Travelers checks, huh?

[WOODMAN]

There has been a lot of debate here on using travelers checks vs credit cards vs cash, etc, etc. It came home to me rather abruptly today, when I visited my bank. I have an impending trip to Cozumel coming up very shortly, and my operator down there needs to be paid the balance due on our account when we arrive. He said that cash or credit card was fine, and he would give a 5% discount for cash. Good enough, said I. Now, will you take travelers checks for cash, as I don't much like lugging lots of greenbacks around? I asked. He said fine with him. Hokay, so I scampered off to the bank to deal with this. But when I asked for travelers checks, the cute young thing behind the counter said "Oh , we don't have those anymore, and haven't had them for over a year. I don't even know where you can get them anymore." (gnashing of teeth becomes audible) "okay" I said, "I guess that they get dollars down there after all. Please give me a couple of $500 bills, and the rest in hundreds" (thinking to cut down on the congestion in my wallet, but...) She then said "Oh sir, they haven't been printing $500 bills for some time now. $100 bills are the highest denomination available. Will those do?" (more gnashing of teeth) Suffice it to say that I came out of there with a mittfull of hundred dollar bills, and a real feeling of empathy with the dinosaurs. So, I cranked up the model T ford and limped off back to the rest home. Oh well, if this is the biggest problem I have with this trip, I will consider myself lucky. (But still, dagnabbit! ) Woody

 

[WarmWaterDiver]

Yeah, I hear ya. AAA stopped offering traveler's checks a while ago - but thankfully our bank still does, and I still have an account that has free traveler's checks and free wire transfers in the perks that I maintain for just that purpose!

Try this out - and if you strike out on traveler's checks, buy yourself some AMEX gift checks as a gift from self, to self!

American Express Gift Cards, Gift Cheques and Travelers Cheques in-person purchase locations

 

[robint]

I got Traveler's checks at my bank just last month to take to Cozumel. It was a bit of a hassle cashing them though - the only places I found that would take them was at our hotels, in Coz and in Chichen Itza area. Next time to Mexico I will skip them and just use my debit card at the ATM instead if I need more cash. Plus, even if your hotel will cash TR checks for you, they only give pesos.
There are ATMs in the lobby at the Chedraui as well as dozens of other places on the island, I would just plan to pick up pesos there as you need them.

 

[WOODMAN]

I would just plan to pick up pesos there as you need them.

That's my plan for the future. Plug into an ATM and load up on pesos, and the heck with the rest of it. I guess though, that "the times- they are a changing..."

 

[DandyDon]

But when I asked for travelers checks, the cute young thing behind the counter said "Oh , we don't have those anymore, and haven't had them for over a year. I don't even know where you can get them anymore." (gnashing of teeth becomes audible) "okay" I said, "I guess that they get dollars down there after all. Please give me a couple of $500 bills, and the rest in hundreds" (thinking to cut down on the congestion in my wallet, but...) She then said "Oh sir, they haven't been printing $500 bills for some time now. $100 bills are the highest denomination available. Will those do?"

"Twice as much money, half as much clothes!" Redundant money is good.

I had a bank try that on me once, pushing their Debit Travel card - and I said "No way! Maybe I need to change banks today? Where is the president's office?" The traveler's checks magically appeared from supervisor.

What if you lose the Debit card? I carry the TCs in case I lose my Credit Card on the trip or another emergency, but I will take those just in case - always. Still got them from my trip a couple of weeks ago that I need to deposit back, but they always go with me just in case. No, they don't issue $500 bills or $1,000 bills because of the drug traffickers, but then I don't want to leave a bank with that kind of money anyway if I can avoid it, much less go home or travel out of country with that.

On trip before scuba years ago, I got to St.Marteen without any bags and sailed out on a Windjammer the next morning without them - took several days to catch up. I bought new clothes from the ships store every morning secure that the airline had promised to reimburse up to X$ a day, but the Debit card I carried then was tied to an account with little more than the last paycheck I'd deposited, which my employer bounced while I was gone. I was happy to have had the TCs then too.

Talk to your bank, tell them you're changing banks if needed, see if they change their story.

I got Traveler's checks at my bank just last month to take to Cozumel. It was a bit of a hassle cashing them though - the only places I found that would take them was at our hotels, in Coz and in Chichen Itza area. Next time to Mexico I will skip them and just use my debit card at the ATM instead if I need more cash. Plus, even if your hotel will cash TR checks for you, they only give pesos.
There are ATMs in the lobby at the Chedraui as well as dozens of other places on the island, I would just plan to pick up pesos there as you need them.

Yep, but for the OP's case, I would prefer to pay the large bill with the TCs.

 

[cappyjon431]

I know here in my little corner of Panama that nobody takes travelers checks (not even our bank!). It's funny because the U.S. dollar is the only currency in circulation here.

 

[DandyDon]

I know here in my little corner of Panama that nobody takes travelers checks (not even our bank!). It's funny because the U.S. dollar is the only currency in circulation here.

Never been there. In the 90s everyone took them on Caribbean islands I visited, but that may have changed. Wise to ask in advance as the OP did, and his Op did say they were fine in that case.

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

Never carried anything but cash and never regretted it.

 

[WarmWaterDiver]

We've never had a problem with having any dive or vacation spot we've visited accepting US$ denomination traveler's checks.

I keep some on hand all the time 'just because' - for example, right after Hurricane Katrina, all the credit card and ATM networks were down for a while, so nobody was accepting those forms of payment - but traveler's checks worked just like cash without the risk of having a stack of cash laying around. Great for gasoline, ice, food, etc.

I'll have to rethink things if we go to Mexico again I suppose - the Netherlands Antilles usually give a better exchange rate (1.78) for US$ traveler's checks vs. US$ greenbacks (1.73 to 1.75 typically), as well as not tacking on an upcharge for using a credit card if traveler's checks are used. Change is either in US$ or island guilders, and gets spent on things like tips, cold drinks, snacks, departure taxes, etc. before we leave.

 

[WOODMAN]

Never been there. In the 90s everyone took them on Caribbean islands I visited, but that may have changed. Wise to ask in advance as the OP did, and his Op did say they were fine in that case.

Well, the op did hesitate at first, while his assistant searched for a place where they could cash them; and when I told him later that I was reduced to bringing hundred dollar bills, he said "oh, that's fine. We get a lot of those." I bet. Woody