I'm trying to decide whether or not to purchase a cash passport card to take to France. It seems to make sense. My understanding is that I won't have to pay the currency exchange fee from the US bank (like I would with my credit card) when I use the cash passport at an ATM for cash. The B&B's I've found only take cash. Has anyone used one and found it better than using a credit card? Thanks.

Your understanding is incorrect. If you purchase one of these cards, which really are nothing more than electronic traveler´s cheques, the currency conversion fees and other upcharges are built into the purchase price. The few I have looked into where heavily loaded with various charges above the mid market exchange rate with which the currency equivalent is computed.

However, your point about needing cash to pay for lodging is well taken. If you are staying in chambres d´hotes, you will have sufficient to visit ATMs which are nothing short of ubiquitous. Check with your bank about what fees you may incur using ATMs but plenty of banks charge nothing other than the Sirrus or Maestro 1% currency conversion fee.

Paying for an apartment presents special concerns because of the possible requirement for large cash amounts to be paid in advance. There are several places in Paris where you can exchange cash for a relatively modest fee of 2% to 3% (about what many people pay to use a credit card):

http://www.bureaudechange.fr/

http://www.ccopera.com/

http://www.fcochange.com/

Currency conversion will never be absolutely free, the object should be to keep the fees and costs to a minimum.

From what I've heard these case passport cards are about the worst thing going for US travelers. I understand that there are fees galore to buy, load, and use the card, and they use a lousy exchange rate.

Most US credit cards charge 3% foreign exchange fee. Even with that 3% your net costs will be lower than using the cash passport.

My credit card (Chase BA Visa) charges no Forex fee, so that's an even better deal.

Terrible idea. Follow sarastro's advice above.

Thank you guys for the help. It doesn't sound like such a good idea after all.

Never use a credit card to get money at an ATM.

When you do, you are taking out a loan at a usurious interest rate, and the loan begins from the time of the transaction.

Use at ATM card or debit card, if you have one. I only have an ATM card. Then you are accessing your own money in your own bank. Your bank probably has correspondent banks in Europe where you can withdraw money without fees. Even horrible Bank of America lets you withdraw from Barclays in the UK and BNP Paribas in France without charge, though not from their branches in other countries.

Get a credit card from Capital One to use as a charge card while in Europe. No currency fees.

"Your bank probably has correspondent banks in Europe where you can withdraw money without fees." Maybe, but more likely not. Wachovia, now Wells Fargo, has usurious fees, for instance. My Credit Union is much better - 1% conversion, five free withdrawals/month, then $1/per - but my new Capital One bank account is better still - no fees at all. (That's in addition to my Capital One and Credit Union credit cards.)

We only use our ATM Debit card. We also belong to a credit union and have lower fees than most bank cards. If you belong to a credit union out their rates and fees.

We recently went to London and I took a Travelex Cash Passport card with me. Pick pockets were every where!! BEWARE! There was NO fee to exchange my USD and put this amount on the cash passport card. The exchange rate between USD and GBP was awful! However, I did not have any problem using this card at restaurants, stores, or the airport. Daughter going to Italy/Greece next month and she is taking the cash passport card too.

<<There was NO fee to exchange my USD and put this amount on the cash passport card.>>

Unfortunately, you seem to be woefully ignorant of how these cards actually work.

jhart2: What does having a Travelex passport card have to do w/ pickpockets? And pickpockets <i>everywhere</i> in London - are you sure?

Those cards are are very expensive -- especially because of the bad exchange rate they offer. Since you just registered here today, maybe read some of the many other threads about them and how they work before your daughter makes the same potential mistake.

jhart - There may not have been a fee to put your money onto the card, but I guarantee you that when you converted your USD to GBP either to get cash or for purchases, the exchange rate was bad. The companies have to make their money somehow, and these cards are notorious for being an expensive way to manage your money overseas. The "fee" can be hidden in the exchange rate, but there is a fee nonetheless.

When you take money out of your checking account with your ATM/debit card, you get the interbank exchange rate, which is the best rate you can get. Then your bank tacks on whatever they tack on - every bank is different, some charge you a percentage, some charge a fixed fee, some do both. So you can limit your fees by opening an account at a bank that doesn't charge a lot - maybe a 1% fee on the money and no fixed fee.

You need an ATM card that debits your bank account. The Passport card will be a ripoff. The idea of getting cash using a credit card at an ATM is daft because you will pay cash advance interest at an enormous rate <b>from the moment you take out the cash</b>. There's no 25-day grace period on interest charges for cash advances!

I disagree about the enormous rates charged for using a credit card at an ATM. When I arrived in Krakow the ATM machine didn't accept my debit card so I had to use a credit card to get cash. I should have paid it off immediately but forgot to do so for several weeks. The interest was 60 cents!

If I had paid it off the next day the interest would have been just a few cents. If you have to use a credit card then do so.