I’m heading off to Europe for about 10 days, and as everyone knows, when you go on vacation, you’re supposed to get traveler’s checks, because they’re so much safer than real money. Well, that’s all well and good, but I’ve never bought or used one in my entire life, so I’ve got a fews questions.
Are they like actual checks, in that you have to sign them and present ID and everything when cashing them?
Who will cash them? Do they have to be cashed at a bank?
Do I write in the amount in the check, or are they like money orders, with a printed amount on the check? And if so, will I get change back in actual cash?
If I buy them in America, do I get them in American dollars, or in Euros (I’m going to Vienna)?
Yes. You sign them twice: One as soon as you get them, before your departure. Then you sign them when cashing. The store will compare the two signatures. I don’t think they’ll ask yfor ID, but be prepared.
Many stores will accept them as payment. Many banks will accept them and pay you the equivalent in cash, but threy might charge you a fee for that.
They are pre-printed checks coming in fixed denominations. You pay for them in advance.
You can choose the currency.
Because if they get stolen, the thief cannot cash them since he needs the second signature that fits the first one. He doesn’t have that, so he can’t cash them (or if he manages to cash them anyway, it’s not your problem). The check company will refund stolen or lost checks to you.
In many parts of Europe you will find that many retail outlets will not accept travellers cheques. To use them you will have to go to a bank or exchange office and change them into local currency. You will probably find that your hotel will also do this for you. This inability to use the cheques in shops is different to the situation in the USA where the cheques can be used like ordinary money in most shops and resturants.
I would also recommend that you don’t get a lot of traveler’s cheques when going to Europe. I would only get a few hundred dollars as a backup. Your ATM card will work nearly everywhere.
Surprisingly, Japan is a country where American ATM cards don’t work as frequently.
I would disagree with the comment about ID - in my experience you almost always get asked for your passport when cashing traveller’s cheques.
As for which denomination to get, it probably wouldn’t make muchg difference. Exchange bureaux tend to charge a good whack of commission on changing cheques even if they are in the native currency, so you might be best buying US$ cheques, to avoid one set of commission charges at home.
And, as SmackFu and BobT said, ATMs are usually easier (and cheaper) so just take a few TCs as a back-up.
Just on the which currency and commission angle, if you get Euro check (or cheques) and then cash them in the office of the company that issued them you won’t have to pay any commission at the European end.
I think Amex have an office in most European capitals, so if you breeze in there with your Amex checks, you get the face value in Euros.
Using travellers cheques seems very oldfashioned to me. What I normally do is to bring my (visa) credit card. It works (almost) everywhere. For those occasions when you need cash, go to an ATM, and withdraw a wad. Visa/amex works in most ATMs I’ve seen. There will be a non-negligible charge, so you’d be better off withdrawing fairly large amounts. Also, in my experience, the exchange rate you get from visa, when you buy something with the credit card, is pretty close to the one you get in the ATM.
You didn’t specify to which country you’re going, but I’m assuming euro-land (EU minus UK, Denmark & Sweden). There you can use the same currency in all the countries. The coins have national variations, but are accepted everywhere.
Some places outside euro-land also accept euros, but often at a poor rate. There you’d be better off withdrawng the local currency.
There was an article on MSNBC a couple of months ago about a well-seasoned traveller and the horrors he faced in Italy trying to use traveller’s cheques. He had been using credit\ATM cards for years, but wanted to see if TCs were still a viable option - man, the life of a travel writer!!
He found that no stores or hotels would cash them, so he had to go to banks. As you may know, banks in some parts of Europe are open from 8:20am - 8:43am three days a week. And he even got the same old “but you don’t have an account here!” runaround that you get here in the States.
Anyway, to make a long story short - cut use credit and ATM cards.
One more vote for Amex, take some t/cheques as a back up to your c/c, God forbid anything should happen but if you did lose your purse, wallet etc, the chequesa re a useful back up.
There’s probably no need to tell you this but if you’re going to use your credit card to withdraw cash, load up your account with cash before you leave. There’s no free credit on cash withdrawals and the rates can be savage.
[sub]Disclaimer: this is the case in Ireland, I’m presuming the same applies in the States.[/sub]
If you are going to use your credit/debit cards away from home it is a good idea to inform the card company which countries you are going to and the dates. The reason for this is that the card companies , to prevent fraud and the use of cloned cards , might stop your card if they see transactions different to your usual spending pattern. I did this with with my two cards on a recent trip to France. The card companies flagged up the fact that I would be there on certain dates and I had no trouble in using my cards.
As someone who recently returned from a trip in the Euro-zone, I suggest getting a few US currency traveler’s checks solely as a back up to your ATM and credit cards. I looked into buying traveler’s checks in Euros, but Amex charges you an extremely unfavorable exchange rate. It’s as bad as the most touristy exchange kiosks. Plus you’ll have to find somewhere to cash them and hope they don’t charge a fee.
If you buy US dollar traveler’s checks, if you don’t need them you can use them at home after the trip. If you bought Euro traveler’s checks, Amex will charge yet again (at another disfavorable rate) to change the money back to dollars.