Have more than one money source when traveling!

[WillTravel]

Someone I know found that his debit card was not working when he went to pay a bill with it. After some hours, he found that the bank said that his card had somehow been compromised the day before, probably at a gas station, and so they had canceled it. Of course they had not notified him. It's easy to get a new card when you are in your home city, of course, but it would not be quite so easy when traveling.

So my suggestions (admittedly, I'm not always as careful as I should be):
* Have a credit card on which you can take cash advances. Avoid this if you possibly can, because it tends to be ridiculously expensive, but it's nice to have this as a backup.
* Try to get another backup debit card for your trip.
* Keep a ready reserve of 200 Euros or so (or equivalent in USD, in which case you lose on conversion), so you aren't left penniless by a card failure.
* If you start to run low on cash, remember that most grocery stores (at least in western Europe) take credit cards. As a general rule, but not always, restaurants that take credit cards tend to be more expensive, but it's an option to consider.

[Mikul]

When I took my trip, I had 1 main debit card, 1 backup debit, 2 credit cards, and about $100 USD. Thankfully, I never had a problem with my main debit card.

On my first day of arrival in Europe, I went to an ATM and forgot my card in the machine. I was lucky enough to have the customer behind me let me know I forgot it. That could have been an awful way of starting a trip.

[Eagle]

WT,

Your Post is a good reminder to always have a "backup source" for cash while travelling. I always travel with at least one backup ATM card, as well as at least one credit card.

On my trip last year, I had problems with my primary ATM card (a card which has always worked flawlessly in the past). The problem was apparently some kind of "coding issue" between the banks, and it took 10-days to correct. Fortunately my backup ATM card worked without any problems.

I also learned the value of travelling with a Cellphone. My bank had noticed the unsuccessful attempts using my primary card, followed by the successful withdrawal using my secondary card. This must have raised some "red flags" as after several days they called me to find out what was going on. Had they not been able to reach me, they would have locked-out BOTH CARDS!

This is also a good reminder to ALWAYS notify your Bank when travelling, as if they notice unusual spending patterns, they might just deactivate the ATM card.

Cheers!