Euro Travellers Cheques

charltonbob

Off to Crete next week & went to buy some travellers cheques in M & S today. They asked where i was going & strongly advised me not to buy Travellers Cheques but take cash instead. Apparently there are problems in Greece,Spain & Italy with getting cheques cashed. Anybody aware of this ? To me the euro is still their currency, why should there be problems cashing cheques ?

_MrDick

I always take cash. Get yourself a money belt and stuff it with €50 notes. They look like normal belts but have a zip on the inside. I have no idea why you'd have trouble cashing TC's. Probably got something to do with the economy in those countries.

SuedeAdidas

Some travel bloke rattling on about the Greece problem on telly the other day said the same thing. He said its virtually impossible to get TC's cashed.
He also suggested taking cash this year.

charltonbob

Thanks for replys, not happy taking 3 weeks spending money for me & mrs in cash but not a lot of option. If banks aren't paying out TCs I guess that cash points may be dodgy as well ?

Stig

Pre-paid debit card?

eaststandmike

I stopped with the TT's years ago, we take enough cash to get us started on the holiday then use our debit card in the cash machines much like we do at home.

I bank with RBS and the charges for doing us are minimal

jamiebcool

Had an absolute nightmare with TCheques in spain last year(Palma). Literally took all day to find somewhere and even there we had to beg them to cash them for us. I just paid by card everywhere (same in Corfu last April) and actually got really good exchange rates and no charges at all.

Ormiston_Addick

Travellers Cheques! What is this, the 1980's?

SuedeAdidas

The telly bloke also advised against using ATM's. He reckons they will be the first things that banks switch off if there is a confirmed cash crisis over there.

Jodaius

I'm in the Eurozone quite a lot with work, and I never bother taking cash with me anymore. It's easy enough to use an ATM once you're there, or pay for things by card. In my experience you tend to get better exchange rates as well (although it's worth checking with your bank/card provider if they will charge a fee - but this often works out no different to the commission or poor exchange rates you end up paying at a bureau de change).

Solidgone

I agree with Stig. Get a pre-paid debit card and use it just like your own debit card when on the continent ie no bank charges on withdrawals (only exchange fee). You can top up online and reuse for other trips. I've a card for Euros and one for dollars. Just pop into Sainsbury's or the post office. Simples.

Ashdown

I work for travelex within one of our sainsburys branches. T/C's are a pain abroad at the moment trying to find somewhere to cash them in. At sainsburys we have the best pre paid card on the market ahead of our competitors but I would not recommend it going to Greece at this moment in time. If Greece was to drop out of the euro it will take a while for the euro to be changed over but with the card the banks and ATM will be the first to be changed and the card will be affectivly useless unless you phoned the help line and have your funds sent via western union. The tip for Greece and Spain especially at the moment is small denominations 20s,10s and 5 euro notes. You can take 50 notes but some places may be funny accepting them.

kimbo

We use prepaid debit card too from Caxtons or use own debit card. I travel to developing countries and have never had problems. Cannot remember the last time I used TC

DanDavis

I literally had no idea the situation was so bad in Greece.

I also had no idea that people still used Travellers Cheques!

DaveMehmet

I didn't even know you could still get TC's

daveaddick

I heard from a colleague who travelled to Greece on business a few weeks ago that he had real problems using cards of any sort apart from the hotel he was asked to pay cash for everything. Luckily he was able to get cash at the bank but certainly restaurants etc are looking for cash. In the long run this will make things much worse as you can imagine that if this becomes a cash society there will be even less income tax paid than there is now....and that is not enough.

kentaddick

Going to Italy next week, will i not be able to use ATMs with my debit card?

daveaddick

No Worries in Italy kentaddick I was in Milan last week and had no problems. Italy is nowhere near as bad as Greece or even Spain all your cards etc will be fine. A word of advice though if you use your debit card in an ATM your bank usually charges a transaction fee if you want cash go to M&S or The Post Office they offer decent rates without a commission charge

charltonbob

Pre-paid debit card?

Yes thought of that Stig but if it all goes belly up they'll shut the ATMs. Bugger why did I decide on Greece this year ?

SE7toSG3

I own a small tour company, we strongly advise our travellers against taking either Eurocheques or Travellers Cheques as they can be such a pain to cash, take euro's and an ATM card or pre paid debit card as suggested elsewhere on here. For foreign currency I would recommend City Forex who operate out of Leadenhall Street, great rates and will courier the money out to you next day. Easy to find them online