Depends _who's_ cheques they are. :)

Barclays of London meet a lot less resistance than those of domestic U.S.
issuers.

A number of years ago, I took Bank of America Travelers Cheques to a Bank of
America in San Francisco. They didn't want to take them and when I persisted
they charged me a fee. Can't remember what it was---a couple of bucks I
think.

The price of doing business with Bank of America is doing business with

MI wrote:

A number of years ago, I took Bank of America Travelers Cheques to a Bank of
America in San Francisco. They didn't want to take them and when I persisted
they charged me a fee. Can't remember what it was---a couple of bucks I
think.

The price of doing business with Bank of America is doing business with
Bank of America. Was it any better when it was Bank of Italy?

kh
Very much so!!! I left the "Bank of Italy" over forty years ago when

I didn't. But they accepted them for the hotel bill.

On Sat, 09 Aug 2008 23:05:42 -0700, Ken Harrison <sptrain98 at (no spam) earthlink.net
wrote:

This fee, which is simply a "junk" fee providing no service, can also be
avoided by taking travelers cheques, whose commission is generally much
less than the credit card junk fees. And, if one is a member of AAA, he
can probably get those cheques for no charge at all. More's the better!

During our travels for the past twenty years in Europe, we've had great
difficulty finding businesses other than hotels which will take traveler's
checks. We find them pretty useless, unless they're AmEx and you're going
to be
staying near an AmEx location.

I'm surprised you found hotels in Europe that cashed travelers' checks.

They're just an inconvenience now. ATM for cash, credit card for bigger
amounts. And we use our credit union account, for which there's only the
normal 1% fee.

Debit cards have safeguards.
If my debit card is used improperly and I conform with the requirements,
such as reporting the violation within forty-eight hours of my learning
of it, I am protected.

On Mon, 11 Aug 2008 09:40:52 -0700, "Mimi" <john at (no spam) doe.com> wrote:

I'm surprised you found hotels in Europe that cashed travelers' checks.

I didn't. But they accepted them for the hotel bill.

We just got back from a 2 month trip to East Coast and Canada.--
Beautiful
and loved it despite $1.59/Liter for diesel!
I have always been told to use a credit card when out of the US since you
get the benefit of paying in Canada Dollars which are running at about
$.95
US then the credit card company converts your charge to $US. As far as
this
goes, it is true and I saved about $25 when the transactions were posted.
What I was not aware of was that CITI card charges a "Foreign Transaction
Fee" on every purchase. This totaled up to a charge of over $100 US.
It's
my fault for not reading all the fine print but this didn't happen 7 years
ago when I was using an ATT card in Canada. I just wanted to let you guys
to be aware of this. I should have done what I did with some of my cash
on
hand which was to go to a Royal Bank of Canada and have them change $100
US
to Canadian for a $3 fee so that I would have pocket money.(btw Canadian
money is pretty) that would have been cheaper .
Anyway we had a great trip and I wanted to save you guys some cash. Don't
be a dummy like me!

Credit card fees are inevitable and they charge a fee either way you make
the exchange. Last December I was accidentally charged $1,300(usd)
for a conference that I was attending in Vancouver BC. (I am Canadian,
and so was the MasterCard company just not the event organizer). Well
the MasterCard company charged the 1,300, the applicable exchange
rate and of course their fee. I should not have been charged at all so I
contacted MasterCard to have the charge removed, and since the event
organizer agreed this wasn't an issue.
... I won, but the lady on the phone snottily said next time have the
company do a void on the transaction so this wouldn't happen again. If
I knew they were going to do it, I would have stopped it at the instant it
happened not the next month when I noticed it on my invoice.
-----------------

Recently, I was accidentally double-charged by a local restaurant. I
simply called the manager, gave him the date + transaction #'s, and a
few days later received a credit for the second charge.

Rog' wrote:

Recently, I was accidentally double-charged by a local restaurant. I
simply called the manager, gave him the date + transaction #'s, and a
few days later received a credit for the second charge.

You're lucky. It must have been an accident and they corrected it. I once got
a
Visa statement and there were two charges for a restaurant where I had used my
Visa card, one for the day we ate there and one for two days later. I called
Visa right away. They called the restaurant and they said they would credit my
account. They didn't. I called again, Visa said they would ask the restaurant
for a hard copy and if they didn't get it I would not be liable for the
charge.
Still didn't get it.

It went on for 5 or 6 months, until I happened to be going by the place and
went it (in uniform|) and demanded payment. They gave me a cheque and I
cashed
it immediately. A few days later someone from Visa called and asked if the
problem had been resolved. I told her about the cheque, and she said that was
good because...... after so much time had passed there wasn't much they could
do.. The bastards!!! I had contacted them as soon as I got the statement and
saw the fraudulent charge. If they had contacted the restaurant and demanded a
hard copy and didn't get on within the specified time, Visa should have
credited
my account and gone after the restaurant.

I once had the same thing happen [double charged]. I phoned
MasterCard and they checked, saw what had happened and
just charged it back to the restaurant. From the sounds of things
around here, I was lucky.

Hatunen wrote:
On Sun, 27 Jul 2008 12:46:05 -0400, "Tom J"
tomnews at (no spam) earthlink.net> wrote:

I don't think you can get a credit card from anyone anymore that
doesn't charge a fee for Foreign exchange.

Also, the next time you visit Canada, ask if there is a fee before
exchanging cash. I have never paid a fee to exchange cash in
Canada.
I have walked out the door of a few banks and gone down the street
to
another bank.

Do be prepated with the current "real" exchange rate from a
source like Oanda. Many exchange desks and companies don't charge
a fee, but they get you with a bad exchange rate.

I do know what the official exchange rate is before I walk into a bank
when in Canada. Haven't been the last 2 years, but in 15 trips with
the RV & over 30 with an 18 wheeler, I never paid a bank a fee above
the standard exchange, even when it was $1.00 US to $1.56 Canadian.
There was a time in the early 90's that the 5th Wheel Truck Stops
would even pay a premium for US cash.

Tom J