BootsnAll Travel Community

No RTW trip in the near future, but I can dream - and reading this forum helps me to do so.

One question I have is about finances. Obviously, a RTW costs over $10K US, but I can't believe you'd carry all that with you. So, what do you do? Have money wired to different places? Carry debit card with all that? or What?

When I traveled for a year, I had the bulk of my funds in my checking account and drew on them with a debit card. I had a little bit in traveler's checks as well, and some emergency cash in my pack. I also carried a second credit card as back-up, in case my VISA/debit card wouldn't work in a particular ATM, or if it was stolen (which, thankfully, didn't happen).

I plan to open a checking account with HSBC. They seem to be a truly global bank with locations everywhere. Plus they make it easy to bank on the Internet (although plenty of banks offer that option.)

I'd get a Nationwide FlexAccount, which waives ATM fees for cash machines worldwide, but you have to be a British citizen to get it.

Add a credit card, a few travelers' checks and a well-hidden emergency $100 greenback, and you have my financial plan for the next 15 months.

Online banking is the answer. I take two debit cards from different credit unions/banks which are linked online, just in case one is stolen or lost or doesn't work for some mysterious reason (which happens more than I'd like it to). I made a point of asking my banks for debit cards, not VISA/cash cards so that they couldn't be used w/o a PIN if they were stolen and I make sure there are no fees for oversee withdrawals. I take some travelers checks for emergencies, and a VISA - one I know the PIN to in case I need an emergency cash advance and which I pay off immediately online since interest accrues immediately on cash advances. I have only had to use the emergency VISA cash withdrawal once and I rarely use the travelers checks, some of which now date back to 2001, but having them makes me feel better.

And if a country that I'm going to early on during my trip doesn't have ATMs, I take enough cash to get by on. Thankfully, if a country doesn't have an ATM, chances are you won't need much cash to get through it. It's getting harder to find countries w/o ATMs, though.

I just wanted to see if I can stir up any more details or specific advice on this topic.

How much are people paying in ATM fees?

How much are people paying in traveler's cheque fees?

Any specific banks to recommend?

Since I am moving, maybe I just need to wait til I get there, open a local account in Guatemala and then transfer all of my money there... but I anticipate a lot of travel beyond that as well, so...

I wanna be a British citizen so I can use that Flexaccount. That is just too good to be true!!!

Does anyone know of anything similar in the US?

I am not going to Europe, I am going to latin america, so deals like "there are some ATMs in Europe that don't charge our customers a fee" doesn't help me very much.

Thanks!

Ann-Marie

I used my Citibank ATM card in many countries at non-Citibank ATMs. No flat fee appeared on my statment for these transactions. Citibank's account documentation states that they charge a 1% commission on international ATM withdrawals.

But, even with this charge, I got a better exchange rate through ATM withdrawals than I would have by exchanging cash or travellers' checks.

My Citibank account balance was over $30,000 for the entire trip -- there may be additional fees if your balance drops below a certain amount.

Unless you're going to a country without international ATMs, there's no reason to carry more than an emergency stash of cash and traveller's checks.

Check out your local credit union. Mine charges me nothing. No flat fee, no percentage for ATM withdrawals (with a minimum balance of $500). Outside of the US I haven't seen bank-owned ATMs adding a flat fee to withdrawals, but I'm sure that's coming.

I can't remember how much I paid for TC but I remember my credit union and AAA were the best bets. The few times I've exchanged TC - in Asia - there was no commission but the rate was slightly worse than for cash.