Money!

[battymum]

I know I should have this sorted by now, but I have an ANZ travel card that is loaded with a few G - but was reading today about people that have had these cards skimmed and fraudulent transactions made that drains their funds and takes some time to get back - leaving them strapped on their holiday

So what should I do for the rest of our money -

A: travellers cheques
B: leave it in our Westpac account and use Bank of America ATMS
C: A second travel card

Any other suggestions welcome!

 

[Luisa]

Go with B, just make sure you let them know you're traveling and your contact number- the falcon fraud system the banks use is red hot so probably safer than the other two options.

 

[kylieh]

B or C. Check out the fees for C first. American Express now has a travel card too.

I did like Travelers Cheques in Las Vegas as I went to the Casino Cage and cashed them without charge. My exchange rate was better than a travel card when I purchased them. It took about 10 minutes of my time to cash them. You could do the same at Disney and use them to pay for purchases to your room. They just take a couple of minutes to cash/use. They are "old fashioned" but I just remember the ad "Mr Wong Mr Wong, I've lost all my traveler's cheques..."

 

[PrincessInOz]

I take a combination of TCheques, cash, Credit Card and travel card. I only ever withdraw money out of the travel card at ATMs (yes I might have to pay the transaction rate) and use the TCheques at places where I prefer to play it safe.

Old fashioned? Yes - but at least we are fairly safe from skimming or fraud.

 

[Sugarglider]

Not knowing exactly where you are going, but reputable places won't skim your card - like WDW. I know 10 yrs ago in Sydney a big scam was revealed in the smaller chinese restaurants in china town and so it became common knowledge to use cash.
Don't let the card out of your sight - stand there with the person when they run the card through the swipe rather than put it on the little tray and let them walk off with it.

 

[DVCAustralia]

Disney is a fantastic place to make use of travellers cheques, and the rate is pretty high at the moment for buying them.
As stated previously it is always best to have a combination of payment options so that if one fails or is not suitable you can simply use another one.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Not knowing exactly where you are going, but reputable places won't skim your card - like WDW. I know 10 yrs ago in Sydney a big scam was revealed in the smaller chinese restaurants in china town and so it became common knowledge to use cash.
Don't let the card out of your sight - stand there with the person when they run the card through the swipe rather than put it on the little tray and let them walk off with it.

DH's credit card got skimmed in October 2010. He only used it in two places on this trip. WDW, at the hotel when checking in, and at a restaurant that we've been to many times in Silicon Valley.

We cannot prove either way which location that the card was skimmed at; but that restaurant in Silicon Valley is one that he visits at least 3 times a year and regularly used his card there. And there always seem to be a couple of threads that pop-up on the odd occassion about credit card fraud where Dis-sers believe their card was skimmed whilst at the World.

I only pull my CC out in retail establishments like Gap, Banana Republic, Macy's etc where the card doesn't leave my sight.

I also travel with TCheques and cash and use that to pay for food in preference to pulling out a credit card.

And like I said before, even when we load $$$ on the travel card, we only ever use it at ATMs and make sure we take all the normal precautions to ensure that our pin is hidden (hands covered).

 

[battymum]

Its bad enough to have your credit card skimmed - but if its a debit card - you can be left dry!

DH would prefer to take all cash!

I think I will order some travellers cheques!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Its bad enough to have your credit card skimmed - but if its a debit card - you can be left dry!

DH would prefer to take all cash!

I think I will order some travellers cheques!

That's why we use the travel card to access cash from the ATMs only. We never hand it over the counter.

It is useful in that cash can be stolen and I don't like carrying too large an amount of cash on me but I like being able to access cash that I've saved for a holiday.

For the US, I always take TCheques with me; and keep my Australian D/L handy for id purposes.

 

[HappyFingers]

also people are making little foil pouches for their credit cards that have a chip in them to prevent walk up skimming

someone can walk up to you and skim your cards just by standing next to you

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcSss9BHPFo&feature=related

well worth a look

you can make the foil pouch so your card can easily slide in and out

 

[Anne_Aus]

I am taking a mix of cash, TC and my travel card.
I will also have a back up card that is my debit card but that is for emergencies only.
I was glad to read this as so many people have tried to talk me out of TC so it was refreshing to know some people still recommend them

 

[hjd0411]

I also take travellers cheques - I am able to budget much better that way!! They are also easy to use - I have only found one place (a restaurant in Orlando!) that would not take travellers cheques. I've paid for purchases in Walmart, Target, Disney and elsewhere with no difficulties.
This time I have got a Commonwealth travel card as well, but that will only be for purchasing things such as the cruise, air fares etc. I have put money on it while the rate is good, that way I can say I've already paid for the cruise!! I don't actually plan to use the card while I'm away. But things can change of course..!!
Plus I usually get a couple of hundred US dollars before I go so I have cash when I arrive.

 

[Travel Mum]

Oh crap, I'm feeling a bit sick reading this! I have about US$1000 in cash and ALL the rest I have loaded onto one "Loaded for Travel" Visa card in US$!!

I had planned to use the Travel Card when paying our hotels (after Disney) and at shops when shopping where I would have used my regular Visa card in the past. I don't really want to carry much more cash at one time as I am insured to carry if it got stolen which is NZ$1000.

So, in order to reduce my risk of skimming, should I actually just keep withdrawing cash off the Travel card as I go and actually pay the hotels and shops in cash?

 

[mareeld86]

I have used travel cards my debit and credit cards every time i travel. I hate to say it but you have just as much chance in Australia having your card skimmed as you do in the usa, if not more. I do dispute transactions every day for a large organization that handles most overseas transactions and i would say 95% of transactions are Australian based not from using the card overseas.
As previous posters said just keep your card in sight at all times and put your hand over the pin pad when typing in your pin.
and as for your cards being skimmed with people standing next to you. unless the person has the machine pressed up to your pocket for 10 seconds or you have it in your hand when it gets skimmed. They cant skim through multiple layers of clothing bags purses etc if your wallet has a zipper on it the metal deflects the signal.
Hope This Helps a little to pout your minds at ease

 

[Luisa]

I have used travel cards my debit and credit cards every time i travel. I hate to say it but you have just as much chance in Australia having your card skimmed as you do in the usa, if not more. I do dispute transactions every day for a large organization that handles most overseas transactions and i would say 95% of transactions are Australian based not from using the card overseas.

Agree with you 100%, the majority of the fraud I see (work for a bank) happens within Australia - generally from compromised ATMs and card readers in stores.

Just take the options you feel most comfortable with and don't let the pretty remote chance your card will be skimmed make you so paranoid you don't enjoy yourself!

 

[Jade+3]

We are taking travellers cheques. We use large denominations, so we can get the change in cash. Last trip we did not need to use the ATM at all.

 

[battymum]

I know cards can get skimmed here - its just that we dont use our travel cards here - I recently had unauthorised transactions on another debit card from Sony through that playstation scandal - It took about six weeks to get the money back. Was only $120 but it was annoying because it was my money and not credit!

Its just when it is a debit card and you are overseas it can take weeks or months to get your money back-

Best to have a couple of options - I wouldnt want to get stranded with no money.

 

[Caroline NZ]

Hi Travel Mum, like you we had all our funds (except for US$1,000 cash) on a Kiwibank Loaded for Travel Card. I never thought about the risk of skimmiing ( I will from now on though!) , however we used it everywhere, hotels Disneyland, restaurants ( where they took the card away), retail shops etc. And everything was fine.

 

[Franrose]

Does a chip card help with the skimming risk?

 

[Travel Mum]

Hi Travel Mum, like you we had all our funds (except for US$1,000 cash) on a Kiwibank Loaded for Travel Card. I never thought about the risk of skimmiing ( I will from now on though!) , however we used it everywhere, hotels Disneyland, restaurants ( where they took the card away), retail shops etc. And everything was fine.

Oh CarolineNZ, that is wonderful to know and funny that we have planned our money exactly the way you did!! After reading your post and those from the ladies that worked with credit cards, I do feel a bit calmer about it now. However, talked to DH about it last night and we think we will plan on withdrawing more cash and doing a bit more spending in cash (in some places we might otherwise have charged the card) that we had orginally planned to do.