Travelling with cash in US

Legacy_user

I am doing summer camp and will be earning around $2,500 at the end of my contract. I will get a cheque that I can only cash in at the local county bank. I will need around $1000 spending money for a three week TrekAmerica tour soon after. I don't want to carry the other $1500 as cash due to risk of loss. Can I buy US travellers cheques with the $1500 and bring them back to the UK and cash them in? I can't bring the $2500 cheque home because UK banks take weeks to process and charge a fortune. Any ideas on the best way to get the $1500 home and be safe while I am trekking?

dzug1

Yes you can buy $US TCs and bring them home - probably even sterling ones if you want. In both instances there will probably be charges of some sort at both ends.

I wouldn't be surprised if it cost more than doing it through the bank though.

Another thought is to see if you can load it on a prepaid card of some sort - you still need to beware of charges though.

aerostar

Post number 3 is SPAM !

alanrowell

dzug1 wrote: »

Yes you can buy $US TCs and bring them home - probably even sterling ones if you want.

US doesn't issues £ TCs.

dzug1

alanrowell wrote: »

US doesn't issues £ TCs.

The Amex US site says they do.

StevieGriffin

Have done the camp myself long time ago, so not sure if it will still work, but we all used the camp's address to open the US bank account. All we needed I think was an US address, Social Security Number (I'm not sure if it's still possible to do while on J1 visa), and also a letter from employer. Wachovia Bank was the easiest one to open an account with on the East Coast - free of charge with Visa debit card.

Toe-Jam

alanrowell wrote: »

US doesn't issues £ TCs.

Of course they do !