<<We also talked about her opening a bank account in Italy to get less in ATM fees.>>

Bad idea. And what ATM fees are you referring to? There's no fee from any ATM in Italy for making a withdrawal. If there are any fees, it will be from your own bank, and you can solve that by banking with a bank (or credit union) that won't charge you any.

Buxx card also very bad idea.

I would never use my primary checking account's debit or even ATM card to get cash for a holiday what with the vermin from Eastern Europe and Nigeria among other places around trying to steal the card numbers and your cash.

What you do is find a nice internet bank which does not require a minimum balance...keep $1.01 in the account and just before the trip, transfer an amount into the account to cover your cash needs and use that ATM card (or if you insist that debit card although I don't understand why anybody would prefer to use a debit card instead of a credit card where you can get up to 60 days of float and are much better protected against fraud).....

When I return from the trip, I send my main bank a check for the balance minus the $1.01 to keep the account active! Piece of cake...should I under budget, although that's difficult to imagine as I use credit cards for everything large or small and rarely have th eneed for more than a couple of pounds or euro or whatever when I'm on holiday), it is easy enough to use the bill paying service of my main account and transfer money to the travel account.

Far from brain surgery to do this.

Re your question about adding your daughter to your credit card account.

I recently had this done for my teenaged son, as a backup just in case. I merely added him to the account as an authorized user. It's my account, I pay the bills, but he has a card that has his name on it. (I've never gotten a joint credit card with my husband; we each have our own accounts, but I assumed this is what most married couples do who share a credit card. Maybe I'm wrong on that.)

"<i>can she take a credit card in my name & use it?</i>"

Lexma90 pretty much answered - but I have the same arrangement w/ my mother. She isn't house bound but she doesn't get out too much. She added me to one of her visa cards so I can shop for her. It is her acct and she gets the bills. But the extra card has my name on it. It really REALLY simplified things - I don't have to do her shopping and then have her pay me back - I just shop and sign my own name and she gets the statements.

No, your daughter can't use a card w/ your name on it -- but you can get her a card of her own on your acct.

Please have your daughter keep a list of the numbers from the back of the cards to call if she does lose the card or it gets stolen. If the card is gone, who knows what the number is? Most banks have a number to call collect since toll free numbers don't work.

My credit card was lost in Germany and replaced within 2 days but I had to go to Munich to get it and it wouldn't work at a store but I could go into a bank and get a cash advance. It took going to two banks for them to figure out how to get money off the card!

I am glad the travelers checks are out. Big pain and costly. My bank still sells them though. Good for the banks I suppose!

Rowdy