Travellers cheques

[NismoGT]

Off to Ibiza soon. Thomas Cook ( Who we booked the holiday through ) are claiming travellers cheque exchange places are now far and few between.

It's been seven years since i was last abroad so they could well be. But i smell bullst as they are trying to pressure us into having one of the cards you load money onto and then withdrawl with a 2 euro charge each and every time you use the card.

Are they lying about being able to exchange them still?

[uuf361]

No idea about TC's, but I have never used TC's - don't get them....I take some cash and anything else can go on a credit card.....

Travel Money Cards are becoming more popular and the decent ones are backed/issued by Visa/MC/Amex and therefore taken like a CC.......

[NismoGT]

Thanks , but i don't have credit cards. Never have. Always used Travellers cheques.

[The Leaper]

I used TCs last week in Italy. They were denominated in US$ and I exchanged them for €s. No problems at all at banks and local exchanges.

I agree with a prior post that TCs are well out of fashion and the cash cards seems what's used most now. Can be bought at Sainsbury's M&S etc. I'm thinking about using them in future but will do research on costs first.

R.

[rsv gone!]

TCs are an expensive way of taking your travel money. You'll normally get a commission charged per cheque and you are at the mercy of the money changer in terms of exchange rates. Double whammy.

Read up here for better, less expensive ideas;

http://travelmoney.moneysavingexpert.com/

[grumbledoak]

You are better off with a credit card, frankly, and have been for some time. No need to run a 'balance' on them, just use them for convenience.

[wattsie_2004]

I've just come back from Germany. I applied for a Halifax Clarity credit card about a month before, which ended up with the entirety of foreign spending on it.

I just paid it off early and had to pay £0.70 interest for €300 of cash withdrawals (interest charged immediately.) The card transaction side was however completely free of fees/charges.

The forex was between £1 = €1.19/1.21 for the time I was there.