accessing money in foreign ports

[conrat66]

If there is a link to previous discussion Please advise. What cards or methods work without paying high or any fees for money transactions. Any particular card or bank that will transfer monies with minimal to no fees involved???? thank you

[Giulietta]

I travel a lot and use VISA. If you pay stuff with VISA, the banks in Europe don't charge anything. But if you get money with them at an ATM, the ATM operators cahrge anywhere between $2.50 to $5.00 per transaction. Then my bank charges me around $3.00 per transaction too.

If you pay everything with VISA, these charges are almost non-existent, and exchange rates are on day of transaction.

[sailingdog]

Amex, Visa and Mastercard are all good ways and fairly widely accepted. If you really need cash...then having an Amex card is useful, since you can get money in foreign currencies fairly simply through any of their offices that way.

[Giulietta]

Originally Posted by sailingdog

Amex, Visa and Mastercard are all good ways and fairly widely accepted. If you really need cash...then having an Amex card is useful, since you can get money in foreign currencies fairly simply through any of their offices that way.

The problem is if you go to many places in Europe and in Africa, AMEX is not accepted, as so is Mastercard.

From my experince from my small travels, is VISA is the most versatile.

[TrueBlue]

I also recommend Visa for trouble-free and universally accepted money management. Whether making cash transfers or purchases, abroad or at home, I charge EVERYTHING with my two MilesOne Visa cards - one for personal expenses, the other a Business Visa for deductible expenses. For every dollar charged, two "flyer mile points" are awarded.

On a typical year, we accumulate at least 150,000 flyer miles - redeemable for either free flyer miles, cash, or merchandise. I would strongly advise against using bank debit cards in any places other than controlled ATM machines however. Too easy for any skilled hacker to drain your cash accounts by culling personal password info from the data terminal.

[sailingdog]

TB's point about "check cards" is an excellent one. Don't use a CHECK CARD, since anything charged to it gets yanked from your checking account... and you have a lot less in the way of protection from them draining the account.

[TrueBlue]

I don't remember the keystroke command, but a computer geek friend showed me once how to retrieve the last keystrokes entered on a computer keyboard - such as personal passwords.

[tomaz_423]

I travelled a lot (not only sailing). Practically all European countries (except Nordics) and more then 20 countries outside Europe.
I found it depends on the region, but Visa is generally OK. Sometimes I had to use Amex instead. Dines was least accepted. Sometimes none of the three worked, but my wife's Euro card worked.
To get cash I use my regular bank card (BA Maestro). Any cash machine with Maestro or Cirrus sign gives you cash - and the exchange rate is the one of my bank (good for me) and just 1% fee (only 0,42EUR in all Euro countries).
It works not only in Europe, but in Fiji, Australia, Caribbean islands, India, ...
Edit: I never use my bank card (check card) in any other transaction then ATM cash draw. TB have a good point - it is dangerous. Somehow I trust the ATMs after visual check if there is any add-on equipment.