American Express Travellers cheque card

[LisaStockman]

Has anyone used the new American Express Travellers cheque card instead of normal travellers cheques?

Can anyone advise on whether they would recommend them?

Many thanks

 

[alisonbestford]

Yes, most definitely

There are fees to withdraw from ATMs but we used ours as a debit/credit card, only making a couple of ATM withdrawals.

You can check your balance online, in Target stores (I think) and by phone I kept a running check, in my diary, of how much we'd spent.

We were lucky enough to buy through Thomas Cook when they were offering $250 free with a $2000 card which more than made up for any fees we might acrue and the fact that the American Express currency rate wasn't as good as a cc rate
I believe the 'free' cash offers come and go but Thomsons occasionally do the offer too.

The only place we were unable to use it was at the 'Crazy Golf' when we went to the beach

I know that some people don't like the idea of not being able to check their balance at the ATMs but it worked for us

 

[AnitaCB]

Alison - did you check it worked before you went? Bit nervous about getting out there and it doesn't work. I've checked the balance by phone but that's all.

Thanks. Anita.

 

[Gaynor]

We used one for our holiay this year. To be honest I found it a bit of a chore having to keep a note of everything I had spent on it. Then I miscalculated how much I had spent and had the card refused in a restaurant

 

[alisonbestford]

Alison - did you check it worked before you went? Bit nervous about getting out there and it doesn't work. I've checked the balance by phone but that's all.

Thanks. Anita.

I called them up a couple of times to re-set my password as I was being a bit of a worryer but other than that I just set up my online access and signed on a couple of times

As far as keeping a running check goes I keep a close eye on the money side of things at home anyway, as we work mainly with debit cards, so I didn't find it a problem

 

[jtlover]

We used it in February and it was great for us - but then again there was the incentive of free money with it!

We stayed on Disney property so I used it to pay the one bill at the end of the holiday - which was great as I did not want to work out how much I had spent during the holiday on the card! We will probably use it again next year, but as we are doing exactly the same s before I might just take my credit card?

 

[angel659]

Hi

We used ours last year. We had no problems at all with it. We took some cash as well, but mainly for tipping and some travellers cheques. We were never refused the card, but when we wanted to top up over the weekend we were told that it would come into effect on Monday. Luckily we had enough travellers cheques to cover us. I did have a moan more for people who may not have any travellers cheques, but was told they could top up there and then if it were an emergency Other than that little hiccup. We were fine. I would definately take it again, but I would still take some travellers cheques for tips and loose change.

 

[mandymouse]

In the New Year, this holiday will be the 3rd time we use our Amex Travellers Cheque Card. We don't use it like a credit card, we just withdraw 3 or 4 days worth of money from the ATM's and put it in the room safe (instead of carrying loads of travellers cheques over to the US)

Mandy