American Express Travellers Cheques
Discussion
So a few days ago decided to fly to Las Vegas ready for the Drag Races this coming weekend. I brought with me some Amex travellers cheques. I lost 600 dollars worth yesterday. So I called Amex here in the States expecting them to replace them as per the adverts. Guess what...that only happens if they have an office where you are. So after much discussion they are now sending me a Dollar cheque to my home in the UK. so be careful, records all the serial numbers but don't expert them to courier replacement ones.
Really? But why? If you don't want to use a conventional debit or credit card you can get the pre-paid cards that the likes of Amex introduced to replace travellers cheques. They are both cheaper and have more facilities available.
Each to their own, of course, it just seems a little odd to use something that has been replaced by things that would appear to be better.
Each to their own, of course, it just seems a little odd to use something that has been replaced by things that would appear to be better.
In the States AMEX US Dollar Travellers Cheques are treated as cash. Accepted anywhere and are great for back up and not bringing a ton of cash. Currently most transactions by Credit Card here require ID. Credit Cards are great but if you lose it or god forbid its cloned you will be stuffed. I have had 3 calls from my Card Provider in the past 4 days asking me whether certain transactions are valid...Card companies are paranoid about fraudulent transactions here in the USA as a lot of places here still do not use "pin" numbers to authorise a transaction. IE you still have to sign. It's always worth having them as a back up. Being old has nothing to do with it.
When travelling I usually take a few hundred dollars/euros in cash to start, a Santander Zero card for pulling more cash from ATMs, a backup card (Amex) and then leave my debit card in the hotel in case I lose my wallet. Last resort would be to call somebody and get money wired to a Western Union.
Geoff Stilwell said:
In the States AMEX US Dollar Travellers Cheques are treated as cash. Accepted anywhere and are great for back up and not bringing a ton of cash. Currently most transactions by Credit Card here require ID. Credit Cards are great but if you lose it or god forbid its cloned you will be stuffed. I have had 3 calls from my Card Provider in the past 4 days asking me whether certain transactions are valid...Card companies are paranoid about fraudulent transactions here in the USA as a lot of places here still do not use "pin" numbers to authorise a transaction. IE you still have to sign. It's always worth having them as a back up. Being old has nothing to do with it.
I've never been ID'd using credit cards in the States (or anywhere else for that matter), nor do I get many calls from my provider about fraud. But I mainly use Amex who know that I travel a lot. Equally if I lost it or it was cloned they get me another. (Amex are brilliant if you travel a lot).Traveller's cheques are a really expensive way of taking money, you are far better getting a pre-paid card, so instead of putting money into cheques you put it on the card in the currency you want. You'll get more dollars on your card than you would in cheques because the rate is better because they are much cheaper to run. If you lose the card they will get you another in just the same way as cheques but one of the reasons it is cheaper is that they can then cancel the old card. You can also see your transactions online and top it up online so you don't have to guess how much to take in the same way.
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