Make sure you have debit/credit cards from more than one bank when travelling

[bobnick]

They are the most secure way to pay, unless someone knows my passcode or has my face, they can’t use it.

That maybe the case, but i wont be using one.

 

[Brains]

I do not have any of these problems with cash - try it.

Increasing number of places will not take it.

They don't want all the trouble and expense of dealing with it.
Cash can go 'missing' (wrong change given, slippery figures etc)
All cash needs to be counted and bagged.

Many reasonable size towns in the UK no longer have a bank, so a shop has no easy way of cashing it in.

Banks will also now only take a limited amount of cash over the counter in a single transaction, and only then if it's all bagged and counted. They will not take unbagged amounts.

I was given the job a couple of years ago of paying in about £3,000 taken in by a charity drive, in a mixture of paper and coins.
We had 3 people spend an entire evening counting and bagging it.
My two local banks would not take it at all.

I had to drive to a district bank about 5 miles away. Three times!
They would only take £1,000 per day.
It had to all be sealed into a single bag and it was then sent off to a central counting office, where it was all checked and then paid into the account a couple of days later.

The charity has now made a policy of no more cash.

 

[Brains]

Cash:
There are now 31 parliamentary constituencies without a single bank
(That is well over 2.2m voters, which is over 5% of the population)
The banks are closing at least a branch every day.

 

[Riverbankannie]

We’re in the Business lounge at Schipol at the moment on our way to Panama for a month. We’ll be travelling around including a week in Mexico. To carry enough cash for that would be a bit of a joke and rather irresponsible in my opinion.

I wondered why you posted earlier in the thread at 3:45 am! Obviously an early flight to Schipol.
Have a great time.

 

[The Wino]

Increasing number of places will not take it.

They don't want all the trouble and expense of dealing with it.
Cash can go 'missing' (wrong change given, slippery figures etc)
All cash needs to be counted and bagged.

Many reasonable size towns in the UK no longer have a bank, so a shop has no easy way of cashing it in.

Banks will also now only take a limited amount of cash over the counter in a single transaction, and only then if it's all bagged and counted. They will not take unbagged amounts.

I was given the job a couple of years ago of paying in about £3,000 taken in by a charity drive, in a mixture of paper and coins.
We had 3 people spend an entire evening counting and bagging it.
My two local banks would not take it at all.

I had to drive to a district bank about 5 miles away. Three times!
They would only take £1,000 per day.
It had to all be sealed into a single bag and it was then sent off to a central counting office, where it was all checked and then paid into the account a couple of days later.

The charity has now made a policy of no more cash.

One of our local pubs is card only. Cuts down waiting at the bar and dead easy to cash up at the end of the night. On the other hand there are some local businesses asking for cash " to reduce charges" I suspect that the majority mean avoid vat , employers NI, personal tax etc etc as the banks charge more to bank cash than anything else on a business account.

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[Nanniemate]

Going back a few years (decades) when some shops took visa and others Mastercard I was Vienna with colleagues and having a mooch around some stores that really we should not have been looking in .

I fell in love with a beautiful silk blouse. After some a lot of discussion my colleague convinced me to purchase it. (A weeks wages )

OK pulled out the credit card and the storekeeper declined the card as she only accepted visa ,I had Mastercard

After that I carried both but luckily my colleagues husband had a visa card that I didn't 2 women with puppy dog eyes he didn't stand a chance and handed over his card.

Loved the blouse wore it for years until it fell apart

Gave my colleague the cash I don't think the husband ever got it .

 

[KASPAR]

In the 90's and early 2000's I used to travel a lot on business, 20 plus global trips a year.

I had $1,000 travellers cheques that I used to carry on every business trip I made as an emergency back up.

I tried to to cash them in in 2020, but due to the pandemic nothing was done by Amex,
I then tried Barclays, who told me from 2021 they no longer accepted Travellers Cheques.

I eventually managed to get them cashed in by Amex in 2023, six months later they gave me the $1,000 back in pounds, but at the rate I paid for them them in 1999!, which happened to be very similar to the rate in 2023. Amex were obviously waiting for the rates to match !

Weirdly, I still have all the original Travellers Cheques, unsigned!
I can't image there are many still in circulation.
(I also have about £200 worth of mint French Franks notes. Any takers ?)

So if you do have Travellers Cheques tucked into the back of a draw, cash them in ASAP, if you still can.

I used to travel extensively on Business, globally. Had a Diners Card for most expenditure. A float of U$1000 in travellers cheques where the DC wasn't accepted ie fuel stations, cafes.

I was also paid 'Overseas Allowances, per diem' over a set number of days that were paid in U$ Travellers Cheques. I was in Oz for 6 months that extended to 14, accumulating considerable sums in TC. They were in a briefcase that went everywhere with me. One night I lost the car keys, the briefcase was in the boot of a soft top roadster, that had a hatch behind the drivers seat. Ripped the roof, climbed in, retrieved briefcase, thankfully.

There were 13 of us that travelled extensively, we reckon one of us was in the air every day. The Diners was great for the big bills; airfares, car rental, hotels, entertaining etc (I put £34k on it the day I left Oz for the final time), but not very good for small items like petrol, tolls, sandwiches. Requested a Mastercard. The Directors had Amex cards but very seldom travelled, so us oiks had Diners. The then Finance Director issued us Mastercards, but unbeknown to us with a £5k limit and cancelled the Diners. I was called out one Saturday evening, booked a flight to Canada. On the Sunday hired a car, put a hotel bill on the card. On the Tuesday it was decided I'd fly back to the UK that weekend, arrive Sat, go back to Canada Sunday. Things changed, on Thursday I had to go into the US, flight on card, hotel, another car hire. Then return to Canada fly to UK arrive Sunday morning, pack a bigger case meet with MD then back to Canada that evening. On the Tuesday took 3 client reps to Jamaica, another hire car and their hotel bills to go on my card. As checking out of hotel my new Mastercard was declined as I was over the limit. Rang my boss, the MD, before I spoke with the Finance Director to get a transfer to pay the bill. was told to be polite and not call the FD a moron as I had previously.

The following week, back in Canada and a new Diners card arrived at my hotel.

The fun of travelling

 

[Nanniemate]

I used to travel extensively on Business, globally. Had a Diners Card for most expenditure. A float of U$1000 in travellers cheques where the DC wasn't accepted ie fuel stations, cafes.

I was also paid 'Overseas Allowances, per diem' over a set number of days that were paid in U$ Travellers Cheques. I was in Oz for 6 months that extended to 14, accumulating considerable sums in TC. They were in a briefcase that went everywhere with me. One night I lost the car keys, the briefcase was in the boot of a soft top roadster, that had a hatch behind the drivers seat. Ripped the roof, climbed in, retrieved briefcase, thankfully.

There were 13 of us that travelled extensively, we reckon one of us was in the air every day. The Diners was great for the big bills; airfares, car rental, hotels, entertaining etc (I put £34k on it the day I left Oz for the final time), but not very good for small items like petrol, tolls, sandwiches. Requested a Mastercard. The Directors had Amex cards but very seldom travelled, so us oiks had Diners. The then Finance Director issued us Mastercards, but unbeknown to us with a £5k limit and cancelled the Diners. I was called out one Saturday evening, booked a flight to Canada. On the Sunday hired a car, put a hotel bill on the card. On the Tuesday it was decided I'd fly back to the UK that weekend, arrive Sat, go back to Canada Sunday. Things changed, on Thursday I had to go into the US, flight on card, hotel, another car hire. Then return to Canada fly to UK arrive Sunday morning, pack a bigger case meet with MD then back to Canada that evening. On the Tuesday took 3 client reps to Jamaica, another hire car and their hotel bills to go on my card. As checking out of hotel my new Mastercard was declined as I was over the limit. Rang my boss, the MD, before I spoke with the Finance Director to get a transfer to pay the bill. was told to be polite and not call the FD a moron as I had previously.

The following week, back in Canada and a new Diners card arrived at my hotel.

The fun of travelling

Some people think travelling for work I'd glamorous

 

[pandas]

Three words: Halifax Clarity Card.

 

[Lenny HB]

OK pulled out the credit card and the storekeeper declined the card as she only accepted visa ,I had Mastercard

40 years ago Germany was nearly all Mastercard and they charged a fee on top & fuel & supermarkets cash only. You could use a German DC in supermarkets but not much use to travelers.

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[BikerGraham]

No way will i be using my phone for payments.
I barely use now as a phone.
Now phone camera it's used a fare bit.
And, i leave it at home most of the time, don't wantbto be tracked.

Don’t link my phone to my cards either. And I’m fairly adventurous

 

[StillGoing]

FYI, Apple Pay and Google Pay are not covered by Section 75 protection

 

[BikerGraham]

FYI, Apple Pay and Google Pay are not covered by Section 75 protection

Now that is very interesting. Glad I do t use it

 

[Mark1965]

We are currently touring. We have 3 Santander debit cards between us. The cards work fine for contactless payments. However, we have only been able to successfully make one chip and PIN payment at the start of our holiday. Since then all attempts at paying by chip and PIN have ended in card declined for all 3 cards. Santander tell us there are no blocks or restrictions on our cards.

I’ve asked Santander why the cards are being declined and they have so far not given an answer. Given that Santander advertise their cards to be used while travelling, I’m disappointed that they don’t seem to be bothered when their cards don’t work. I’ve given up on getting any help from Santander. Quite frankly, they have been useless.

Luckily, we have cards from other banks which are working fine.

The lesson from this is, if travelling, take cards from more than one bank and ideally have a least 1 Visa and 1 MasterCard.

We have the Halifax Clarity Card as there are no charges on transactions on purchases. This does not apply to cash withdrawls or advances from the Bank!
Anyway we had issues with it getting declined at Tolls and some Tap and Pay machines.
The solution (for us) was to make sure the PIN is UNLOCKED. This is done at most UK Bank Cashpoints, you dont need to use the same Bank as the Card issuing Bank. Put your card into the ATM, then select PIN Services. Once you are in this Menu you will see " Unlock Pin" press yes...Thats it job done! Remeber to do it before you leave the UK as i dont think you can do this once in the EU.

 

[Brains]

One of our local pubs is card only. Cuts down waiting at the bar and dead easy to cash up at the end of the night. On the other hand there are some local businesses asking for cash " to reduce charges" I suspect that the majority mean avoid vat , employers NI, personal tax etc etc as the banks charge more to bank cash than anything else on a business account.

Lets face it, the only reason anyone is running a 'cash only' business is because they are doing something illegal.

Personally I avoid any 'cash only' business, as I don't want to be assisting in whatever scheme they are involved with,
be that money laundering, tax evasion, or because they have some weird belief system.
Whatever the reason, they should not be running a business.

Today most of the beggars on the street can take a card payment, so anyone running even a layby tea stop or a pop up market stall has no excuse (other than tax evasion or money laundering).

Every 'cash only' business costs each and every legitimate tax payer money, directly out of our pockets.

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[StillGoing]

FYI, Apple Pay and Google Pay are not covered by Section 75 protection

Sorry, I got it wrong!

It’s items bought an item using PayPal and some other 'modern' payment types such as Google Wallet or Curve (even if a credit card is used) that are not covered by Section 75.

 

[Odd-no-more]

Sorry, I got it wrong!

It’s items bought an item using PayPal and some other 'modern' payment types such as Google Wallet or Curve (even if a credit card is used) that are not covered by Section 75.

Not sure that's correct, when I use my phone to pay, it's just a conduit for the card, no different to tapping the card.

 

[pandas]

No way will i be using my phone for payments.
I barely use now as a phone.
Now phone camera it's used a fare bit.
And, i leave it at home most of the time, don't wantbto be tracked.

I lead a very boring life so nobody would bother to tracking me. Couple of golfing mates have a track thing that tells them where their other half is - bit sad. But possibility good for keep tabs on your children.

 

[DandJ]

I lead a very boring life so nobody would bother to tracking me. Couple of golfing mates have a track thing that tells them where their other half is - bit sad. But possibility good for keep tabs on your children.

In the years to come, for some us no doubt, a tracking phone app would be great for our offspring to keep a check on where their doddery old 'uns are.

 

[nicholsong]

One advantage of using cash is that no company that wants to farm your datta and sell it on for maketing has the data.

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[Speve]

Visa cards do seem to be harder to find. Nationwide is Visa as is Barclaycard.

Jaja credit card is Visa

 

[pandas]

One advantage of using cash is that no company that wants to farm your datta and sell it on for maketing has the data.

Every time you go on line I should think they know who you are and what you are searching.

 

[nicholsong]

Every time you go on line I should think they know who you are and what you are searching.

But not what I am spending and where and on what, so that they can annoy me with targeted ads and spam e-mail.

 

[pandas]

Yes I am inundated with incontinence pad adverts

 

[gus-lopez]

One of our local pubs is card only. Cuts down waiting at the bar and dead easy to cash up at the end of the night.

except when I order 20 pints & go to pay with cash & they are now stuck with the drinks unpaid as I refuse to use any business that does not take all payment methods. It is the another step on a slippery slope to total surveillance.

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[gus-lopez]

This does not apply to cash withdrawls or advances from the Bank!

Here in spain the only payment free option at any bank is paying in & withdrawing cash. In any amounts .takes minutes.

I was given the job a couple of years ago of paying in about £3,000 taken in by a charity drive, in a mixture of paper and coins.
We had 3 people spend an entire evening counting and bagging it.
My two local banks would not take it at all.

2023 ,Lloyds bank Tiverton .had to stand & wait whilst a woman withdrew £47,788 .48 p in cash . then she asked whether they had something she could put it in? She might have arranged it in advance but they still counted it all out at one of two open counters in front of queues of people & told us all the total.

Whatever the reason, they should not be running a business.

Why not? Because you have some perverted idea that anyone dealing in cash as a crook? It's a nonsense.
Anyone in business that does not except all types of payment should be shut down. anyone dealing card only the same.Here Repsol & Cepsa delivery gas to the door .the only payment method is cash .

 

[The Wino]

except when I order 20 pints & go to pay with cash & they are now stuck with the drinks unpaid as I refuse to use any business that does not take all payment methods. It is the another step on a slippery slope to total surveillance.

There's always a queue and they're packed out the next few in the queue will gladly buy the beer! It would seem no one else shares your fears.

 

[carolyn]

Worrying about paying with credit cards and tapping with phones is mainly a reflection of peoples’ age and mainly unfounded security fears.

I rarely use cash. Happily tap away. If I do get unsolicited emails it takes seconds to unsubscribe but I like my smartphone so use it for banking etc. and feel confident with them.

Yes problems do occur occasionally but they are rare when you consider how many transactions are happening.

I’m going to get done now

Am I worried ? No .

 

[Mr porky]

I once left a review about a Scottish Country House and estate that wouldn't take cash, I stated in the review

"I think you will find that's legal tender pal"
Please tell me you read that in a Scottish accent

Also mentioned if a Scottish business won't take Scottish notes why would anyone expect a English business to accept them.
I personally accept all notes in our business although it's getting extremely difficult for me to not go card only as it would make our life so much easier.

 

[Markman]

If you are going to The Netherlands then do get Google Wallet/Apple Pay. The whole country runs on tapping but judging a national system, not Mastercard/Visa (NatWest/Monzo/Revolut/etc). UK cards work in Schiphol, hotels, main tourist areas but not small train stations (where you cannot pay cash) or Albert Heyn/Jumbo/etc. The same credit cards work perfectly via the phone.

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