travelers cheques / payment card which is best

[gazmc]

Hi All when we have previously visited florida we have always brought travelers cheques with us and used them like cash.Some body has told us that this year there is a 2.5% for using them as cash, can somebody confirm if this is correct ?.

What are peoples preference to either cheques or payment cards.

Thanks
Gary

[Gerry Reed]

We always use a credit card (as I do for everything at home - and pay up in full every month so no interest). I know they charge 2.5% for foriegn currency but their exchange rate is much better than I can get for cash so it balances out and it is so convenient + I get lots of airmiles.

Sue

[Tonish]

To be honest, I can't understand why anyone uses travellers cheques these days. Your debit and credit cards work in shops, restaurants and cash machines, why would you treat it any different than a trip within the UK? In the great scheme of things, the charges don't really make much of a difference to your overall spending cost, and it is an awful lot easier than using TCs. I've been told there are many places now which won't accept TCs, although I don't have any personal experience of it.

We've been travelling to the U.S. annuallly since the 70s. Haven't used TCs since some time in the 80's I think. We take a few hundred dollars in cash to cover for the initial costs (food at the airport, toll costs, buy some milk and tea on the way to the villa), then either withdraw cash at an ATM when needed or use debit and credit just as we would at home.

[cork]

As it has been pointed out Use your Debit Card & Credit Card .

Try and use an ATM Machine at a Bank rather than one at a store.

Do not be afraid of using your Cards at a Gas Station , Provided you use it inside & in full view of you.

If you pre pay for fuel ask for receipt AND if you do Not use all of $ pre paid then Return Inside &

your money will be Returned onto your Card OR Cash may be given BUT Keep receipt for your records.

[Jill]

We have been using credit and debit cards abroad for years rather than travel cheques. We take cards which do not charge a foreign exchange conversion fee examples of current providers are Halifax, Post Office, Nationwide and Saga. We have just returned and found that most terminals are now chip and pin rather than sign.

[Katys Grandad]

Quite honestly I didn't realise that you could still get travellers' cheques these days.

There are several credit cards that carry no surcharges for foreign currency transactions now so that would always be my recommendation. Take enough cash with you for unexpected small needs and that's all you'll need.

[MarkR]

We have been using a PostFX card that we got at the Post Office.
You prefill the card with US$ and its chip and pin/swipe. We have used it everywhere and It was perfect. The only thing is, you are charged something like $4 or $5 if/when you use an ATM to withdraw cash. We would usually take out $300 or $400 so minimising the amount of cash withdrawals.

[ujpest doza]

I've always used $ travellers cheques in the USA and had never had any problems until last time in 2013 when some (mostly smaller) places were funny about accepting them and some point blank refused as they'd been hit by fraud.

I don't like pre paid cards but am going to have to move with the times this year and not get travellers chqs.

[florida4sun]

I would highly recommend getting a commsion free debit/credit card. Travelers cheques are outdated to say the least and I have in the past seen folks having problems getting them replaced when lost. A decent card comapny will get you sorted out pretty quickly. I have travelled a lot of the USA this year with work (just drove through 11 states in 4 days!!). Lost 2 visa cards and had replacements within 48 hours and access to emergency funds while waiting.

[gazmc]

Thanks for all your reply's it looks like we will have to come out of the prehistoric age and get with the times. It looks like a prepayment card is for us.
We have been so used to using cheques in turkey over the last 10 years or so as we used to get good deals with the local shops on exchange rates.

Gaz