques in all the major currencies.

The best of both worlds: cash in the right currency and safety.

Now I know that some of you will tell me: just get cash from an ATM (which we will do). However we have a limit on how much we can withdraw from our checking account each day. And right now the dollar is not worth too much in Britain. So we think we have found the right solution in AmEx Travelers Cheques.

sue,
you are correct in that the dollar isn't worth too much in Britain. What you aren't factoring in is that the dollar is worth even less when buying pound denominated TC's in the US.

If you calculate the final cost in $/pound of your Amex sterling TC's and you are likely to see that it is way worse than other methods.

>isn't worth too much in Britain
It worth the same as at home or even more in Germany, so why don't you go there :D :D

<b><u>travelinsue: </u></b> I'm sorry - but &quot;<i>And right now the dollar is not worth too much in Britain. So we think we have found the right solution in AmEx Travelers Cheques.</i>&quot; makes no sense -- at all.

If you think the &pound; to $ exchange is bad -- just wait until you see how much you pay for those &pound; travelers cheques. The &pound; is currently about $1.845 out of an ATM. I just checked AmEx and they are charging <b>$1.9375</b> per &pound; for travelers cks. You are paying nearly 10¢ extra PER GBP!!

Absolutely nuts. Just ask your bank to raise your daily limit temporarily.

travelinsue... &lt;&lt;And right now the dollar is not worth too much in Britain. So we think we have found the right solution in AmEx Travelers Cheques&gt;&gt;

I am missing the logic in this. How do you think you are doing better by purchasing travelers checks? That makes no sense to me at all.

&quot;The &pound; is currently about $1.845 out of an ATM.&quot;

WRONG, WRONG,WRONG!

The current exchange rate from Oanda is $1.8440. That is not what you will get out of an ATM. You will pay at least 1% to &quot;the network&quot;, plus some fee for using a foreign ATM. The best rate I get is from a local bank for 1% ($1.86) plus $1.50. However, many of the major banks that so many people deal with (Wells Fargo, Chase, US Bank) are now taking another 2% of your money (3% total), plus a fee that amounts to another 1%, at least. Those people will pay more than $1.90 per pound.

Before you comtemplate a trip to Europe, have a long talk with you bank. Make them put their rates in writing. I had to literally interogate the bankers at two of my banks before they finally admitted that they are taking 3%, plus a fee. The $1.938 per GBP for travelers cheques is not the best, but really not that bad.

I didn't mean it was a horrible idea, just that I don't see how TC's would in any way make up for the current exchange rate on USD to GBP.

OK - even at $1.86 - My credit union does not charge for out-of-system transactions. And my bank charges $1.50. Prorated over a &pound;200 withdrawal that $1.50 adds less than a penny per &pound; -- so no matter how you slice it $1.95 per &pound; is a pretty big waste of money . . . . .