Legal tender?

[SirDuff]

U.K. pins are 4 digits, but many European countries, the Far East and Middle East/North Africa use 6 digit pins. I have found, that ‘foreign’ ATMs requiring 6 digit pins accept my U.K. card and a 4 digit pin and similarly U.K. ATMs will accept the first 4 digits of my European bank card.

I don’t know what bank I was using, but I was also able to use my six digit bank card in the UK this summer (to be honest, I don’t know if just used the first four digits or all six - I know I typed in all six but it may have stopped paying attention after four).

 

[bcla]

U.K. pins are 4 digits, but many European countries, the Far East and Middle East/North Africa use 6 digit pins. I have found, that ‘foreign’ ATMs requiring 6 digit pins accept my U.K. card and a 4 digit pin and similarly U.K. ATMs will accept the first 4 digits of my European bank card.

When I got my account at a major bank in the 80s I set up an 8 digit PIN. It was a mnemonic based on the letters. Still works. But for new accounts at different US banks it’s different. I’ve been able to request the same since I remember it, but one bank said it had to be exactly 4 digits.

 

[tvguy]

You’d have to ask them why their research is wrong. I mean, simply stating that anything is true for “Europe” already tells me that they don’t know what they are talking about (since countries all have their own rules).

CORRECTION: Just back from the store. They stopped taking ALL checks the first of the year, including travelers checks.

All I can say on the PIN is if people have a 4 digit PIN they should not have problems. If they have a longer PIN, Wells Fargo, Bank Of America and many Travel Advisor sites say they may not work.

 

[DIS_MERI]

That’s great. It’s a bit different in the U.K. when they take notes out of circulation.

I have some older notes from when I lived in the UK 2002-2004 and was thinking of taking the time to go to the bank and trade them in when I go on a visit next spring, but now I think I will keep them for nostalgia sake, since they have the Queen on them.

 

[tennisfan]

I have some older notes from when I lived in the UK 2002-2004 and was thinking of taking the time to go to the bank and trade them in when I go on a visit next spring, but now I think I will keep them for nostalgia sake, since they have the Queen on them.

It will be a while before the Queen disappears on UK bank notes. If you choose to spend them they will need changing as UK bank notes are plastic version, paper notes are no longer legal tender.

 

[sam_gordon]

I remember DW & I travelling to Disney in the mid 90s. We had gotten travelers checks for the trips. When we got to Disney, we had a hard time cashing them. Hotel (onsite) wouldn't take them, merchants wouldn't take them. I think we had to get a taxi (or maybe we had a rental) to a SunCoast bank to get cash for them.

It's also possible the denomination we had were too large, but I don't remember.

 

[kdonnel]

I remember DW & I travelling to Disney in the mid 90s. We had gotten travelers checks for the trips. When we got to Disney, we had a hard time cashing them. Hotel (onsite) wouldn't take them, merchants wouldn't take them. I think we had to get a taxi (or maybe we had a rental) to a SunCoast bank to get cash for them.

It's also possible the denomination we had were too large, but I don't remember.

It's basically just banks and currency exchange businesses that might cash them now. Many banks don't issue them or cash them.

Using this site and looking at an area about 50 miles in diameter around my home:
https://travelers-cheques.americanexpress.com/en-us/travel/travelers-cheques/locator

I see that the only places that accept Travelers Cheques are Truist Bank and PNC Bank locations.

If I look in Paris, France, I see some Travelex locations and Ria (A Western Union like business) locations.

United Kingdom only shows a few locations, again currency exchange businesses.

Sweden has a single Ria location.


Travelers Cheques time has come and gone.

 

[Deb]

worked in a hotel for 30 years starting in 1990. We saw traveler's cheques pretty regularly for at least the first dozen of those years. There was never any policy of "we no longer accept them" but I suspect towards the end of my time there the younger employees would have had no idea what to do with them if a more senior employee was not around. People just stopped using them. As long as they were from one of the major issuers (Amex...) we had no problem accepting them and depositing them into the business bank account. Maybe a handful of times over all of those years did we receive notice of investigation for cheques that had been reported stolen. More often than that we had to turn them down because they were pre-signed on both lines or someone was trying to use a $500 cheque for a $150 bill.

 

[Deb]

As far as $2 bills, we never had an issue with them. Apart from one employee who seriously thought they were bad luck. Often an employee (often me) would buy them off the drawer, otherwise we just sent them to the bank as part of the deposit. Same with dollar coins

 

[bcla]

The one thing I remember was that there was typically a premium to buy them, although some member organizations like AAA had (with purchase limits) them without a premium. When I visited China in the mid 80, their official exchange rate was higher for travelers checks.

 

[fla4fun]

My dad used to use travelers checks on his travels. He’s been gone for eleven years now, and a few years before he passed he had to take the rest of his travelers checks to the bank and exchange them for cash as the gas stations and restaurants were no longer taking them.

I will never forget the day I was counting deposits and came across a bunch of counterfeit travelers checks someone had used to buy merchandise from us. Every single one of the serial numbers was identical. I don’t know how our employee didn’t catch that. There were maybe six $500 checks that were fake.

 

[tvguy]

The one thing I remember was that there was typically a premium to buy them, although some member organizations like AAA had (with purchase limits) them without a premium. When I visited China in the mid 80, their official exchange rate was higher for travelers checks.

My bank always provided Traveler's Checks for free if you met their minimum deposit standard. I think it's $5,000 these days with many banks.

 

[bcla]

 

[kymom99]

Went from talking about Benjamins to talking about travelers checks and 2 dollar bills.

 

[JLTraveling]

I remember going to AAA with my parents when I was a kid before every trip. We'd get travelers checks, TourBooks and TripTiks (anybody remember those? Like an early printed version of Mapquest with extra information like speed traps and I think major exits with lots of services highlighted.) Pretty sure those AAA visits entirely stopped by 2000, maybe sooner. Fun memory though, it always made the trip feel like it was coming up fast.

 

[QueenIsabella]

I still use AAA as a travel agency and to exchange currency when we travel to other countries. I remember Trip Tiks and the Tour Books--now they sell books, Bagallinis and other luggage, as well as travel supplies like luggage tags and power converters. The last time I remember using traveler's checks was on our honeymoon in 1987. Even in 1990, I remember using an ATM in Hawaii to get more cash (versus traveler's checks). I remember thinking it was worth the $3 fee, to get $300 in cash, 6000 miles from home.