Best options for carrying minimal cash while holidaying in USA?

dbentham

I will be holidaying in USA later this year for the first time and was hoping to bring as little 'hard cash' as possible.
Is it possible to buy a chip&pin type US prepaid / debit card here in Ireland or online and pre-load it with around $2000 BEFORE I set off?

Visa seem to do such a card called 'TravelMoney' but seemingly it's unavailable online. (It only seems to be available to pick-up in person, once a person reaches the US.)

http://usa.visa.com/personal/cards/prepaid/travelmoney-online.jsp

From what I'm hearing, it's not ideal to simply top-up my Irish bank a/c and use my Irish Visa Debit card for transactions or ATM withdrawals over there, as usage / foreign exchange charges are incurred every time.


* MODs I was unsure if this thread should be in the Banking or the Travel forum. Please move if appropriate. *

Thanks.

BuffyBot

There are multiple pre-paid products out there (O2 Money, Rubycard, Payzone etc) - however they all have sort of fees attached just as a normal Visa Debit/Credit card will so you'll need to research which ones works out better for you.

coylemj

What about the new O2 VISA card? http://www.o2online.ie/o2/o2-money/

They say it 'can be used anywhere you see the VISA sign' though there is a hefty 2.75% surcharge for non-Euro transactions. That said, there is about a 1.5% FX charge on regular cards anyway so maybe it's not as bad as it sounds.

Whatever you do, make sure that you have some kind of plastic when you get to the US because you will not be able to book a hotel over the phone without plastic and if you do arrive at a hotel and say you're paying cash, you will be treated as a second-class guest, don't expect the red carpet to be rolled out!

From a practical perspective, not being able to book a hotel over the phone will mean that you will need to plan on arriving in each town earlier than you might like because you will need to walk in to several hotels to negotiate a good rate. Arriving in the early evening would not be a good idea in case there is some local event happening and all the hotels are full, you really must have plastic if you're travelling around the US.

Laphroaig52

dbentham wrote: »

From what I'm hearing, it's not ideal to simply top-up my Irish bank a/c and use my Irish Visa Debit card for transactions or ATM withdrawals over there, as usage / foreign exchange charges are incurred every time.

You will pay €1.27 for each withdrawal. On top of that some ATMs will charge $2.5 per transaction. I don't think they all do but the ones you see in bars and restaurants often do.

I have never seen an explicit charge for a POS transacton.

By the way, don't worry about "Chip and Pin" in the US - it is not commonly used there at all. You will have to sign for all your transactions irregardless.......just under the space for the "TIP"

dbentham

Hi again,
Just to revisit this topic...
I'm very tempted to change Euros to Dollars in the very near future. The FX rates have never been better!

But to do so brings me back to the original point. Does anyone know of any prepay US cards that I could get delivered to Ireland, or am I just better off waiting until I arrive and purchasing one & loading it then?

Although I have Irish Debit and Credit Visa Cards, it is not possible to load these with USD at any time