elizacat

Are banks in France cashing travelers'checks? Are post offices still cashing them? What are the fees? Do you get a decent exchange rate? Yes, I know you;re confined to banking hours and you have to show your passport. However it appears that ATM cards may not always work.

janisj

<i>Are banks in France cashing travelers'checks?</i>
SOME banks will cash them.

<i>Are post offices still cashing them?</i>
SOME post offices will cash them.

<i>What are the fees?</i>
It will vary from bank to bank but there generally are fairly high fees.

<i> Do you get a decent exchange rate?</i>
Absolutely not. Very often you will lose out by ¢8 to ¢10 per euro.

<i>However it appears that ATM cards may not always work.</i>
ATMs work 99+% of the time. Much more relaiable than looking for a place to cash travelers checks.

saltymuffin

Elizacat,
You are right ATMs don't work 100% of the time, you can lose or demagnetise your ATM card. If you are worried about this, then bring some travellers cheques in you home currency (US$?), and ONLY use them IF something happens to your ATM card. If it doesn't, cash them in when you get back home for the same amount you paid for them (you should be able to find &quot;no fee&quot; travellers cheques somewhere). Nothing lost. I find this to be a great security blanket when travelling. If you do have to use them due to a lost of stolen ATM card, you won't be worried about a poor exchange rate, you'll be happy to just have some cash!

If you are determined to actually use travellers cheques, then buy them in Euros. You should get a better rate from your home bank than a random post office in France. If they are in Euros, you should be able to cash them with only a small (or no) fee. If you buy AMEX TC's in the US and cash them at an AMEX office in France, there will be no fee. (Other than the poor exchange rate you get when you buy them). But make sure you use them up before you get back home!

janisj

&quot;<i>If you are determined to actually use travellers cheques, then buy them in Euros. You should get a better rate from your home bank than a random post office in France</i>&quot;

Absolutely not IMHO. Buying euro TCs in the US is very expensive and you'd STILL have to pay fees to cash them in France. The exchange rate from a US bank will almost certainly be worse than the rate in France.

Don't take TC's, but if you do - they should be in US dollars.

GSteed

One consideration, lost or stolen TCs can be replaced. AX has outlets in most major cities. Query AX.

Gretchen

If push comes to shove you can take your CREDIT CARD into a bank and get a cash advance using your pin for that card. I know it isn't economical but it is a backup. TCs are for total emergencies--$100 tucked in your wallet for the desert isle scenario.

baldworth

Be very sure that you use a debit card not just an ATM card and have your regular credit card with a pin# for backup. This is DEFINITELY the best way to go. I have not had my debit card turned down at any working ATM machine but on trip this summer one of my companions had an ATM card that was never accepted because it was not a debit card. Forget the traveler's checks!

Baldworth

P_M

&quot;If they are in Euros, you should be able to cash them with only a small (or no) fee&quot;

Sorry, that's not true. Even if your TC's are in &euro;, they are not easily cashed and most likely you WILL pay a fee. I know this because some friends of mine made the mistake of taking &euro; TCs. They paid fees to get those, then they had a very hard time finding someone to cash them. They finally had to cash them at a bank and of course they had to pay fees.

Amart

Take them only as a security blanket. Otherwise, you will be hunting for a place that will take them for payment or to cash them. One tiny bakery in Paris is all we found that would take for payment, otherwise there was a 1-2 hour line at the Amex office. Take 2 different kinds of credit cards in case an ATM is set with a specific provider. In a big city it doesn't matter as you can find another ATM, but in small towns it may.

Christina

Where exactly are you going to in France? Because you can exchange them fairly easily in Paris, but perhaps not in smaller places. The rates aren't that bad in Paris, either, but I know where to go there. I never exchange them at banks in France, those aren't the best places to do it and there isn't any reason to go to a bank. Banks give worse rates in France, usually, and have all the other problems and don't want that business, anyway. In some countries I have recently been (ie, Poland), no exchange bureau would exchange TCs (I saw one in Krakow that did, but the rates were not good). In Paris, however, exchange bureaux have always taken travelers checks in my experience. IN fact, I was just there in July, and my favorite exchange bureau was still taking them and told me their rates, which were only 2 pct over interbank.

Do NOT take them in Euro, if you do. Take them in USD or whatever your native currency is. Buying them in Euro is a very bad idea for all kinds of reasons, as noted above (fees to get them in Euro which are very bad, fees to exchange them in Europe -- yes, you still must pay fees to exchange them any place that will give you cash for them, like exchange bureaux).

Travelnut

There are hundreds of ATMs, finding another one that does work takes about a 5-minute walk around the block.

Haven't had one not work yet, unless it was down for service with a note on the screen saying so.

ira

Hi E,

If you are traveling with someone who shares your bank account, you should each have an ATM card.

It's unlikely that both will stop working at the same time.

If you can't get cash from one machine with either of your cards, it is likely that the machine is down or your bank is offline temporarily.

If you are traveling alone, open an account with another bank and get another ATM card.

TC's, in your home currency, should be only an emergency back up.

Underhill

The last time we used TCs, and I do mean the LAST time, we had to spend nearly an hour in a bank's special line in order to cash the checks. Finding a bank that would cash them wasn't easy, either. So definitely keep perhaps one for emergencies and use ATMs and credit cards the rest of the time.

platzman

When I travel, I carry a debit card and two credit cards, all with PINs for use in ATMs. My plan is to use the credit cards in ATMs only if the debit card doesn't work. Yes, I know the interest rate would be horrible should that happen. But I have researched this and discovered that this is still cheaper, and more flexible/convenient than fooling with traveler's checks.

nytraveler

If you are absolutely paranoid about the entire banking system crashing (you can solve the non-working ATM card by taking several ATM and credit cards from different sources) you're better off just changing cash. The rate of exchange will still be terrible but at least you won;t have to pay to buy Trav Checks or search for a bank willing to cash them.

elizacat

Thanks for the replies. I would be taking American Express traveller's checks in US dollars. Does anyone have specific experience with BNP Paribas cashing them in Paris? If not, has anyone recently cashed them at a Paris bank that does cash them. If so, which bank and what were the fees/exchange rate? Is the exchange rate worse than buying euros here? Is the American Express office near Opera Garnier normally a 1 to 2 hour wait? Do they also charge a fee for cashing them? I plan to rely on the debit card but would like to have a backup. Also, anyone have experience in theAmboise area?

P_M

I am glad to hear you are using your debit card and taking TC's as a back up only. The odds that you will use the TCs are so slim I don't think you should worry too much about the best place to cash them. Bon Voyage.

GSteed

AX Travelcards allow loadings from $300 to $2750. Rate/cost is $15. I calculate this as a 1% to 5% fee. Safety is also AX assured.

saltymuffin

Well, I guess I dated the last time I used travellers cheques with my advice! The last time I used TC's was in France, pre-Euro. We got TC's in francs from our local bank at a very reasonable exchange rate, and didn't pay much to cash them anywhere! They were Amex TC's and we mostly cashed them at AMEX offices for nothing, but did go to a post office where I think we paid a flat fee of a couple of $ to cash them. I guess times have changed. . . that is the last time I used TC's myself.

Elizacat, if you only plan on using your TC's in case of an emergency don't sweat where to cash them, because you likely won't have to. If you are buying AMEX TC's, then your best bet would be an AMEX office - they rarely have long lines, and won't charge a &quot;fee&quot; to cash them, only their exchange rate.

janisj

GSteed: &quot;<i>AX Travelcards allow loadings from $300 to $2750. Rate/cost is $15. I calculate this as a 1% to 5% fee. Safety is also AX assured. </i>&quot;

Sorry, but the AMEX travel card is a terrible idea for most people. It &quot;only&quot; costs $15 to open, but it also has fees for every transaction, plus currency conversion fees, plus more fees to load more money on it, plus even fees to close the card out. Just a regualr ATM card is cheaper by far.