Cash & Card: Dealing With Money While Traveling by Susie Staff

I am happy to say that today's post has been contributed by a guest travel writer. Susie Staff asked if I would consider a piece she has written, so here it is.


Susie Staff contributed:
Some people have travelled the world, from country to country, by cruise or airplane or train; others are only just taking their first steps out of their own country, uncertain of everything on this first time in a foreign land. However, it doesn’t matter if you’re a world adventurer or travelling for the first time - everyone always worries about dealing with money in a new country. Once upon a time the best or only option was traveller’s cheques, along with all their associated costs, frustrations, and the hassle of spending time on your holiday trying to find a place to cash them (or, god forbid, losing them). International banking, debit cards, and credit cards have taken the place of traveller’s cheques in most places, but there are still reasons for travellers to worry about whether or not they’ll be able to access their funds. Some credit cards are rarely accepted in some countries or cities, cash is king in some places but not others, and there’s always the spectre of thieves to keep travellers holding tight to their wallets. Luckily, by taking a few simple steps, it’s easy to ensure you’re never short on funds while you live your dream vacation.

Navigating Exchange Rates
The first choice you have to make when it comes to travel money is deciding whether to take advantage of a low pre-trip exchange rate, or rolling the dice and choosing to take the exchange rates as they come in return for the convenience of being able to take money out only when necessary on your trip. Even the experts can be caught off guard by the confusing fluctuations of exchange rates, which can vary wildly based on small and seemingly insignificant details. However, no matter which decision you make on whether to take out money before or during your trip, you can still make sure you get the best deal for your exchange. At home, your bank may have the best deal for withdrawals in foreign tender, although larger amounts are unwieldy to travel with and may require your bank to order in your money ahead of time. Once at your destination, your choices are primarily banks or specialised exchange centres - each has its own negatives and positives, so make sure to do your research (either online or in person).
 
Official and in-house exchange rates should be clearly posted, in addition to any going fees. If your bank has a branch in the region you may be able to get a better deal there, but it depends on the branch’s relationship to your home bank. As a rule, avoid cash points unless necessary - these can have steep fees, either as a rule or due to your own bank’s fees - and airport foreign exchange booths, which often have skewed exchange rates and very high fees.
 
Credit Or Cash
It is vital to always carry enough cash on you to get safely back to your hotel if your cards are lost or stolen (preferably in a place other than where you keep your cards!). Beyond that, how much cash you need to carry on you is dependent on your destination and what you plan to do. Even in large cities many places have minimum spends for the use of credit cards, or may not accept cards at all; likewise, public transit, where available, used to depend on cash. (This has changed with the slow move towards transit cards like London’s Oyster Card.)
 
When it comes to credit cards, Visa and Mastercard are the most widely accepted, followed by American Express, Diners Club, and similar cards. If your card is one of these, be sure to bring another method of payment along. Furthermore, make sure ahead of time that your PIN and card are acceptable at your destination. Chipped cards are quickly becoming the standard, and four-digit PINs are the most commonly accepted varieties, but check to ensure that you’ll be able to use your card before you plan to depend on it. As always, use common sense with both cash and cards - look for modified credit and debit machines and refuse to use them, do what you can to reduce your attractiveness to thieves, cover your card while using your PIN, and don’t carry large amounts of cash on your person. With these tips, you’ll be saving plenty, and you don’t want to donate it to a thief.


Thank you Susie!

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Multiple Ways to Skin a Cat or an Airline

When the airlines try to screw you over, it demands my resourcefulness. If you read my post Are You Joking? Redeeming Reward Miles Cost a Fortune!, you may realize that I was not lulled by Delta Airlines’ venue that required me to flush away miles like dirty water circling the sewer drain, while still having to pay exorbitant fees for trumped up fees.

Remembering that American Express also has a dedicated travel agency, with trepidation, I went clicking on over to their website just for the sheer torture of it. Admittedly, I am a travel masochist if allowed to expand the definition of the term. Generally, after I have conjured up fantasies of travel grandeur, research doesn’t provide for deals within our means, which in turn propels me back to reality. It was with lackluster hope that I approached American Express.
 
After entering my departure city: BUD and the destination city: UIO, I entered the departure date: January 11, 2015 followed by return date: April 11, 2015. Then I clicked on the box “Adjust dates +/- three days”.
 
After striking the search button, I primed myself for disappointment. After all, I was raised in an Italian Catholic environment, where pessimism and guilt are fed to children as side dishes for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The site displayed colorful little graphics ensuring me it was grinding away searching the world for options fitting my needs.
 
When it displayed the results, it took my breath away. Incredibly, not only did this service offer flight options that never appeared in other search sites, but it also offered much cheaper flight options overall. Historically, this route runs about $1,752.00 per person. Having run fare alerts using similar dates, over a 6 month period last year, I knew the fares remained steady with only minor differences, throughout the year. Although it can go as low as $1,358.00, the primary airline for this fare is generally always Air Berlin flying from Europe to the US. After reading a number of reviews about Air Berlin, I knew this was not a choice for us; it would entail an insufferable 8 hour flight for the minor savings.
 
What AMEX offered was a flight for $1414.00 each including the entire list of phony and trumped up fees and taxes that the airlines adds to a ticket. Best yet, I could use 136,202 of my AMEX miles toward the tickets to reduce the cost. The price of two tickets was then $1466.00 inclusive and we are flying on TAP Airlines through Lisbon > Miami (hate this) > Quito. Done and booked. Three months in South America, here we come.
 
We will look at renting an apartment in Cuenca as our base and do some traveling around the country from there.

I hope Bissell allows for the use of their photo for their pet clean attachment on their vacuum.

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No Visa for Hungary?

American Express tells us not to leave home without out, but in Hungary, it is essentially a wallet stuffer. Other than higher class hotel and some expensive restaurants, the likelihood of getting to whip it out is close to nil. The only use for a Diners Club card without the MasterCard logo is for admission to the Diners Club lounge at the airport. Diners Club outside of the US is only a Diners Club card.

As the financial road narrows, it is causing more obstacles still. VISA is feeling Hungary troubles. According to Portfolio.hu, VISA is struggling along.  They claim that “Visa Europe has been constantly losing ground in Hungary every year; the number of Visa cards in circulation dropped by more than one million over the past three years. The company has found itself in an exceptionally difficult position on the Hungarian card market due to an agreement sealed with the European Commission earlier.”

The article does not make it clear how Hungary is different from the rest of the EU in regard to these regulations. However, the interview is with Mark Antipof, Managing Director Growth & Emerging Markets at Visa Europe. Mr. Antipof was asked if VISA could reasonably leave the Hungarian market? To this he responded

“We are unable to compete effectively and are losing market share as a result of factors which are not related to our performance, neither over which we have control. We thoroughly explained the issues we face in this regard to the ministry and related authorities, including the implications if nothing changed regarding Visa Europe's position.

In practice, the Hungarian banking card market is becoming monopolistic. We believe if the situation remains as it is, the lack of competition will be harmful for all parties in the banking card sector: banks, merchants and consumers. Competition on level-playing field is beneficial for the players and will also help the introduction of various payment innovations, such as contactless, e-commerce and mobile payment.”

My gosh, if you visit Hungary without a MasterCard, what will you do? Traveler’s checks are no longer used here. How will tourists survive? They actually have to figure out the zeros on Hungarian bills and use forints as a last resort. It figures, as of June 1st, Visa stopped charging the international exchange fees for purchases made in currencies other than the US dollar.

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Details Matter, Coach

I just received this in my e-mail. Of course, there was more to the add than this, but I saw the word COACH and jumped to conclusions. I thought that if I used my American Express card to purchase an airline ticket between the dates shown, they would refund 25% of the fare. I was all set to book my ticket for the December get away, so I went to the site to register my card number. 

I had the form all filled in, with a quick stroke thanks to LastPass form filler. I couldn't understand why the picture had a woman leaning on a handbag and not a suitcase. Why not a couple boarding a plane with shitty ass grins on their faces. Finally, a discount worthy of bothering with. Then I read the eligibility rules, which in my defense were not in the original e-mail. First, one must make a purchase from any Coach store or Coach online. 

Now it is sinking in. This is not for coach seating on an airline. This is for a woman's purse. Well there goes another golden moment when I thought I was in the zone, shot to hell.

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Eek E-books

For as long as e-books have been around, one friend or another has tried making me a convert to this medium of reading. I have refused to indulge in the e-book craze for a number of reasons. Not in any particular order, but they include:

1. I love holding a book in my hands and flipping the pages. This doesn't matter whether it is a slim volume like the book I am reading now The Murder at the Collective or a tome like Ken Follet's Pillars of the Earth at a gargantuan 1008 pages. 
2. When I love the story, I keep checking the number of pages that are left creating an early mourning as I approach the end cover. When I don't care for the story, but am too stubborn to put it down, I check the pages to see how much longer this suffering is going to continue.
3. American Express uses the slogan "Never leave home without it." I apply that to a book. There is a book in my bag 98% of the time.
4. Perhaps it is because I do so many things on computers, including reading thousands of pages of students' work during a semester, I don't want to stare at a screen for reading pleasure. I can barely get through a news articles from the NY Times without feeling overwhelmed. Give me a real paper and I can be content for hours. That said, I do have a Galaxy Tab 10.1 and a Samsung smartphone, which I do use to read US Today and CNN News when I know I will not have time to pull out my book.
5. There is something emotionally stimulating about browsing the books in a bookstore that will never be replaced by browsing online. Although some browse bookstores and order online, I try not to do this as brick and mortar bookstores need all the support they can get, especially independents.
6. Yes, you can get instant access to e-books on a variety of devices, but for me it is more satisfying to either discover a book I have never known I wanted while in a bookstore or to order one online and having the anticipation build until it arrives.
7. One of the first things that catches my eye when visiting others are the books they have around. There is much to be learned about a person from the books or lack of books. I doubt I could learn as much by asking if I could browse someone's Kindle for example.
8. A book can be lent or borrowed by anyone when there is mutual agreement. You can give the book away, sell it, or heaven forbid and damn you if you do, toss it away. For most e-book devices, this is either not possible or your share buddy has to have the same device as you, limiting opportunities.
9. Last of all, the cost of e-books is increasing as popularity grows. There is a computer newsletter that I read with a religious fervor and have for years, though the branding has changed over time. This is a quote from the latest newsletter.

http://winnews.com/

 
"So I went from e-book skeptic to e-book believer. And I still love them, but lately I've been buying fewer and fewer. And that's because of the increasingly (in my opinion) outrageous prices. I grumbled when the typical price of a new release novel in electronic format was $9.99. I was highly annoyed when that climbed to $12.99. Then I started seeing bestsellers by big name authors such as James Patterson and Tom Clancy priced at $14.99. When I paid $16.00 for Stephen King's latest, I decided maybe it was time to go back to paper - at least for the "big ones." Amazon was selling the hardcover version at the same time for $17.48.

I'm sorry, but that just doesn't compute. Regardless of what they say, I believe it costs publishers far less to produce and deliver an e-book, without the cost of paper, printing, storage, transportation, etc. I believe they're taking advantage of customers, assuming if we have the money to spend on high-tech devices, we'll pay close to the same prices for intangible electronic files as we pay for physical books that work with no electricity, don't require proprietary technology to be read and can be loaned or sold to whomever we want.

Now it appears I'm not the only one who thinks publishers are gouging the customer. The U.S. Department of Justice is accusing Apple, along with five major publishers, of colluding to keep the price of electronic books up. And this isn't just an "American thing" either. The EU is conducting its own investigation into the matter."

Yes, you are reading this blog online, but it is free, available on many devices, and shareable without restrictions.

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What is Your Travelers Check IQ?

Quick quiz:

When you travel, do you still use traveler's checks or cheques? No should be the right answer. They are not yesterday's news; they are decades old news. For more years than I care to think back on, I have been warning about the financial harms of traveler's checks and have backed it with experiences. 

In 1989, when in Munich, Germany I could not get any merchant to take my checks. Even the banks were reluctant as they sent me to their competitors. There was only one bank willing to cash them for German marks, long before the Euro was conceived. 

Not only did I waste a day bouncing around like a steel ball in a pinball machine, out of fear of running short of cash, I turned in more than I would have wanted. There went the security of the traveler's check. More insulting was the bank's fee, which carved a hefty niche from my budget.


American Express closed their offices here years ago. If you want to cash a traveler's check, you have to use Western Union or UniBank. Both will lovingly toss you upside down to see how many coins and bills will fall out to collect their fee for the aggravation of having to deal with your travel paranoia.

It is time to play grown-up. If you are going to travel, use your intelligence. Alternatively, that means don't do stupid things. The partner of one of my private students recently visited Athens with 1,000 Euros in cash sitting in his pants pocket. It was with him at the airport on arrival, but someone took pity on the heavy burden he was carrying and relieved him of it. They tried to believe he forgot it at home in a different pair of pants to spare the anguish of the short get-away, but once home, there was no cash.

The value of an ATM card is priceless.

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Wasted Time Never to Receive Again

I like the fact that credit card companies are being stringent with their security, but it can get so aggravating when they block my card every other month. In the last six weeks, I have had to call MasterCard, Visa, and American Express. The strangest thing with some of the cards is that I did not even use them, but no one else tried to either. 


"Hey, let's play around and block this guy's card for the fun of it. He have been a member for twenty-one years, but we work here and cannot get credit."


Tonight, it was a call to Chase Visa. This was prompted by a message from Bank of America stating they could no longer access my account; hence, they would not make automatic payments until I fixed the problem. I tried logging on the Chase website; "Sorry, we cannot find your account." Well you certainly can find it when I send you money. After four attempts, I gave up and called. They answered right away with NO phone tree to go through. I spoke immediately with a live person. 


When she heard the problem, it meant being transferred to the technical issues department. Oh, boy! Surprise, the call was answered immediately. BUT wait, we cannot help you, because your card has been blocked for fraud. Transfer over to security. 


Security answers just as quickly. I go through the problem yet again. She said to me "I cannot access your account." I said neither could I which is why I am calling you. If you can't access it, who do we call?


Then she is muttering that her computer is stuck, but what she verbalizes is "I can't move! I can't move! Nothing is moving." I wanted to ask if she wanted me to call 911 in her area code, but I was certain she meant the computer. 


Finally, it was fixed, but it will take 5 business days to be able to troll around the account online, though I can use the card immediately. 


Tomorrow night will be my 4th call to Bank of America about a savings account that was supposed to be transferred over a month ago. Each time the rep tells me the last one did not do it correctly. 


All wasted time that will never be retrievable.

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I Thank You A LOT Polish Airline You Part 2

Note: if you arrived here first, you may want to read Part 1 below first.


First having two airline tickets on LOT going to two different cities, but both from Budapest with overlapping dates, one was cancelled by the credit card company or so I thought. Using Mint.com, yesterday there is a financial update in my e-mail. It shows my MasterCard has a new charge of $573.60. Funny, but that is the exact amount of the airline ticket that was supposed to be blocked. Another call to the credit card people, tell them this was to be blocked, but it came through anyway, what are they doing to me? Play the martyr role. This fee is over 1/2 of my monthly university salary.


Transfer to the dispute department. It seems that they did deny it once, but then 2 hours later the charge came through again, so they said "What the hell! Let's green light it this time." 


Yak, yak, yak, with the dispute guy. Sorry, we have to send a form to the US address and then you will have until October 2nd to get it back to us before our misguided thinking believes you no longer have an issue. Wait. This has to go to the US where it has to be redirected to me in Europe? Can't you send it e-mail, fax, carrier pigeon? Nope, we don't have those capabilities. Just because we are a multi million dollar company doesn't mean we stay abreast with technology. Notice your card does not have the chip the European cards have? Look, I say, "I have a been a good customer for over ten years. I have never asked for one favor or caused any problems. There has never been a late payment and my credit limit is high enough to buy a small business. Can't you do something to make this process easier?" Guess the answer. 


Now there is a charge on the MasterCard for a flight I don't want, one on the American Express card for a flight I do want and a credit card company working in the 19th century. Things like this torture me. I would rather have someone hold my head in a hive of bees rather than have financial difficulties.


This morning I Googled LOT Airlines looking through dozens of their websites until I found a UK number. Twenty minutes of waiting, I finally was able to speak to a live person. After explaining the situation, she put me on hold for 3 minutes, but returned to say that she cancelled the flight I did not want and we have the flight we do. There will be a charge of $50 for the cancellation so they will credit the $573.60, but charge the fees for the change. I thanked her, I praised her, I wished her prosperity for the rest of her life. 


Next was to call the credit card company to tell them to forget the dispute; all is well. Miraculously, since my last call, the charge was taken off of my account. However, because I resolved it on my own, I have to call during business hours US EST from 8am-8pm to ask them to reinstate the fee for LOT to credit and give my permission for the cancellation fees to be applied. 


From now on, we will think hard about traveling only within walking distances. 

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Two Shakes of a Lambs Tail and Internet Magic

Here is the next phase, deciding on an appliance store. My first thought was Sears. Has any American grown up without a Sears Kenmore product in their home? I would think you are in the minority if you had. My grandparents as well as the next generation swore by them. However, when I mentioned it to the property manager, he said they were overpriced and I should use BrandsMart, a local chain. 

I had concerns about whether or not the appliance store would let me order online. There is the credit card issue, living in Europe, but using American issued credit cards can sometimes be difficult.The property manager said they would not accept my card. Mike, my friend on the ground called the local store and they said yes they would. I found that they would on their web site, but e-mailed them to confirm it and they said no, they would not. Talk about mixed messages. 

I could have sent a check to the property manager with my wish list, but I was not sure how much tax and delivery would be, but the bigger issue was getting my frequent flier miles. I want everyone I can get.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained, I shopped the Brandsmart web site like I was buying today, which I was if it would let me. I picked out the largest of what would fit into spaces in case they rent to a family: My choices were a: 

Hotpoint 3.2 cub. ft washing machine

GE 7.0 cub ft dryer

GE 5.3 cub ft Electric range (I hope it is large enough for a good sized Thanksgiving turkey)

GE 1.5 cub ft over the range microwave

Frigidaire 18 cub ft top freezer/refrigerator

After arranging all of these so nicely in my shopping cart, making sure no edges were sticking out that would slam into any other shopper or their cart, I called American Express.

I had my billing address temporarily changed to my friend's home in Santa Fe, NM. Then I went back to my shopping and registered for an account. 

Dum-de-dum-dum...the moment of truth...will he or won't he be able to make this purchase. Praise be to capitalism it was successful. The store swallowed up $1,911.72 like a compressed sponge soaks up water. Sluuuuup. Delivery date is set for May 5th. Ta-da!!

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Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

Sometimes ex-pat living is more complicated than need be, but this is in part due to uncooperative credit card companies who refuse to believe that Americans live abroad. I have a Mastercard that I have had for years now with an A++ credit rating. Until recently I did not use it much because it did not accumulate airline miles per se. It does accrue points for gifts and discounts on airline tickets, though.

What has prompted me to use it more is that they do not charge the seemingly ubiquitous "Currency conversion fee" that my Amex, Diners Club, and Citibank Visa does. Because I pay all credit cards in full each month, this is a great savings over those trumped up charges from other financial institutions.

This particular credit card was about to expire and they sent me an offer for custom logo on the new cards. Thinking it would be fun to have our kitchen mural on the card, I submitted the design, which was approved and the card sent out. It was sent to the address I use in New Mexico. My sister/friend at that address said it never arrived three weeks after it was due to be there. I called the company, which entailed reporting it lost or stolen. My current card number was discontinued. They were to reissue new cards with new numbers. After giving them all of my personal information to verify my identity, they sent me an e-mail stating the new card/number was being processed. 

A week later, my sister/friend called to tell me the card company called her to speak with me, but would not give her any information since she was not on the account. I called the company again and verified yet again that I did not get the new card the first go around and yes, I did request a new card a second time. 

Ten days later, the card arrived in New Mexico. The company refuses to send it to me here in Hungary even if I promise to allow them to charge me with the FedEx fees to do so. They 'cannot' send a card outside of the US. My sister/friend sent me the card FedEx and I picked it up today from the university. Although the cards did not have that sticker across the front that says you have to call in to validate them, I did so anyway just to be safe.

When I called the 24/7 number, I was told that my card was being handled by a "special agent" who would not be in until 9am EST. Of course, I wanted to check this off of my ever expanding To Do list, but there it sits since I called two hours too early. I keep telling myself it is better to be safe than sorry. "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Ben Franklin didn't even have these problems. How perceptive he was.

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Public Service Announcement

I came across this graphic called "Credit Card Hell". To see the graphic larger, go to the original site http://www.mint.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/creditcardhell21.jpg and click on the graphic to make it readable. Thank the universe, we do not have a mortgage, car loans, or credit card debt. We only charge on cards that have to be paid in full each month, so we have to keep track of our spending. The rare times we do have to shell out big bucks, like for Ron's quarterly estimated taxes for IRS, I put it on a special AMEX card for the frequent flier miles, but then pay it off is two large installments automatically through online banking. I just happened to look at the new rules of my United Airline Visa card, I do not use any longer, but keep for emergencies. After a missed payment, the annual accrual interest rate is 85%. Is that to keep the airline flying? No, it is to keep unsuspecting people in the grips of credit card debt. For others, there is hell to pay and a hell of a time paying off credit cards.

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AMEX - Leave Home Without It

Many travel sites and blogs have encouraged people to use their credit cards when traveling abroad rather than trying to use Traveler's Checks. In many cities/countries, getting them cashed is a nightmare, which I have experienced years ago, but haven't in the last fifteen. Since that time, I take my ATM card, but credit cards have always been a handy back-up when an itemized record of our spending has been needed on a monthly statement. The glamor of credit cards started to diminish when all of the major banks started assessing a "currency exchange fee". Diners Club/Mastercard confusingly call it a 'finance charge'. I had to call them to find out this is what it really was since I pay it in full each month. Having a finance seemed to be an error on their part. Their only error was couching the fee is misguided terms. Today, I received a special notice in the mail from American Express. As of January 11, 2009, they state "Transactions Made in Foreign Currencies section of your Agreement is replaced with the following: 'in each instance increased by 2.7%'". Notice the word 'by' not up to. So in essence this is an increase above and beyond the 1.5% they have been charging all along. Don't grab your calculator, it is 4.2%. Though the dollar may be getting stronger once again and there are 'bargains galore' for the US traveler, it is similar to believing that now that gasoline has come down from $4.00 a gallon to $2.50, it is now a bargain, so drive more. If Amex is taking this step, the others are sure to follow to cash in on the economic weakness. I am just waiting for Bank of America to say they are doing the same thing. They also charge a currency conversion fee in addition to a fee of $5.00 for every withdrawal not at one of their cooperating banks.

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International Medical Corps Matched With Top 25 Am...

From chessiakelley at "International Medical Corps Matched With Top 25 Am...": Thanks so much Ryan! We made the top five and we now have until Oct. 14 to vote again in order to get the top prize of 1.5 million(vote tallies have reset to zero). I'm praying we get the votes, and I think we can do it! Thanks again for your support. vote here Let's do it!!! Ryan

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International Medical Corps Matched With Top 25 American Express Members Project Saving the Lives of Malnourished Children

Hi again, Ryan I just wanted to follow up on the email I sent you last week. My organization, International Medical Corps, was nominated to be one of the Top 25 in American Express' Members Projects, "Saving the Lives of Malnourished Children." Our project was chosen out of 1,190 projects and is now eligible to receive up to $1.5 million to help feed hungry children, but the voting ends next Tuesday and we need your help to spread the word. I've put together this blogger friendly web release explaining everything. http://internationalmedicalcorps.smnr.us/ If you are able to post something on Budget Nomad - US Ex - Pat on the Move, please send me the link, it would really help and could potentially save many lives. At the minimum, please vote for "Saving the Lives of Malnourished Children." Please let me know either way. Many thanks. Chessia -- Chessia Kelley, International Medical Corps ckelley@imcworldwide.org http://imcworldwide.org

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