julies

We've rented from private owners before and I am not nervous about this landlord's integrity because I've talked to people who've rented from her, so that is not the question.

But, this is a new twist that we've never faced before. The owner plans to meet us upon arrival and then leave for her country home. She wants the rent for the entire period (week and a half) in cash when we arrive. I told her this may be a problem because our bank has limits on how much we can withdraw per day from an ATM and even with 2 different cards, on arrival we can't put together the amount of cash we will need. She is suggesting we bring travellers checks and then cash them in when we arrive. We haven't used travellers checks in so long that I am wondering about exchange rate with this method. Will this be a much moe expensive way for us to pay for the apartment by the time we factor in having to purchase the checks and then exchange them? We obviously don't want to get a Euro advance of cash at home and then carry that around with us. Does anyone have any other thoughts on how to make this payment? Thanks.

ira

Hi J,

You can have your bank raise your daily withdrawl limit.

You can even have them raise the limit for a single day.

You can open another bank account (with the same or different bank) and get 2 ATM cards for that account.

Most ATMs will have a limit of about 300E per transaction. Also the machine might run out of money and you might have to go to another one.

enzian

We rented a chalet directly from the owner last summer. He asked us to pay half in advance, which I did with a bank transfer into his account (he provided the routing numbers). There was a $40 fee for this by my bank, but no exchange fee (he accepted the amount in dollars, at a rate agreed between us). We paid the 600 euro balance on arrival by using two ATM cards.

suze

I don't see the problem with her suggested method of cashing travelers checks. Not the rock bottom best value but logistically necessary in this situation?

The other obvious alternative would be to carry the cash (split between two people, secured in money belts?).

WillTravel

If you look around in your city, you might be able to find an exchange bureau, not a bank, that will sell you Euros for a good rate before you leave. I can get foreign currencies for 2% over the interbank rate, with no extra fee, which for me makes it comparable to withdrawing from an ATM in Europe.

laclaire

I do this every summer in Málaga. I transfer the money to her account, get the receipt, then call her and tell her it is done. Then, when I get there, she gives me a signed receipt. It is a great idea because it leaves a paper trail for you (though you don't doubt her integrity, it is always nice to have proof) and you won't ever have to carry a ton of cash on you. Nor will you need to open an extra account or anything like that.

Claire

canterbury

We've usually just get euros from our home bank. You can get large denominations (say, 500) so you don't have a fat pile of cash to hide. Really, how much could it be for a week and a half? Not more than a couple thousand euros? We've carried that with no problem.

Christina

I think this isn't that unusual from what I've seen on here, and most owners want you to pay in full upon arrival, if you haven't paid before that. I think some folks do incur some wire charges for bank transfers that could be even more, but there have been quite a lot of threads on here that talk about those options and their costs.

As for Travelers Checks, if you are talking about Paris, I can give you the location of a couple exchange bureaux that give very good rates in Paris, that are close to the interbank rate, if you need it. That would be if you take TCs in USD, of course, NOT EURO.

I have never paid a penny to get travelers checks in USD, so that would optimally not be a cost if you go that route. Of course, I do have a AAA account where I get them free, but even if I didn't, my bank gives them to me free because I am a good customer. Perhaps you should check with your bank on that one.

How much money are you talking about, it is possible that you have to consider some minor cost of doing this as part of your expense for vacation/renting an apartment.

brotherleelove2004

About Christina's suggestion for TCs, be sure to get AMEX TCs. Sometimes it's very difficult to exchange any other type in foreign countries.

faredolce

Call me stupid, but I have had to pay the balance of a rental upon arrival before, and simply got the Euro cash before leaving, and carried it on me in a money belt. It is the simplest way, especially when you need to cough up the cash before getting the keys after an 18-hour journey.

walkinaround

yes, this is a very common problem for those of us who rent holiday flats or houses abroad.

since you have selected the place already, i think the best thing to do is to take the cash in euro from your home country. forget a limit increase for the day...this is additional stress and what does it gain? if it doesn't work, you end up having to give her a sob story that is not her problem. you only have a short time before she returns.

if you hadn't selected the place, then the easy answer would be to rent from your "own people" and pay in your own currency via bank transfer.

julies

Thanks for all the varied solutions. Now we will just have to decide what will work out best for us, but there are some things we hadn't thought of.