Travelers Checks

We were in Ecuador about 3 weeks in December, and used ATMs. BUT we found that some banks' ATMs worked only for Ecuadorians. These are usually but not always marked "nacional." And banks that worked for foreign cards in Quito did NOT work in Latacunga, which was annoying. And some of the ATMs in Quito close at night. So get as much cash as possible when you do find a bank that will accept your card. Actually, we are from the US, so we just took a lot of cash with us. It's mostly a cash economy, although we did find some hotels that would take a credit card. We left excess cash in hotel safes or even sometimes in the bottom of our bags in the room, depending on the hotel and access to it.

There isn't much use for travellers checks any more. We have a few leftover ones, and I suppose in an emergency, like we were robbed of everything but still had the numbers of those checks in a different place, they might be useful. We did not try to use them in Ecuador, but when we have tried to use them in other places in the last 5 or so years, we have found it extremely difficult to find a bank that would take them. I suppose those currency exchange places would, but their rates are so bad that we have not used them recently either.

Using an ATM is your best bet. I brought cash with me and had problems with it going missing in the hostels and hotels. You don't want to be carrying cash on your person, but can't trust it hidden in your room either. As far as cashier checks, not all banks will cash them. A friend of mine brought all of her money in travellers checks and found herself taking a bus for 2 hours, each time she needed cash.

You will struggle to cash travellers checks. Debit cards and ATMs are a better bet, though as mentioned above, not 100% reliable either. As well as some ATMs being national cards only, some work with certain international cards and not others. so it's a bit trial and error to find ones that work for you. If you get really stuck you can usually withdraw cash over the counter in large banks if you have a visa credit or debit card and your passport, but the fees for that can be pretty high.

No bank is going to cash your TCs. They are nearly obsolete most places. You don't have to carry huge amounts of cash around; just withdraw what you need for a few days at a time.

Can't believe travellers cheques are still around.

But the whole point of travellers cheques was that it meant you didn't need to carry large amounts of money around. Now, thanks to these new-fangled ATMs, that is no longer necessary anyway. There are a myriad of posts on here from people struggling to find somewhere to change them, and that has been going on for a good few years now.

BTW the rates for cashing in at hotels or boutiques are exhorbitant - literally day light robbery, which is a bit ironic.

There is an American Express Bank in Guayaquil where you can cash AMEX TCs.