Getting cash in USA

Hi,

Am off to the States soon. Would I be better off getting travellers' cheques or should I use my MBNA credit card and take out cash on it at ATM's (I'd be clearing balance on my return)? Also, my BOI ATM card is Cirrus only - cld I use this in the States or does it need to be Maestro?

Thanks.

Getting cash in the US

You can use cirrus in ATMs in the US to withdraw cash. Maestro is like an international Laser scheme. Check what the charges are with BOI - there is a charge of X% of the value & there is usually a minimum charge - make sure you take out fairly large amounts to avoid this minimum charge.

On MBNA, note that they charge a cash withdrawl fee in addition to the currency conversion charge & that's all before you even think about interest. And it doesn't matter if you pre-load your card with cash - they still charge cash withdrawal fees.

US money

It's been a couple of years since I was in the US but as I recall it was better to preload your credit card and use that, preferably without going into debt. Getting cash from a credit card a/c which hasn't been preloaded is very expensive.

Next is traveller's cheques though I found I also had to have my passport with me to cash those which left me a tad anxious I might lose it or it might be stolen.

I think the Cirrus facility on the ATM card would be all you need but be aware that each transaction costs quite a bit. Your bank will tell you. If you use your ATM, my suggestion would be to take out the maximum each time rather than using the card more often as the charge is applied to each transaction, not the amount withdrawn.

This is how I remember my last trip to the States although I'm open to correction or clarification by more recent travellers.

ATM vs. CCard

In general from a fees point of view i've always thought that

Eurozone - always use your ATM card as the bank can only legally charge you what they would charge to make a cash withdrawal in Ireland.

Britain - Depends on your bank - but for me (BoI) I think Credit Card usually charges a lower fee - Laser/Cirrus withdrawal fee in the UK is pretty steep

Outside Europe - Credit Card is usually cheaper (and more widely accepted in ATMs)

I know MBNA don't allow you free cash withdrawals if you have a positive credit card balance - but some banks do

Edited to add - whatever you do make sure you only make a few large withdrawals rather than a lot of smaller ones - because of the high minimum transaction fee you'll pay a lot more withdrawing 4x50€ equivalent compared to 1x200€ equivalent.

Re: ATM vs. CCard

Rang MBNA, they charge 1.5% of withdrawal amt, or €1.90 min. and charge interest from date of withdrawal.

BOI charge a flat 3.5% per withdrawal. Thus it'll be large withdrawals on MBNA for me!! I've heard you can get along fine in the USA just using your plastic in any case.

ATM vs Ccard

Be careful with MBNA. They do charge €1.90 for cash withdrawals INSIDE the eurozone.

According to my terms & conditions, they charge 2.65% for non-euro withdrawal fees & if they use an agent for the currency conversion, they pass that on too.

Also, if you make purchases with your cc in the US, they'll charge you 2.65% of the value of that too.

I rang MBNA again, and they clarified the following:

Both Eurozone and non-Eurozone countries - they charge a cash transaction fee of 1.5% of the amount withdrawn or min. of €1.90 (max. €30ish) when taking cash out on your credit card.

Outside the Eurozone, IN ADDITION to the 1.5% transaction fee they also take a commission of 2.65% on the foreign currency transaction - so in the US for example they take a whopping total commission of 4.15% of the transaction value when withdrawing money from an ATM.

If using your credit card to buy goods, you pay the 2.65% currency commission. Yet another hidden cost of travelling!

Indeed MBNA do charge the highest Foreign exchange margins of any credit card providers - have a look at the "Best Buys" link above under "Credit Cards".

However do remeber to calculate the "spread" (the difference between the buy and sell rate) on Foreign exchange if you were to go into the bank/exchange bureau and try to get US$ cash .. It's not as though you're paying 2.65% to MBNA and that if you paid with cash it would be somehow "free" (though obviously other card providers can charge a lot less than MBNA and should be used in preference)

Be very careful about pre-loading your credit card. I was reading somewhere that if the money is taken from your account and your account is in credit the issuer will not be laible for it.