Over the years the way travelers carry money has changed from mostly
travelers’ checks to debit or credit cards, which is awesome convenience.
However there are a few caveats and it pays to do your homework.
For example, we were shocked to find our credit card did not work in
card reader at the local ASDA in England in 2009. Apparently, Europe is adding microchips
to their cards and those machines do not read the garden variety American card
anymore. We were fortunate that we could still use our cards in the ATM outside
and buy train tickets. I’ve asked my bank about acquiring a chip card for our
next visit, but they said the expense of the change over is expensive and they
are slowly rolling out the new cards. Hopefully they will be available before
our next trip.
On the other hand, some countries (like Guatemala) can charge
outrageous fees to make purchases with credit cards and you’re pretty much left
with cash. Then you have to carefully inspect any prospective ATM machine
closely to see if it’s been compromised, endangering your card information. The
alternative is to go to the bank and change money there. We found the banks in
Guatemala to be very suspicious and had to answer a whole slew of questions
that we’d never been asked in Europe when changing money – i.e. “How did you
obtain this money you are changing?” “eh…white, middle age, middle class
gringos here?” is not a satisfactory answer.
It is also advised that if you plan to travel to let your bank and
credit card company know in advance. No wants to be stuck overseas with a
non-functioning card and no cash. On one occasion my bank called me within hours
of my credit card being used fraudulently in England.
It’s also smart to ask your bank and credit card companies what their
fees are for international transactions. You will be surprised at the
differences. We found that an old credit union credit card offered the best
rates over our debit or other credit cards – 1% vs 3%.
On the whole credit and debit cards work well, but sometimes there can
be unexpected glitches.
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