travelers checks

tigerfan · Post by **tigerfan** » Sat Jan 23, 2010 7:29 pm

My daughter was in PV this past summer and said she had a hard time cashing travelers checks. She spent most of her time in the outlying areas. I will be coming to PV in a few weeks--staying mostly in town and wonder if anyone else has experienced the same thing. I prefer not to use ATMs or charge cards. A few years ago during a trip to PV someone purchased $800 worth of tires in Guadalajara --courtesy of me on my charge card!...Never been to Guadalajara!

charlieb · Post by **charlieb** » Sat Jan 23, 2010 11:50 pm

Well, friend, travelers checks are not used much at all any more. For the most part, ATM is safe. Just be very careful to look closely at the device you "swipe" your card in. If it looks to be a part of the ATM machine and not an add on, it is most likely safe to use. Chuck...

smitty · Post by **smitty** » Mon Jan 25, 2010 8:24 pm

Charlieb / Chuck is right - ATM is still the safest choice . The bad part is the thieves are getting smarter . Check out this ATM scam and try and tell me you would spot it -its from California .

http://www.krebsonsecurity.com/2010/01/ ... the-fraud/

charlieb · Post by **charlieb** » Mon Jan 25, 2010 9:05 pm

I would NOT have caught it. From now on, I will give any external reader a good tugg. See if it moves or comes loose. Luckily, the Bank of America ATM's I use have the type of reader that sucks my card inside and then gives it back when I'm done. Thanks so much, Jim. Chuck...

chrisnick · Post by **chrisnick** » Tue Jan 26, 2010 1:26 pm

Good tip! I always use ATM's in PV. Have not had any trouble and have always found I get the best rate there. Plus...I hate the hassle of bringing money and going to get it exchanged. I only take American dollar bills for tipping as it is hard to get smaller values of pesos.

choochiegirl · Post by **choochiegirl** » Tue Jan 26, 2010 11:26 pm

we brought US-AMEX travelers checks the first year, had a hard time cashing them as we went to the bank we needed to show our passport, and passports weren't a requirement to get into Mexico then, and some banks would not accept the AMEX labeled ones. The hotel didn't have enough cash on hand to cash them for us. I find the ATM is the best way to get cash, we have done that every year since, and just practice some commonsense when using your card.

If you are worried about someone skimming your card, open a new bank account at home, put a set amount of cash in there that you are willing to spend and get a card that accesses that account only. Not much different than using travelers checks are you are limited in the amounts there as well, but more convenient to use.

travelers checks

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