what to use cash or credit card
 

Hello I will be going to italy for 3 weeks .
leaving the end of July.
What do you suggest I use cash or cradit concerned abouth credit card fraud.HELP

Your credit card company will (ultimately) protect you from (the extremely unlikely) losses you might incur from credit card fraud.

Might it be that you prefer the big-burly-bodyguards approach to protect you from losses due to theft of cash?

Fascinating first question for you to ask on your first time ever to post here.

Might you be from Ty<i>rrrolllll</i>?

Best wishes,

Rex

I would call your credit card companies and let them know that you will be traveling. They will ask the dates and the cities. I always do that along with my atm card. I usually take the cash from the atm and charge to get the most of my bucks.

Everyone develops their own system. I take along US cash to exchange, maybe euro if i have a chance to get a couple 100 from my bank, and an ATM card. I only use a credit card for major expenses like a hotel stay (so your card isn't out all over the place, if that's a concern to you).

I just got back from Italy (Rome/Venice/Tuscany) a week ago, and here are some of the things we did: I called my credit card company before hand so they would not suspect fraud activity and freeze the card while I was over there. That worked very smoothly, no problems with the card usage while I was there. Problem is, most of the hotels we stayed at in Italy (price range of 100-150 euros/nite, would only take cash, absolutley no credit cards. Some restaurants WOULD take cards, but then smaller ones would only take cash. Smaller tour operations were cash only. ALL of the Trains accepted credit card. I'm not a big fan of traveler's checks, our friend who traveled with us used them, and they had trouble finding places to change them over to cash and the fees to change them were quite steep(approx 7% of the total travelers checks you were changing) What we ended up doing was bringing our ATM/debit card over, and taking out small sums of cash (about 300 euros at a time). You can easily find an ATM anywhere, they call them a 'Bancomat' if you need to ask where the nearest one is.

Check with your bank before you go to see what their fee to use an international ATM is. Our bank (Fleet Bank Boston)charged us a 5$ US fee each time we used the ATMS in Italy and that was it. Considering you can be charged sometimes 3$ or more to use some ATMS here in the USA I thought it was pretty reasonable. Many of the attractions, Colosseum, Forum, etc are cash only, but I did notice the Vatican will accept credit cards to get your entrance ticket there. I do not recommend getting out huge chunks of cash from the ATM at one time if you choose to go that route. Maybe 200-300 Euros at a time and I would split it between you and your travel partner, keeping the money in your FRONT pockets, not your purse or your back pocket. Pickpocketing and purse snatching (they ride past you on a scooter and snatch your purse and speed off) is quite common in the larger cities, especially Rome, Naples and Milan. I hope this helps!

The nice thing about cash is that when you get home, the bills are all paid.

Except for the $200 to print your photos...

Joelle

The other nice thing about Fleet is that they don't have a foreign transaction fee. And something apparently new, as I've not seen it on our earlier trips - when I got my statement, they listed purchase amounts in the original currency plus the exchange rate they used. The exchange was very close the wholesale listed on xe.com.

And the $5 cash advance fee is reasonable compared to the 3% levied by many cards...as long as you pay the balance off - that 19.99 interest rate is usury!

Hi townclose,

Am I correct that you got cash from anATM and were charged $5.00 per transaction, got the bank rate, and then had a cash advance that had to be paid within two weeks or you would be charged 19%?

My local bank charges 75cts per transaction, gives me the bank rate and I don't have to pay them anything, because the money came from my account.

I'm wondering how your method is better. Am I missing something?

This question can open up a &quot;can of worms&quot;....and people differ in their priorities or what they feel is most convenient to them...at an &quot;acceptable&quot; rate.
We usually order Euro from our US bank and carry the cash....NEVER have had trouble. Then we charge hotels most of the time...or cash in a smaller place. Also it's good to have an ATM
card if needed. and YES: the banks do like to know of you will be on vacation and possibly charging more than normal.
Sometimes we over pay the credit card bank by $1,000 or so before leaving home , so it's not so bad upon return!!!
The big TREND now is to use mostly the ATM card overseas....but I personally don't think it's that big a deal...HOWEVER, there is no right or wrong,,just what each person chooses to do.

If your bank charges you $5 to do an ATM transaction in Italy to access YOUR money from YOUR checking account, YOU are being ripped off -- get another bank. My blank (Commerce) charges nothing and gives me the &quot;bank&quot; exchange rate for the day the transaction was made (the best rate available).

If your VISA or Mastercard charges you more than 1% conversion/transaction fee for your charges/purchases, get another VISA/Mastercard.

If the merchants in Italy try to do the conversion and charge your credit card in $$$$, tell them NO, you want to be charged in Euros. I got screwed in Ireland when it happened to me -- cost me an additional 3% on my purchases.

Use the ATM card for cash, and your credit card for purchases/restaurants/hotels, etc., where available. And, have a nice trip. ((b))

mebanese,

I think Fleet has you fooled. Visa and Master Card both charge a 1% conversion fee no matter what bank you use. In addition, many banks, Fleet has always been included on this, add on an extra 2% for doing absolutely NOTHING!


Check it out.




pino,

This question comes up almost daily it seems. Use your credit card as much as possible and get cash from the Money Machines (ATM).

Curious

I should have mentioned the 1% from Mastercard, but unless my math is WAY off, my particular Fleet did not add any charges. I called them and asked before I left, but I also did my own calculations upon return, with the xe.com website and then with my credit card statement.

For example, on June 10 we purchased a meal for 42 euro. We were charged 51.09 USD. The wholesale rate for that day was 1.21055, and Fleet charged us 1.2164. That's not even 1%. The rest of my figures yielded similar results.

My Chase credit card was a different story...

The Credit Card Charges Calculator is found here: http://www.xe.com/ccc/. It's definitely pointed my in the right direction for further trips.

Correction - My Fleet is a Visa, not a MasterCard. Sorry!

mebanese,

I just this minute called the Fleet bank card home at 1-800-833-6980. I talked to Michelle. I said I knew that both Visa and Master Card charge a 1% transaction charge for foreign purchases. My question is how much does Fleet add to that. Her response was &quot;2%&quot;!

You are paying a 3% transaction fee without knowing it. They are also now a part of Bank of America which has always charged the extra 2%.

Best check out Capitol One or any MBNA which do not add the extra 2%.

Curious

I'm curious, too! How did my figures come out like they did if they are tacking on an additional charge? Do you suppose it is because I got my card pre-merger with B of A? Or maybe because I have a Platinum Fleet card?

Here's another example:

Spent 39.36 GB pounds on 6/17. Was charged 72.21 USD. XE's listed rate - 1.835. Fleet's listed rate - 1.848. That's not 3%.

This has got me really intrigued. I suppose I'll have to go back to Europe to check it out further!

Hello
thanks all of you for your advises. I think the atm system mixed with cash works
Thanks
PINO

Pino, I know you must be thoroughly confused, but I'm going to add to your confusion. ((a))

If your ATM card (debit card) can also be used as a VISA/Mastercard (transactions come out of your checking account), and you happen to lose it, someone could use the VISA/Mastercard portion of it to wipe out your checking account. Of course, you could eventually get those transactions (money) replaced once you return to the States, but it would sure ruin your vacation.

My ATM debit card is a VISA. Before I departed for Ireland, I called my bank and had them disable the VISA portion of the card, so if I lost it, the card couldn't be used unless the person who found it/stole it, knew the pin number. ((b))

I think you are lucky if all of your calculations showed rates similar to the bank rate on the same day you purchased something. However, you could be wrong because you are assuming the exchange rate used was that on the day of purchase. It's not, it's on the day the conversion is made by the banks involved which can be anywhere from 1 to about 14 days about the date of purchase. If rates were fluctuating several percent around that date for a few weeks (which they can easily do), that could be why. It is very lucky if all of yours were what you expected, though.

what it is the limit for cash withdraw per day?