Hi all,

I am leaving in December for a six-month RTW trip, and will be visiting Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, India, Nepal, Thailand, South Africa, Kenya, and Uganda. I am trying to figure our the best way to manage my money while traveling and am seeking advice about:

Debit/ATM cards - will a visa card do or is it good to have more than one type of card? Right now I have two checking accounts that both come with visa debit cards. The cards say cirrus and pulse on the back. My bank is a regional credit union that doesn't charge any fees, but I'm also wondering if a card from a bigger bank might be useful (ie - Bank of America, HSBC, etc)

Credit cards - again, I have a visa. Will that be good enough? What about mastercard or amex? What is most widely accepted and is it good to have more than one kind?

American dollars - how much cash should I carry? Can you get USD abroad very easily or should you take them from home? We are going to Africa last and I have heard that I will need USD for visas in Uganda and Kenya. If I do carry USD, does anyone have good advice for where to keep them?

Traveler's Checks - Still a good idea? I had some when I lived in Germany and the fees to exchange them were ridiculous, so I never used them, but has anyone found them useful in Asia or Africa? They seem like a useful last resort in any case.

Travel Money Card - what is this?

Ok, I know that is a lot of questions. Basically I am looking for advice from experienced RTW travelers on how you accessed and managed your money while traveling. Any and all thoughts are appreciated - thanks!

-Julie
(6 weeks to go!)

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Debit/ATM cards - will a visa card do or is it good to have more than one type of card? Right now I have two checking accounts that both come with visa debit cards. The cards say cirrus and pulse on the back. My bank is a regional credit union that doesn't charge any fees, but I'm also wondering if a card from a bigger bank might be useful (ie - Bank of America, HSBC, etc)

The cirrus and plus logos are all that matter. Cirrus is Mastercard's network, Plus is Visa's, so if you have both logos you should be able to get money from any internationally-connected ATM. There's no further benefit to be had from the big banks, but do let your credit union know where you're going - American banks of all sizes apparently view international withdrawals with suspicion.

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Credit cards - again, I have a visa. Will that be good enough? What about mastercard or amex? What is most widely accepted and is it good to have more than one kind?

I prefer to have both a Visa and Mastercard. In some countries, one or the other is very dominant, so it's good to have. In developing countries, always ask about transaction fees if paying by credit card, as you may run into surcharges anywhere from 2% to 12%.

Amex is basically useless. It's not accepted anywhere, though there are Amex offices in almost all major cities around the world, and most of them can give cash advances to card holders.

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American dollars - how much cash should I carry? Can you get USD abroad very easily or should you take them from home? We are going to Africa last and I have heard that I will need USD for visas in Uganda and Kenya. If I do carry USD, does anyone have good advice for where to keep them?

Complicated subject. USDs are simple enough to get, but most of the time you'll end up paying to exchange money twice, since you'll usually have to get cash off your card in local currency and then change it. Clearly not ideal. In most countries they won't be necessary, carry maybe $300 in various hidden locations for emergencies when you can't get cash.

But Africa, I don't have a clue, the word "lots" comes to mind, so I'll let someone with experience there answer that.

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Traveler's Checks - Still a good idea? I had some when I lived in Germany and the fees to exchange them were ridiculous, so I never used them, but has anyone found them useful in Asia or Africa? They seem like a useful last resort in any case.

I like to have some as a backup. More ways of getting money never hurt anyone. As you're going to Africa at the end of your trip, this might be a good way of getting around the double exchange thing. You can bring a large chunk of money in TCs, and then simply cash them for USDs at an Amex office (worth the hassle to get to, because they won't charge you for the cashing service).

Surely someone will come along and talk about how outdated TCs are, which is true enough, but they have some potential use.

But do treat them like cash. Just because they're insured doesn't mean they're easy to replace.

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Travel Money Card - what is this?

Basically it's a preloaded debit or credit card. It looks and works like an ATM card, but without allowing a thief potential access to all of your savings.

A reasonable approximation of this - what I use - is to keep most of my money in a savings account that isn't connected to my ATM card, and then just transfer money to my chequing account as needed (via internet banking...but it's pretty secure since the only thing that can be done with my savings account is transfer money into and out of my chequing account).

Amen to everything 2wanderers posted above. Some additional thoughts:

Debit/ATM cards - I remember having to change my 6-digit PIN from a regional bank in the U.S. to a 4-digit one. Worked without any problems all over China, SE Asia, India, Nepal. Triple check that the bank will not charge you an overseas/international withdrawal fee; one of my old checking accounts charged a hefty 5USD per withdrawal.

Credit Cards - One Visa, one Mastercard for me. In addition to checking for the merchant's transaction fee, check with your credit card whether it charges an "international transaction fee" on top (eg. our Chase card did at 3%; Capital One didn't).

US Dollars - I like to have them. Have smaller bills handy. In Nepal, some guest houses and hotels asked to be paid in what they termed "hard currency."

Traveler's Checks - I prefer to have some stashed away just in case the cards don't work, or I'm in a small town that didn't have an ATM. Or if for some reason you don't have local currency on you, and you need to pay for things like plane tickets at a travel agency, TCs are your friend!

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There's no further benefit to be had from the big banks, but do let your credit union know where you're going - American banks of all sizes apparently view international withdrawals with suspicion.

Ditto for letting your credit card know that you might be making some purchases in different continents within the next X period of time. Capital One has this (somewhat) annoying habit of denying overseas transactions. We had to call them from Kathmandu to tell them the transactions are legit.

This is all so helpful - thanks!

Does anyone have a preferred mastercard company? If capital one doesn't charge for international transactions, that is very good, but gadabout mentioned having trouble with them blocking his transactions. Anyhoo, any recommendations?

All of the above is wonderful advice!

I would just add... on the issue of USD cash, make sure your bills are crisp and new. While crumpled old bills may be legal tender in the US, that's not the case everywhere. I went hungry in Uganda because I had bills that had been printed before a certain year... absolutely no one, including the bank, would take them.

Also with $ bills there are sometimes problems with fakes in SEA which means no one will take $100's -take some $50s' too and a couple of 10's if you are needing to bribe!
You can easily get US$ in Australia, NZ and Thailand - probably elsewhere too. But you will have to convert to the local currency first.
Travel money card is a pre-paid Visa card which you use in ATMS - personally I think that the charges for withdrawals are high.
Also have you got a plan for internet banking so you can pay credit cards, move cash around accounts etc?

I have done a ridiculous amount of research on this issue, so here are my thoughts, for what they are worth:

Debit/ATM Cards Bank of America charges 1% on every ATM transaction plus a $5.00 charge. Plus, you will be charged whatever the foreign ATM charges. Thus, if you take $200 U.S. dollars out of the ATM in a foreign country, you will be charged $2 + $5 + fee from foreign ATM. This is pretty standard --- HSBC and Wachovia have similar charges but I can't remember if they run about 1% or 2%. Regional credit unions are pretty good for avoiding fees, BUT you should absolutely check with them about the fees they may charge. Also, make sure that you will have online access to your bank account.

Another alternative, and one that I have decided to use on our foreign travels (including our RTW when we do it), is getting a Capital One Money Market Savings Account. The best part about this account is that you have unlimited ATM transactions in a month and NO fees to take money out (other than what the foreign ATM charges). However, the significant negative to this, is that they put a hold on any deposits that you make for 10 business days; so make sure you plan ahead and have enough money in that account if you are going to use it. Also, Capital One takes a while to set up this account, so if you want to do this, I would get moving on it now.

Credit Cards
Again, you will get walloped by fees on credit cards because most of them, as 2wanderers mentioned, charge between 2% to 12%. I agree that it is preferable to have a Visa and a Mastercard. AMEX is accepted in European countries, but I haven't seen it accepted anywhere else.

As gadabout mentioned, Capital One has no transaction fees. That is the Mastercard that I take because I don't want to pay fees to spend my own money (plus, those fees really add up). Capital One does have an irritating habit of thinking that your charges are fraudulent even when you tell them that you are traveling; however, it is a really fast phone call to correct it, because they have an automated system that you just press numbers to accept the transactions. They will email you if you they suspect any fraud transactions. If you are really concerned about making the calls from foreign countries, give someone responsible at home the information so that they can call for you (also many calling cards don't allow US 1-800 number calls).

American dollars - definitely useful to carry, but it is very expensive to exchange those bills. I haven't been to Africa so can't comment on that. In Asia and Europe, I usually keep about $200 USD on hand just in case there are any emergencies, but I am yet to use that money in the foreign countries to which I have traveled.

Traveler's Checks - I never take traveler's checks because they are so expensive to exchange. You don't need them in Japan, Korea, India, or Thailand, for sure, because you will find lots of ATMs. I assume the same for Australia and New Zealand.

Online Banking - Make sure you are signed up for online banking with all of your banks and credit cards, because I can't tell you how many times I have had to move money around or pay bills. Leave with someone you trust basic information about your banks (i.e. name of bank, your account number, etc.), so that if anything happens and your bank locks you out or your credit card locks you out, someone can help you in the U.S.

Good luck! Sounds like a fun trip.

Great advice so far. Hard to add much, but after some embarrassing/dumb/incidents in the past, my approach to money on the road has become one of redundancy: try to have lots of options.

In addition to normal cash on hand for the country we're in, we carry VISA & MC, $100 USD emergency cash in mixed bills tucked away somewhere, bank cards for TWO different banks, and we leave additional atm cards with someone back home who can deposit emergency funds if things go off the rails. It seems like a lot, but really it's just 4 cards and some cash.

In the past we've had the dumbest problems - cards going through the laundry, etc. - that would have been so easily solved by having more than one bank and more than one card. When I travel with my wife, she has one set and I have another, which helps.

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Credit Cards - One Visa, one Mastercard for me. In addition to checking for the merchant's transaction fee, check with your credit card whether it charges an "international transaction fee" on top (eg. our Chase card did at 3%; Capital One didn't).

I highly recommend the Capital One card. I had a Visa (and only use Visa...never had a problem with someplace not accepting it), had no denials, and no charges for international transactions. Just let them know you'll be going out of the country.

Also, there are some banks that don't charge the ATM fee. I thought HSBC didn't...but check it out. Often credit unions don't charge, either.

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Originally posted by anniebanannie:
Also, there are some banks that don't charge the ATM fee. I thought HSBC didn't...but check it out. Often credit unions don't charge, either.

HSBC doesn't charge a fee to use ATMs at least locally. Though the ATMs point of sale surcharge will apply, and I have found that at the end of the billing cycle, HSBC will reimburse you for some of those charges. I haven't figured out which exact ones and why as of yet.

I'll find out about international fees next month in Canada.

Charles Schwab reverses all ATM fees...here in the US and also worldwide.

I have an internet bank account with Imperial Capital Bank. I just spoke with them - I'll get charged 1% for currency conversion but they will refund ATM fees from other banks (up to $9 a month I think). And I earn about 3-4% on the account. Seems like a good deal...

I've done a ton of research on this b/c I'm in the finance industry and see the kind of hidden fees people pay. These are the best deals I've found so far:

ATM Cards: I just signed up for a UFBDirect Savings Account. It comes with an ATM Card and currently pays over 5% interest/year. They reimburse up to $4.50 in ATM fees/month worldwide and they do not charge fees for any ATM worldwide (but apparently do pass on any charges the bank affiliated with the ATM you use charges - not sure how this works and have heard most outside the US do not charge other fees)....

Credit Cards: CapitalOne Credit cards are the ONLY cards that eat the 1% transaction fee that visa/mastercard charges on all foreign transactions (discover does not charge this fee I don't believe but they are also rarely accepted worldwide). You have to be careful with credit cards though b/c they change their terms often b/c they realize most people don't look - be vigilant and read the change of terms so these banks stop scamming everyone!! Most cards charge the 1% Visa/Mastercard transaction fee PLUS 1-3% fee from their own bank so using a random credit card can sometimes cost you 4% of the transaction...

Speaking of scamming - I THOUGHT I was charged a ton of $$ on my last trip....Chase is my bank....look what Chase bank charges for ATM fees...this is right off of their website so beware:

Transaction Fees
*$1.50 each for any non-Chase ATM withdrawal, balance inquiry or transfer. $3 per ATM withdrawal outside the U.S

*A 3% exchange rate adjustment fee applies to Debit Card purchases and cash withdrawals made outside the U.S. in a foreign currency.

*Other miscellaneous fees may apply. See a banker for details.

And yes, they charge you ALL of these fees - the $3 plus 1.50 plus a 3% exchange rate fee. Appalling.

They should be ashamed that they rip off their customers like this, but if you use a mainstream bank with lots of locations they may do this to you as well. Watch out.

However, would love to hear from anyone out there who has also done significant research and actually used such accounts abroad (I've used the CapitalOne card and can confirm they don't charge extra fees, but just opened UFBDirect so have not seen any statements yet)

Regarding Capital One putting a hold on your account, you will not be able to call them from outside the country using the 1-800 number on the back of your card. They do have a regular US number that you can call collect listed on their website, but for some reason it's not on the card. (Strangely, most other card issuers do list their international collect number).