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#21
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Cashing Travellers checks in USA
On Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:43:32 -0700, Ken Blake
wrote: Hi One major problem with using credit cards abroad (at least cards issued here in the UK) is that, to prevent fraud, you have to inform the card issuer beforehand of the countries you intend visiting; otherwise they are quite likely to block the card when you try to use it. However - and this is what I was told by the card company themselves - there is no guarantee that your card will NOT be blocked when you try to use it, even if you have informed them. They argue that if this does happen then a simple phone call will sort the problem out. The snag here is that if your card is blocked when trying to pay a hotel bill for example, it could be the middle of the night in the UK and the card company is closed or it may be difficult to get somebody to answer, ("beep. You are number 15 in the queue") and if you are in a hurry - on the way to the airport for example - you may have a long delay, possibly resulting in a missed flight; plus of course the people queuing behind you, also trying to check out of the hotel, will not be too pleased at waiting whilst you sort the problem out. Although what you say may be true, let me add the following: 1. I always notify my credit card companies before I go on a trip to another country. It takes just a few minutes and is no big deal. So do I but even the companies themselves say there is no guarantee the card will not be blocked. It often takes a lot longer than "a few minutes" by the time you have moved from 15th in the queue to first, listened to the endless choice of options of buttons to press (none of which are ever relevant), been told your credit limit, how much you owe by a recorded voice and finally spoken to a human being to be met with a barrage of security questions - then repeated the procedure for all the other cards. 2. I've done this *many* times, and I have never had a problem with a card that I've notified them about being blocked. As I say, I have had my card blocked once - and my wife once also. 3. I carry several different credit cards, and worst case, I could always use a different one. So do I - but it is a nuisance on a long trip if one card is blocked and it is the card I particularly want to use because of credit limit or statement date, etc. So I see this as an exceptionally minor problem, and not at all the "major problem" you call it. I don't know where you live or what papers you read, but the travel sections of the National Press here in the UK have been full of complaints about the problem for months. Regards KGB |
#22
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Cashing Travellers checks in USA
"Qanset" wrote in message ... JamesStep wrote: Do banks, Hotels, Restaurants etc, charge a fee for cashing US Travellers cheques.??? I don't think stores ever charged me a fee when I used cheques to pay for purchases years ago; they treated them like cash. I never tried just cashing them in a bank so I don't know if they charge a fee. But they are rarely used anymore due to the popularity of credit cards. Last time I used traveler's cheques (maybe 10 years ago) I found that many clerks had never seen them before. Thats surprising. all Major banks sell them. James Even in the days when TCs were "the" way to carry money they were by no means universally accepted. Even in the US I can remember having to go to specific banks to get USD denominated cheques changed. Major banks may well still sell them but acceptability has fallen significantly. |
#23
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Cashing Travellers checks in USA
"Ken Blake" schrieb
1. I always notify my credit card companies before I go on a trip to another country. It takes just a few minutes and is no big deal. It never ocurred to me to do that, and since none of my cards has ever been blocked I won't do so in the future either. I do get an occasional phone call though "...we've got a payment here for xyz... is that ok?", but that is for both "domestic" and "abroad" stuff. To avoid that I probably would have to phone them before I travel - and before I don't ;-) Jochen from Germany |
#24
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Cashing Travellers checks in USA
Travelers checks are getting harder to cash in some areas. You may have to go to a bank to get them cashed. -- Dymphna Message origin: www.TRAVEL.com |
#25
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Cashing Travellers checks in USA
On Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:00:47 GMT, KGB wrote:
However - and this is what I was told by the card company themselves - there is no guarantee that your card will NOT be blocked when you try to use it, even if you have informed them. They argue that if this does happen then a simple phone call will sort the problem out. The snag here is that if your card is blocked when trying to pay a hotel bill for example, it could be the middle of the night in the UK and the card company is closed or it may be difficult to get somebody to answer, ("beep. You are number 15 in the queue") and if you are in a hurry - on the way to the airport for example - you may have a long delay, possibly resulting in a missed flight; plus of course the people queuing behind you, also trying to check out of the hotel, will not be too pleased at waiting whilst you sort the problem out. Have you ever heard of this actually happening? Normally an auth is done on the card during checkin. It confirms the card is ok to use in that country and that the funds checked are available. |
#26
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Cashing Travellers checks in USA
On 9/28/09 2:36 AM, in article , "Qanset" wrote: Shawn Hirn wrote: In article , Qanset wrote: Do banks, Hotels, Restaurants etc, charge a fee for cashing US Travellers cheques.??? I doubt it, but why bother with traveler's checks? They are so obsolete. Just use credit cards or your ATM card to get cash from a machine. For me they are safest form of currency in the event of loss/theft. Can be replaced almost the same day. I doubt if you could replace a credit the same day that was issued in another country. However I take credit cards and some cash as a backup. If you say they are obselete, then why do major banks still sell them?? Good question. My bank says, "Why would you want them?" They just keep them for sale for those that demand them. Furthermore, depending on where you are, it can take much longer than one day to replace them. A friend of mine lost his Amex checks several years ago. Amex replaced them immediately as their commercials said. But, and it's a big but, he had to pay for them and they said they would refund the money in a year if the lost ones weren't cashed! 30 years ago Bank of America in SF -- Martha Canada .. charged me to cash their own travellers cheques. Can't remember how much. The annoyance I felt was more principle than cost. |
#27
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Cashing Travellers checks in USA
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#29
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Cashing Travellers checks in USA
On Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:14:07 -0700 (PDT),
(VS) wrote: In article , wrote: I am unwilling to get a card from Capital One. Good decision. Their so called ``no hassle rewards'' are a bad deal. Why do you call it a bad deal? I have one and don't think so. Fortunately, there are pretty good credit card that don't charge anything on foreign-currency transactions. I have never seen a CC that gave me the wholesale rate Schwab's Invest First Visa gives you the wholesale exchange rate (they even eat the 1% that Visa charges on foreign-currency transactions) and unlimited 2% cashback on all purchases. Not only you get the best exchange rate, you even earn a decent cashback. This is my preferred card for foreign travel. I have that card too and agree that because of their cash back, it's even better than Capital One's. But that doesn't make Capital One a bad deal. -- Ken Blake Please Reply to the Newsgroup |
#30
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Cashing Travellers checks in USA
On Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:46:55 -0500, AZ Nomad
wrote: On Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:00:47 GMT, KGB wrote: However - and this is what I was told by the card company themselves - there is no guarantee that your card will NOT be blocked when you try to use it, even if you have informed them. They argue that if this does happen then a simple phone call will sort the problem out. The snag here is that if your card is blocked when trying to pay a hotel bill for example, it could be the middle of the night in the UK and the card company is closed or it may be difficult to get somebody to answer, ("beep. You are number 15 in the queue") and if you are in a hurry - on the way to the airport for example - you may have a long delay, possibly resulting in a missed flight; plus of course the people queuing behind you, also trying to check out of the hotel, will not be too pleased at waiting whilst you sort the problem out. Have you ever heard of this actually happening? Normally an auth is done on the card during checkin. It confirms the card is ok to use in that country and that the funds checked are available. Hi Yes, from personal experience. I attempted to use my (British) MBNA credit card to pay a motel bill in Arizona last year. Although I had previously told MBNA I would be in the USA at that time, the receptionist at the motel said that the system would NOT authorise the transaction - he tried several times without success. To save time, my wife then handed over her MBNA credit card with the same results - transaction would NOT authorise. We then asked him if he would use his phone and call MBNA on the transfer charge number and let me speak to them. He tried but could not get through to MBNA. We then said, "forget it" and used a different credit card (a British Barclaycard) with no problems. I should add that we were in fact the only people checking out and did NOT have a plane to catch, but if there had been a queue and if we had been going to the airport, the above incident took quite a long time. The receptionist was very helpful and did his best to help out but obviously his hands were tied. I then went to a public phone in the motel entrance and tried to contact MBNA myself to get my card unblocked. I couldn't use the International transfer charge number the card company had given me because the phone operator wouldn't allow a transfer charge from a public phone, I couldn't use the card to pay for the call because it had been blocked - and the public phone wouldn't take cash. From Arizona we were going to visit my wife's brother in the USA, so until we arrived at his house we used different credit cards and sorted the problem out with MBNA from his (private) phone. They unblocked the card but weren't really interested in the inconvenience it had caused. The reason I wanted to use my MBNA card was for convenience - it had the highest credit limit, we were going to be away from home for a full month and it was just past the statement date, giving me the maximum time to pay the bill when I arrived home. To be fair, that is the only time either me or my wife have ever had a problem but, given the publicity that problems with overseas credit card transactions are receiving here in the UK at present and the fact we are shortly going on a long trip, we are very wary of potential financial card disasters. Regards KGB |
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