On one of my OTA subchannels, I was watching an episode of “The Streets of San Francisco”. Karl Malden made me think of travelers’ checques. So when I went to my BofA branch today to withdraw funds for a vacation, I asked the clerk if anyone ever bought travelers’ checques. This branch of BofA didn’t even offer them.
Does AmEx, Barclays, Cooks, Citibank (fka First National City) still sell them. I can remember BofA had their own when they were a California-only bank. Wikipedia says that they aren’t widely accepted any more given ATMs, and Debit/Credit cards.
I’ve often wondered how AmEx (and others) treat them accounting-wise. IIRC, AmEx checques said, “Good until used. No time limit”. (When my grandfather died in 1963, he had some 1955 checques in his drawer). If a 1978 travelers’ checque is still uncashed, is AmEx carrying it on their books as a liability? Let’s face it, 99% of any 1978 checques will never be cashed and AmEx should at least pay income taxes on that money. After all, if 2% of all lottery tickets are never claimed, I’m sure a substantial number of checques are still outstanding.
American Express still sells them, although it looks like they emphasize that you can take them to a bank and exchange them for the local currency, rather than just giving them to merchants/hotels.
I worked in a bank 2006-2007. In that time I did maybe 6 batches of traveler’s checks. The customers were usually older. They were a pain in the ass to process, maybe 15 minutes. You would need approval from above, and you had to carefully log every number. Then we made customers sign them on the spot (but not the second signature). We had a limited supply that were ordered as needed. Their main benefit is loss protection, but they’re hardly necessary these days.
By buying them, you are essentially loaning the bank money as they do not accrue interest. If you find a cache of crusty old ones, I’m not sure what happens, but the bank is prepared to pay for them. Same with savings bonds; they get interest but only up to a point, and banks will pay for them, though that’s ultimately a government instrument.
At some point, they’ve got to assume that the couch cushions have claimed their prize.