Travelers checks?

[Anonymous]

Seeing Taxi's thread being in Hong Kong triggered an old memory for me so I wanted to ask:

Who here has used travelers checks in the past and do any of you use an equivalent offering today for your travel cash needs?

[Anonymous]

Hi, I used traveler's check in the past (like 15 years ago). But honestly I don't know if many places really accept them anymore. They are pretty much obsolete. If you lose them you are screwed so it's just way more efficient to carry around a credit card. Most credit cards nowadays offer free foreign conversions so you won't get crushed on fees. 

[RonM21]

I was going to say, you rarely here of these anymore. To your point, I think the credit issuers and so on have stepped up that part of their coverage so much that many don't use them.

[UncleB]

Traveler's checks were rare even 20 years ago when I was still working retail.  We would take them, but we treated them as a personal check (not as cash) and required photo ID. 

More recently (around 2003) some coworkers and myself were given five $100 American Express 'Gift Checks' (total $500 each) as a reward for a project.  They were identical to Amex traveler's checks but they were gold in color and the wording was changed from 'Traveler's' to 'Gift' - the instructions for the merchant were identical as well. 

We all had mixed results with acceptance, and we were all relieved to figure out we could simply deposit them into our checking accounts rather than redeem them for purchases. 

I've not touched either a traveler's check or gift check since... if for some reason I must it will be taken straight to the bank and deposited - they are rather useless these days for purchases (MasterCard and Visa are generally the best choice now).