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Canadian Dollar Travelers cheques in Malaysia

Canadian Dollar Travelers cheques in Malaysia

Old Nov 14, 2014, 12:16 am
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Canadian Dollar Travelers cheques in Malaysia

Hi, I wish to take some Canadian dollar Travelers cheques to Malaysia.

Does anyone know if the Foreign exchange places and banks in KL (and Penang) will cash them?

And, if you know the fixed fee per traveler cheque, please let me know.

Thank you.
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Old Nov 14, 2014, 5:45 am
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Originally Posted by sudburn
Hi, I wish to take some Canadian dollar Travelers cheques to Malaysia.

Does anyone know if the Foreign exchange places and banks in KL (and Penang) will cash them?

And, if you know the fixed fee per traveler cheque, please let me know.

Thank you.
Welcome to FT!
I'm curious as to why you want to bring C$ travelers cheques to Malaysia?
You're making it very hard for yourself.
Very few people (who are regular travelers) use them.
Why not just use your ATM card to get local cash.
You'll get a much better rate and not worry about fixed fees and locations to deal with your cheques.
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Old Nov 14, 2014, 9:59 am
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Canadian Dollar Travelers cheques in Malaysia

Hi, thanks for your reply. I need 6000 Ringgit ($2000) in cash for some purchases I need to make there on the first few days of my arrival. (And I will need more cash for general travel expenses after that).

I have never used my ATM card in Malaysia or ever overseas so I do not know for certain if it will work, what are my withdraw limits or if I may encounter some problem.

I prefer not to carry large amounts of cash.

I would prefer to take CDN$ travelers cheques rather than US$ if possible so I thought one of the experienced travelers on this forum might know if the Foreign exchange places and banks in KL (and Penang) will cash CDN$ travelers cheques.

Thanks.
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Old Nov 14, 2014, 10:36 am
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Originally Posted by sudburn
Hi, thanks for your reply. I need 6000 Ringgit ($2000) in cash for some purchases I need to make there on the first few days of my arrival. (And I will need more cash for general travel expenses after that).

I have never used my ATM card in Malaysia or ever overseas so I do not know for certain if it will work, what are my withdraw limits or if I may encounter some problem.

I prefer not to carry large amounts of cash.

I would prefer to take CDN$ travelers cheques rather than US$ if possible so I thought one of the experienced travelers on this forum might know if the Foreign exchange places and banks in KL (and Penang) will cash CDN$ travelers cheques.

Thanks.
Travellers cheques are not your friend.
Check what network of ATMs your bank belongs to: could be CIRRUS, PLUS etc.
Ask what your daily cash withdrawal limit is ... explain you are traveling to Malaysia and you will be making some withdrawals totaling MYR6000. That's basically C$500 each day for four days.
International travelers use ATMs all over the world each day.
I've withdrawn money all over the world without a problem.
The other option is to order the 6000 Ringgit (C$2022.00-ish) from your bank before you go.
That is not a lot of cash to be carrying ...

Last edited by UAPremExecflyer; Nov 14, 2014 at 10:39 am Reason: fixed grammar
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Old Nov 14, 2014, 6:18 pm
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I find it cheaper to convert all my cash need from Canadian to new US $100 notes and then covert these to local currency when travelling SE Asia.

If you are really feeling unsafe with that much and uncertain about ATM fees and daily limit why not do a Western Union transfer and pick it up locally?
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Old Nov 16, 2014, 9:00 am
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A traveller's cheque?? Its not 1985

Not only the most inconvenient, but probably also most expensive way.

Call your bank, ask what the daily ATM limit is.
Western Union would also work, and when all is said and done - would cost less than TC.
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Old Nov 17, 2014, 1:26 am
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reading through the advice here and I realize that no one is actually answering the OP's question about CDN$ traveler's cheques... I can't help you either because I haven't used a traveler cheque since my parent's sent me alone as a teenager back in 198x...

Now, when I'm travelling abroad I use my CDN bank card at any PLUS / VISA debit ATM and just take out my daily maximum (usually $1000 equivalent for most CDN Banks). I would recommend what the other posters here have: 1) order some of the currency through your CDN bank and take it with you 2) use local ATMs for the rest 3) Take USD currency for trade if you must - nobody knows what a Canadian dollar is outside of Canada (I've had strange looks in Montana for crying out loud).

edit: I'm thinking I remember a sign at the money changer in Myanmar last month that actually stated they DO NOT take traveler's cheques. You might have to cash them at a Malaysian hotel and lose another 10-15%... Seriously, reconsider this idea.

I certainly understand your hesitation to carry that much money (that some of the others here may not share), especially with the news stories about US sheriffs / IRS confiscating "large" sums of cash based upon their whims. And who knows what those foreign border guards would do if they ever saw your money?

Last edited by DirtyDan; Nov 17, 2014 at 1:33 am
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Old Nov 17, 2014, 6:40 am
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Originally Posted by DirtyDan
I certainly understand your hesitation to carry that much money (that some of the others here may not share), especially with the news stories about US sheriffs / IRS confiscating "large" sums of cash based upon their whims. And who knows what those foreign border guards would do if they ever saw your money?
Posting a link to this story is complete bollocks. It is NOT relevant. The OP would be carrying C$2000 in cash. That is not a large amount of cash. Some people carry that much for their vacation. Many countries tell you to declare the equivalent of US$10,000 and it is perfectly legal to do so. I have carried US$25,000+ on more than one occasion to the Middle East for business and had no trouble what so ever.

Last edited by UAPremExecflyer; Nov 17, 2014 at 6:41 am Reason: fixed grammar
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Old Nov 17, 2014, 4:43 pm
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It's about the OP's tolerance for currency carry.

Originally Posted by UAPremExecflyer
Posting a link to this story is complete bollocks. It is NOT relevant.... Many countries tell you to declare the equivalent of US$10,000 and it is perfectly legal to do so...
I assume everyone here that travels for work, or has ever lived internationally, knows this. Regardless of YOUR definition of what constitutes "a large amount of cash"(or mine for that matter), a person may be uncomfortable with carrying what THEY feel is an hard-to-replace amount of currency.

Canada's CBC (Communist Broadcasting Corporation) enjoys selling a different story and it has a lot of us looking South with trepidation; my mother, and many of her compatriots, will not travel with cash to the US anymore - but she still doesn't take traveler's cheques.

FYI, this is news that people outside the US are hearing:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/america...oney-1.2760736
(please take note of the $2500 taken from a college student)
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Old Nov 19, 2014, 4:26 pm
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Another option for you could be wire-transferring the money to yourself for pick up in Malaysia. Check out Western Union's "TravelWise" option... but it's expensive and you'll lose at least 2% on the conversion.
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Old Nov 30, 2014, 9:05 am
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Note that if you follow the above users recommendation on using a debit card at an ATM, that Malaysia is a country that requires you to be added to a whitelist (the whitelist of which interestingly includes Australia) in order for your debit card to be used at all. This is true at least for Scotiabank and Tangerine. The whitelist is a list of countries with high debit card fraud. It was not enough for me to just call my bank to tell them I'm travelling to Malaysia and have them add a note (which I had already done!). They had to have a supervisor add me to the whitelist and the first call centre agent you talk to may not be aware of this! Even more frustrating, the supervisor was not available during Canadian night hours (EST 1am to 8am).

Malaysia is a wonderful country though. Just don't take the intercity train unless you're curious what a squat toilet that opens to the tracks below looks like.

If you're transferring through Singapore for whatever reason, you could cash them there and exchange to Ringgit in the airport (exchange offices available land and airside). You lose an extra 5% above the normal CAD exchange rate (which is actually competitive via cash). Not entirely sure if the office will have enough cash, but there are lots of exchange booths and MYR is a commonly exchanged airport in SG for obvious reasons.
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