If you are a traveling to Europe and considering getting one of these debit cards to make life easier for you while there, my advice is don't! Figure out which of your credit cards charges the least amount of fees for international usage and just use it.
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Further ranting and whining below the cut... )
Comments 8
Next time we will be using the old travellers cheque's less fee's, same security and full access to ALL of your money
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As much as Amex ticks me off from time to time:
1) Personal "disaster" insurance tied to homeowner's insurance, very inexpensive per year (like US$20)
2) Forget trying to save a little marginal expense - use Amex Travel whenever possible.
3) Some banks provide a VISA debit card that does not say "debit" on the card. Mine used to. As I'm on a personal crusade no to use retail credit, I just keep a second cash account with a VISA debit card.
4) AMEX, Amex, amex. Get and use local cash. In the 3rd world, use some "tradecraft" in your hotel room. One thing is to creatively hide 2 days worth of cash plus photocopies of your passport, visa, travel docs. You can trust the safes in 4-star hotels, maybe.
5) Maybe the days of walk-in, full service Amex offices are over, but their Travel Service is still great. Bad things do happen, and they can be very creative in helping you out.
Happy travels.
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