I know travelers checks are old-fashioned and expensive, but I always like to have a couple hundred dollars worth for emergencies. Having access to money in different ways seems prudent to me, so I like to have some US dollars, local cash, credit cards, atm cards, and travelers checks.

So today I set off to purchase $200 in T/Cs. Sounds simple, but several banks told me that they only sell them to people who have accounts there. Since I have my bank account through my broker, and don't have a brick and mortar bank anywhere, I was dumbfounded. I finally got them at AAA, with the only issue being that I had to pay the 1% fee, since I'm not a member.

Has anyone else had trouble getting travelers checks? Or am I the only one without a brick and mortar bank? I can't be. Half of my friends do internet-only banking.

We had a similar issue changing pounds to Aussie dollars for my parents. The bank would only give my parents Aussie dollars since I had an account there.

I've always had physical banks as well as internet only banks so I've not come across this issue with travellers cheques, since I like them too.

Regards,
Karen

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Travellers cheques are going the way of the dodo bird, I'm afraid. It used to be that every bank here in Europe had a "Change" desk for exchanging foreign money. With the euro and all forms of electronic banking, it's getting to be like in the US, where you have to notify your bank in advance if you want foreign currency - and then wait a couple days for them to order it for you.

Not sure how to do it with a US based card, but it has always been possible to withdraw cash from your home bank account using a bank machine in whatever country you find yourself in. When I was travelling lots I used to hit the bank machine in the airport on arrival to get a small stash of local cash for the trip. Usually winds up being much cheaper than t/c's.
Cheers,
Bev

My daughter has a bank account in the UK that allows her to draw cash all over the world commission free, and with reasonable conversion rates. My account in Spain allows me to do the same all over Europe.

I got my last TC's from Travelex. You can order on line but have to go to their offices (normally at airports) to collect.

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Well, when your bank card is stolen, or there aren't any machines on the network you are on (I have mastercard and some countries in Central Amercia don't have any mastercard atms), they are nice to have. I agree that they are on their way out, but as long as I can have another way to protect myself financially, I'm going to use it. I get four or five $50 checks every couple of years.