Travel money in USA

[Hard@it]

Advice please on the best way to exchange money while on holiday for a month in USA. Is it American Express cheques or is there any card that does not charge ?

[lady_p_gold]

I never bother to take any money I just put everything on my card or get money from the ATM just like at home, it doesn't seem to cost much.

[Buenchico]

I've not been to the US but I find that using my debit card at ATMs seems to be the best way to get foreign currency when I'm abroad.

Today's travel supplement in the Mail on Sunday had a major feature on the best way to obtain foreign currency. The writer stated that he/she had a Nationwide FlexAccount which was only used for obtaining cash from ATMs overseas. (This was because Nationwide don't charge for this service). But please don't ask me to quote further from the article - the cafe where I was reading it might get upset if I break in to continue reading their newspaper :-)

Chris

[goldfish1]

I have a Nationwide Flex Account as mentioned by Buenchico and I deposit my cash into that prior to going overseas. They don't charge any fees for withdrawing money from an ATM nor do they charge a commission fee for exchanging the money. The same goes for the Nationwide credit card - no fees for using it overseas. Altho' don't use it for cash withdrawals as this will cost you. The only thing about the credit card is that you don't get very long to pay the bill. Enjoy your trip.

[buildersmate]

All of the above matches my experience. Even with a Nationwide card, the US bank owning the ATM will charge you a small fee per transaction - from memory its about $3. Its per transaction not a perecentage of the sum, so I get cash out a few hundred dollars per go. There are ATMs everywhere but many of the smaller places limit withdrawals to $100. The ATM will always tell you what fee it wants to charge you before it transacts.

[dzug]

Whether the US bank charge you depends on what state you are in. The CC company's contract with the banks forbids them charging overseas cards. In some US states this contract clause has been declared illegal and banks charge. In others they don't.

You can be charged in ATMs in gas stations and convenience stores, just as you can here.

Other banks' cards charge 2.75% commission on the exchange rate - probably still less than you will pay for cheques

[kaz20]

When I went to California I put money into my Nationwide Flexaccount and drew money out of ATMs. Nationwide, as others have said earlier, do not charge for this service, and about 2 or 3 of the main banks in the states don't charge either - unfortunately I can't remember which ones, but we just asked around when we got there. This meant that all that happened was that when we withdrew our money it got converted to the number of �s depending on the exchange rate at that time - we were a bit worried that the banks would use bad exchange rates, but it didn't seem to happen like that - it worked really well for us

[DESIREE]

your debit card is definetly the cheapest option. it can be used in any atms displaying the maestro or cirrus symbols and the charges are minimal. do not use your credit card to withdraw cash, you will be charged a handling fee every time and interest from the day you take the cash out until you clear your balance. not worth it!

[vicki01761]

You can take money on a prepaid US dollar currency card. The Travelex cash passport is pretty good. You can find out which card is offering the best exchange rate here http://www.comparecur...co.uk/currency-cards/