american express travellers checks

Hello,

Does anybody know if travellers checks are accepted. I've been hearing stories that fewer and fewer banks are accepting them. Instead, credit cards and debit card are being more widely used. I was in Thailand and never had any trouble cashing my checks. That was in 2005. Has this form of currency changed this much since 2005? Any info you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Andrew

Travellers cheques are antiqued in the parts of Europe I know. In many countries, because of fraud volume, you will have difficulty or refusal, certainly in retail outlets.

They are still accepted in some places and difficult to exchange in others....time-consuming at best.

Where are you going?

Personally I haven't used them for 8-9 years...a combination of debit cards,a credit card and some US$ cash does me everywhere (amount of cash varies on which destination).

1. Fewer and fewer places will accept them.
2. Where they are accepted (often just banks or an AE office) the hassle/time required is more than that of using your cards.
3. Most importantly, the exchange rate you get when buying them is not as good as the exchange you will get using your cards.

Yeah, what you've been hearing is correct. You can still use them in some places, in other places you can only use them in selected banks and in other places you can't use them anywhere. They're more hassle than they're worth, a debit/credit card will do nicely in the vast majority of places and where not just have some cash at hand. I think the last time I used TCs was probably coming up to a decade ago or thereabouts.

Last time I used TCs was more like 3 decades ago Toad. Cards have been around a long time now.

Depends where you were travelling..plenty of countries still didn't have international ATMs 10 years ago.

Most of the world in fact...or at least,only in the very large cities in many parts of Africa,Asia ,South America etc.

Now there are international ATMs in nearly all countries.

True lucapal although places where you don't find ATMs are also likely to be places where TCs can't be cashed either.

It is true it seems more places prefer not to take AMX Checks. But they are a good safety measure. It may be a good idea to have some as a backup.

Credit cards are definitely the more popular route these days. The big question is...where will you be going? If you are traveling somewhere like western Europe, you probably won't have issues bringing TCs, but at the same time, you also would not have an issue finding ATMs, or places that take CCs. In other parts of the world it can be a different story. For me personally, I take a mix of CCs - Visa, Mastercard, Amex and then some cash. Also, you generally get the best rates with cash and okay rates with debit/credit cards. With a lot of cards out there though, you can get it where they don't charge a foreign transaction fee and some of them even eat the 1% visa/MC foreign transaction fee.

Hope that helps!

Credit cards are definitely the more popular route these days
Depends where you are and what sort of budget you're on. If you're staying in $5 hostels and eating from food stalls where a typical meal costs the equivalent of $1, you need CASH. Therefore you need a cheap way of accessing your cash from ATMs, which isn't a credit card.

Agree with joolz...I rarely (almost never in fact) use my credit card while travelling.It is there as an emergency backup if and when needed.

Debit cards on the other hand......that is the best and cheapest way to get your money (via ATMs).

Yes, it is important to differentiate between credit cards and debit cards. Credit cards are for paying for things, debit cards are for getting cash from an ATM.

"Also, you generally get the best rates with cash and okay rates with debit/credit cards"

That is incorrect jpyrek. The best rates are not for cash but for debit/credit cards. Even cards that charge some foreign exchange loading are cheaper than exchanging cash.

That is definitively not true. I confronted this all over Asia and Africa and the rates provided on all of our credit cards/debit cards were always worse than the cash rates. Many times the cash rates would be better than mid-market.

I recall when the cards were ALWAYS the best, but that was confined primarily to Europe. I have yet to find a developing nation where a card rate is better . I understand that this has to do with the financial institution through which you hold your card, but even in groups of folks from the US, UK, and Netherlands, all with different banks we found this to be the case.