Tavellers' cheque credit card question

[Tony Bush]

I have always used travellers cheques, however I really like the idea of the travellers' cheque credit card. What I would like to do is to use the card to pay for meals. My question is when paying for my meal how do I tip? Do I ask them to add it onto my card, or do I give them the tip in cash?

 

[paulh]

a lot of disers use nationwide CC or there debit card as you get the bank rate $1.97 today.With the amex tc card you have a set up fee and a lower rate for the £v $
Paulh

 

[k8k8]

I think I remember giving the tip seperately in cash. There is a way to add it to the card though because they bring you the receipt and there was a space to write how much tip you want to give. I didn't use it but I'm sure it's easy enough...

 

[kristieuk]

It's really the same as this country if you pay by credit card - there will be a space to handwrite the gratuity at the bottom of the receipt, and then make a new total.

 

[paulh]

sorry didnt read op corectley.They will leave a space for tip .but like kate says we leve cash tip as then we know it go`s straight to server(in the us servers are taxed on % off bill even if you dont tip )
Paulh

 

[Red-Snapper]

We found these cards a complete pain in the neck.

No easy way of finding out what the balance was - most of the cash machines we tried made a charge for accessing them and even then couldnt give us our balance.

Gave up in the end when we believed the card was low.

 

[Tony Bush]

Thank you for your replies. I did hear that it is difficult to get cash with the card, apparently only a few ATM machines accept it. I wanted to use it for our evening meals only and use travellers cheques and $'s for everything else. Its a budgeting thing...

I didn't realise there was a set-up fee though. Do you know how much this is? Would it be better for me to use my bank account and just use my debit card (Don't use credit cards... don't trust myself )

Tony

 

[paulh]

Thank you for your replies. I did hear that it is difficult to get cash with the card, apparently only a few ATM machines accept it. I wanted to use it for our evening meals only and use travellers cheques and $'s for everything else. Its a budgeting thing...

I didn't realise there was a set-up fee though. Do you know how much this is? Would it be better for me to use my bank account and just use my debit card (Don't use credit cards... don't trust myself )

Tony

cash from an atm from disney think $3 or $4 but from plulix and walmart machines free.Hope this helps
Paulh

 

[alisonbestford]

You can usually get them from various travel agencies, when they have offers on, thus avoiding the fee
We bought a $2000 one and got $250 'free' last year from Thomas Cook.
The 'free' money more than made up for any ATM fees (I thought I remembered the ATMs at Publix and Walmart costing $2.50 )

All the Publix stores we visited had an ATM that accepted the card
We just limited our withdrawals to two or three, used the card to pay for meals and tipped with cash

I went onto the internet to check the balance if I was unsure

Hope this helps

 

[paulh]

(I thought I remembered the ATMs at Publix and Walmart costing $2.50 )

All the Publix stores we visited had an ATM that accepted the card

:

The amex tc card is not classed as a cc or debit card so that why they carge a fee.We were there in sept last year
Paulh

 

[Groovee]

I was in NY in Sept and when we were paying the bill the waitress asked if we could leave her tip in cash as they card company they used were now taking 20% off the tip so she wasn't getting her full tips. Plus then we knew she was definitely getting it. My cousin was with us and she knows the owners and she asked them and they said they preferred their staff to get cash tips as it was a pain otherwise.

 

[Chris and Pooh]

Hello,
One major problem we encountered, we were charged in error for goods at Maceys but even though they set up a refund it did not go back onto the card for over a week and as they had then put the correct amount on the card we were effectively charged double for the transaction until the amount in error was refunded.
American Express stated that it can take up to two weeks to get the refund back which is no good when the card is usually used on a holiday for an average of 2 weeks.
So worst case scenario, is that you could lose all you holiday monay on your card for the duration of your holiday. BE AWARE

 

[Disney owl]

We've looked into it & have decided that for us it was more hassle . it would cost more & we didn't like the idea that we couldn't instantly see how much we had left.

We go to USA next month & are sticking to cash, travellers chqs & with a credit card as back up.