Travellers cheques vs Visa

[cliff]

Hi everyone

We are off to Orlando in 3 months and thinking about the best way of taking money. In the past we have always used travellers cheques and only been asked to provide proof of ID via a passport in out of Orlando areas, e.g. St Petes.

However, when we went 2 years ago, we noticed shops in the Orlando area, including some Disney theme park shops, were now asking for proof of ID. Having to carry your passport with you all the time is obviously not ideal. Which brings me to my question............

Anyone who has been recently found that they are being asked a lot for proof of ID in the Orlando area?

If they are checking ID more, then we might opt for one of the Visa cards with 0% foreign exchange rate fees, e.g. Santander. Although this makes it harder to stick to a budget!

We are both not keen on the Visa Travel Cards, as they don't tell you how much you have left on them.

Thanks for any help on this!

Cliff

 

[wayneg]

Hi Cliff.
Not used TC's for years now. I used to use Nationwide CC until they started a 1% fee, now use Post Office CC with no fees & full interbank rate.

Just got back last week, again used Credit card for everything, even a £1.30 twix. Averaged at around $1.51-1.52/£1. and no hassle going and buying TC's, signing them, hiding them in the room etc.
No way would I want to go back to TC's or cash, its so easy to hand over the card for anything (except tolls) even car parking at Cleawater I put CC in the parking meter.
For me its an easy choice but anyone that can't control spend on a CC its probably a bad choice.
Saying that if you are doing it to only save being ID'd its not a good idea, they also ask for ID with CC's but probably slightly less. I think I was only asked once in Converse this trip, I always carry my photo Driving licence for this.

 

[2Tiggies]

I always use TCs and much prefer them. I can see exactly how much I have to spend/have spent and when I use them I like that I get cash back as change.

We stay onsite and only venture off property once or twice a trip so I have had no hassles having then accepted/cashed. I don't have to think in pounds as my spending money is in $$s. I also know I won't go over and don't have to keep adding or checking how much I have left to spend, neither do I have to pay for anything after I get back.

Yes, I have always been asked for ID and carry my passport around with me. I like that it makes it harder for someone else to use the TCs if they tried so I don't mind. A passport hardly takes up much space. This year I am taking a FairFX card too in case we go off site to the occasional place that doesn't take TCs and I do always take a few credit cards with me, but I know that if I ever needed to spend on them for a good reason, I wouldn't have dented into my credit allowance earlier. Personal choice and you have to find what works for you. Like Wayne said, I would not ditch TCs purely to avoid carrying a passport.

 

[wicket2005]

We like having some cash on us for small purchases so tend to take a little bit of cash with us going then some in the form of travellor's cheques which also have the guarantee that if they are lost or stolen they will be replaced quickly. We have noticed that quite a few places are now saying they are not accepting travellor's cheques any more, I know we saw in Ponderosa a sign a few year's back that they were not. We have no problem changing them in the hotel reception.

The majority of the time we use Abbey Zero and have the Post Office card as our back up card in case something happens to Abbey. We each carry different cards.

We have been asked for id a few times not as often as they should really. However, a few year's ago we invested in some photo id driving licences instead of the old style ones we had and just carry them about. I didn't like carrying our passports about, 1 in case we lose them and 2 in case they got wet.

With credit cards we know what our budget is and just stick to what we know we have got saved up to spend.