US Cheques from Canadian Account

[squirrel]

I just wanted to let others know of a problem I encountered while staying on Disney property.

I had some US travelers cheques and also some US cheques from an account I opened in Canada with leftover US money from a previous trip. I asked when I checked into the hotel if they took US cheques to pay any charges to the hotel. They told me they did even though I still gave them my AMEX card number.

When I went to pay my bill at the end of my stay they told me they couldn't take the cheque as it was from a starter account. It didn't matter that it was the first cheque that I had used or that they had my AMEX card number and could charge it if the cheque didn't clear.

I ended up having to use my AMEX card and I still have lots of money sitting in a US account waiting for another trip south!

[lawgs]

a lot has to do with some businesses in the states not being able to handle the "encoding" on the checks......and thus they have difficulty clearing them back to a canadian bank...

you might want to consider looking into a "US Dollar Visa" acct.....i think it costs 35$ US a yeat but is worth it to be able to charge in USD and then get your own US dollars later at a better "exchange rate" than is usually available with most "Canadian Crecit Cards"...


we have used it extensively for booking flights etc....hotels.....and if "establishments" balk at us using it......we have them call the US Visa office direct and they "verify" the card and the purchase or "authorization"