Travellers Checque Problems
 

I stopped by the AAA office today to purchase some travellers checks in UK Pounds, but I was told that they no longer deal in foreign currency travellers checques due to folks having problems cashing them.

The last time I went to the contenent of Europe, I had no trouble chashing the Euro Travellers checks at banks in Germany. I was not charged anything for their services. Not so in Austria. They charge a fee there.

I had no trouble when I went to the UK in 2005. The Bank of England and the RBS always cashed my travellers checks and never charged a fee.

What are some of your recent experience? I'm trying to find out if AAA is on the level, or just making excuses.

The last time I needed to get cash in Europe (Italy), I just put my ATM card in an ATM and got Euros.

i agree with tjl, i use cash points whenever i go abroad now. unless i feel a particular threat of being kidnapped, robbed, etc i dont think its really worth going to the trouble of getting travelers cheques. they are only getting harder to cash in the sense that a lot of these cheque cashing places are going out of business, because there really isnt much of a need for them now. ive even see my local amex travel office in the uk shut down just last year.

it is possible to get them cashed, but is it worth the extra effort. extra effort in finding the offices and dealing with their hours + commission etc, compared to just using a cash machine go grab a bulk sum of cash (minding the probable $3 international transaction fee of course) generally atms seem the more practical and modern solution. just make sure your bank arent fleecing you for it!

AAA is on the level, I was told the same thing at a AAA office last month. They said that it's becoming more of a problem cashing traveler's checks in foreign countries because of counterfeit issues, and that fewer places are taking them. They recommended the AAA pre-paid VISA card. We got that and had no trouble at all, you just go to an ATM and withdraw the amount of money you want and it's in the currency of the country you're in. The withdrawal fee was a flat $2/transaction so we just made fewer larger withdrawals rather than many small withdrawals. If there's any balance on the card when you get home, just go to the AAA office and they'll refund your balance for no charge.

You can also load more funds onto the card. My wife was traveling with one and called me a few times to put more money on her card. :D

The days of "like cash" treatment of Traveler's Cheques are over. I recently tried to cash in a fairly large amount of Euro-denominated Traveler's Cheques in Germany, and four different banks insisted that they would not be able to exchange them for cash, but rather offered to deposit the checks to my accounts. The only place where I could get cash was an AMEX office -- and the procedure was far from fun & easy.

99.5% of the traveling public is better off without Traveler's Cheques these days. The list of acceptable uses of Traveler's Cheques is very short; it may include those who safely wish to carry cash of questionable provenance (and the tradeoff here is safety vs trackability), gamblers who would lose their winnings if they kept cash, but who miraculously are capable of walking out of a Casino with a wallet full of Traveler's Cheques, and youngsters who received some support from their grandparents.

as far as I know "like cash" treatment of TC's has never occurred outside of the US on a regular basis. In most cases you had to change them for cash first

Or purchase currencies from the bank is my other way.

Thanks for the replys everyone. I'll just get my cash at the RBS ATM and pay for everthing else with the trusty AMEX.

Nore more travellers checks for me.

If you have access to a credit union, check with them. It's likely the atm/debit card will only charge the 1% visa fee and nothing additional for the exchange, while credit cards and other type banks often charge 3+% to the exchange.

When I go abroad I have always taken t/c with me as a back up. But, I am reconsidering.

They are getting harder and hard to exchange, especially at a decent rate. The ATM may soon kill them off.

Nonetheless, based on past experience, during various currency crisis, Amex $ checks can be a lifesaver. Amex came though for me in the past and changed the checks when I couldn't get money anywhere else. Of course, that was before ATMs.

And expensive to boot

One of the great things about TCs was that if you lost them you could get instant replacements. I heard something on a BBC radio programme to the effect that this just often doesn't happen.

The reason is the relative level of fraud with TCs has increased as legitimate travellers have moved to other methods. Its becoming more common for TC companies to only issue a partial replacement on the spot and not refund the bulk until an "investigation" (where basically they wait to see if and how there is an attempt to encash them) is completed and you have returned home.

They also have a blacklist of locations where its common for TCs to be reported lost. If you report TCs as lost at one of these places then they will never do an immediate replacement. The excuse was that they suspected some kind of fraud involving the establishment. The reality is they had profiled the hotel concerned. In once case, a popular backpacker resort suffered particularly. Backpackers would run low on money and had the idea to get replacements and then cash both sets. So the place was blacklisted. Great - if you happen to be an honest one who lost your money.

I used TCs some years ago - and they are always sold on the basis of peace of mind/fast replacement. But I wouldn't get them now.

ATM cards can also be replaced. Their use in often free of charge in the UK (apart from any charge that your own bank may impose). They usually provide the best exchange rate.

I usually carry a very small amount in cash and a couple of ATM cards.

Alternative uses for TC's
 

Sometimes you need to make a small payment in a foreign currency and credit cards aren't an alternative -- Canadian income taxes, for instance. U.S. banks will charge anywhere from US$25 up to issue a check on a foreign correspondent bank.

Or you can go to the AmEx office and buy CA$280 of travelers checques at no fee (if you're an AX cardholder, and who in this forum is not?). Make them payable to the Receiver General, sign in both places, and mail.