How should I bring money to America?

Dunners182

Hi all.
I'm going to the US in the next few days and Im not sure about the best way to bring money there. should I take out the cash and exchange it into dollars here? or use my visa/debit in the ATMs and shops over there?

juice1304

I usually bring cash, Travelers checks and if the need arises use my visa debit.

Dunners182

But which way works out better financially? The exchange rate and fees here or the card charges over there?

Donaldio

Maybe a little bit of both you should try to plan a budget eg how much do you expect to spend ?
Also how much would you be charged by you bank for useing a card ? Debit might be safer if you were to be robbed but might be more expensive then again maybe you spend more if you carried about allot of cash ? I think the best thing is whatever method you use just spend money on the esential or basic stuff the more important thing is just to be there and take the place in.

Donaldio

the more you use your card the more you are charged so..

lil_lisa

I agree. I would talk to my bank and find out what the charges are. The cheapest way I always find is to top up my credit card and use that. You usually get minimal charges on your credit card and a lot of places in big cities accept credit cards.

ProudDUB

Irish banks put a limit on how much you can withdraw from ATM's that are outside the Eurozone. Sometimes it is as little as 100 quid per day, or per 24 hr period. (This is to protect travelers & the banks) from incurring big losses if their cards are stolen while traveling.) So if bear that in mind if you were planning on using ATM's in the States to get your hands on cash while traveling. The fees will be quite high too, if you are using a foreign card, so I'd avoid ATM's if you can possibly help it, and just bring cash with you, or use your plastic to pay for stuff.

iusedtoknow

whenever i'd travel here for work before moving

I'd bring about $200 in cash and do the rest of the trip on my topped up credit card. Pretty much everywhere here takes cards, I rarely if ever use cash, 80% of my life is on debit card, the rest on credit

Ponster

I posted in the Travel forum a couple of years back on the different options and went through the major Irish banks looking at their foreign transaction fees. I'll try and find the thread.

I discovered that most of the time it was a lot cheaper to take some $ with you and just use your debit card to take out cash, the maximum amount at each time (depending on your spending habits of course).

I think it's been over 20 years since I traveled somewhere where I didn't just reply on credit/debit cards though sometimes you do have to pay extra for the convenience and piece of mind.

Ewa24

Hi All,
I'm in a similar situation- traveling to the US in the next few days and not sure how ill bring money over. I'm with the Ulster bank and I'm not sure will my card work over in the US? If it does Im worried there'll be a high charge on it also. Does anyone know anything about an alternative card I could get that works in the US, that I could top up here at home before I go? Also, how does Currency Fair work?
Thanks!

rossie1977

Ewa24 wrote: »

Hi All,
I'm in a similar situation- traveling to the US in the next few days and not sure how ill bring money over. I'm with the Ulster bank and I'm not sure will my card work over in the US? !

i am with ulster bank and both my debit and credit cards have always worked in the states in shops/atms etc. they charge a small fee but no more than a bank would charge to change euro into dollars over the counter.

i wouldn't advise anyone to bring a big amount of cash on holiday.

SpaceTime

You'll have absolutely no issue whatsoever using any Irish-issued credit card, and unless you still have an old Laser card, you shouldn't have any problems using Visa or MasterCard debit either.
They'll be processed as if they're credit cards.

Find out what the transaction fees are per debit or credit card use in the US from your bank and check what their exchange rates are.

Do not accept a price in € in the US if the credit card machine offers to let you pay in Euro it as invariably it's a complete rip off. Some machines offer local currency transactions like that.

Also BRING MULTIPLE CARDS! Do not rely on a single card. If you lose it you're completely screwed. So, if you have a credit and debit card bring both and keep them separately. Or if you've two current accounts, bring both cards and keep them safely in different places.

If you're using ATMs in the USA, make sure you try to use a bank one rather than a privately owned one in a shop or whatever. Unlike in Ireland in-store ATMs can levy pretty big fees on the transaction sometimes, although they are well-advertised on the screen beforehand.

Chip and PIN is available on some terminals in the US, but it's not widely used at this stage. So, make sure all your cards are signed. If you've no signature on the card (as many people in Europe don't bother to sign them anymore due to chip and PIN) you will cause all sorts of fuss if a retailer decides to query the card.

Card technology wise you're taking a trip back to the 1990s when you're over there.

Also, depending on where you're going in the US, I would really be a little careful about carrying large volumes of cash or keeping it in your hotel room. Make sure that you do not flash cash around or advertise that you have a large quantity on you.

If you're entering the US with very large volumes of cash, also be aware that you could be questioned about why you're bringing it in by the US Customs service. They're not all that free and easy about large quantities of cash. Although, you'd really want to be talking about thousands of US$.

Also, take care of your cards as due to the lack of chip and PIN over there physical card skimming fraud is quite a big issue at a retail level. So don't let your card go out of sight e.g. by handing it to a waiter.

If you're there as a visa holder or need to transact stuff, you should open a US account. They're a lot less caught up with red tape on account opening than we are and you won't need anything like the level of documentation to get a basic checking account (current account) from most banks.

If you're a J1 visa holder or anything like that, you should probably have a social security number too.

Also, make 100% sure that you have the following details from your bank:

1) Online banking & phone banking should be setup and working.
2) Any code cards / readers you need to access them should be brought with you (you'd never know when you might need to set something up). If you're with Bank of Ireland, make sure that you setup mobile phone authorisation as otherwise you need to get physical letters sent to you for various types of transaction.
3) Make 100% sure you have the bank's phone numbers for telephone banking and that they're dilatable from abroad. Do not just use the 1800 / 1850 number, as they cannot be dialled from outside Ireland.
4) Make sure that someone in Ireland e.g. a family member has your bank account details should they need to lodge emergency cash e.g. parent, spouse, or someone like that.

Also, sometimes banks systems can block cards when they're used in usual patterns. So, for example using your card to withdraw cash in the US for the first time could trigger a block. So, if your card suddenly stops working, call the bank immediately as that's the most likely cause.

tricky D

ProudDUB wrote: »

Irish banks put a limit on how much you can withdraw from ATM's that are outside the Eurozone. Sometimes it is as little as 100 quid per day, or per 24 hr period. (This is to protect travelers & the banks) from incurring big losses if their cards are stolen while traveling.) So if bear that in mind if you were planning on using ATM's in the States to get your hands on cash while traveling. The fees will be quite high too, if you are using a foreign card, so I'd avoid ATM's if you can possibly help it, and just bring cash with you, or use your plastic to pay for stuff.

You can call them before leaving and they'll make sure there's no such limits or chance of transactions being flagged as suspicious.

As an aside, you won't be able to use a foreign card in many/most gas stations at the pumps as they require you enter a ZIP code. Instead you deposit cash behind the counter above the amount you intend to get and pick up the change after filling up. Ironically the cash price per gallon is cheaper than the card price.

Stojkovic

You can withdraw $500 a day on most Euro debit/credit cards in the US.

Well I did anyway.
Informed my bank before travel and they said there was no need to.

ProudDUB

Stojkovic wrote: »

You can withdraw $500 a day on most Euro debit/credit cards in the US.

Well I did anyway.
Informed my bank before travel and they said there was no need to.

The banks only brought in the new lower limits over the past year. Was your trip before that?

There have been several angry posts about it here over the past year, of people being stuck overseas and not knowing that they could only take out a hundred quid or so per day.

Stojkovic

ProudDUB wrote: »

The banks only brought in the new lower limits over the past year. Was your trip before that?

There have been several angry posts about it here over the past year, of people being stuck overseas and not knowing that they could only take out a hundred quid or so per day.

Last August.

ProudDUB

Stojkovic wrote: »

Last August.

Fair enough, but I'm only going on what I read here. If the OP does a search about the matter, they should be able to find some (rather irate) posts from earlier this year on the matter. Better to be safe than sorry. I'd be calling my bank just in case.