Commission Free Sterling Travellers Cheques!?

bud21

Hi everyone,


I’ve been looking all over the Internet and can’t seem to find anyway of avoiding the rip off charges / commission applied to purchasing sterling travellers cheques.
Does anyone know if/where I can buy sterling travellers cheques, commission free or at no cost to myself?


I live in Northern Ireland but am willing to purchase them over the Internet or by telephone from any company that is compliant with the FSA, as long as it doesn’t cost me a fortune!


Holidays are expensive enough at the minute without companies trying to charge up to £50 for providing travellers cheques. This is scandalous and hopefully some of you finance-savvy people on these forums will be able to help!

I have been told that companies are trying to phase out travellers cheques and replace them with pre-pay cards but I don’t like the idea of all the transaction fees that are applied when money is taken out of the pre-pay cards that I would top up before I go on holiday.


Any help would be greatly appreciated!


Kind regards,


Tony

TakeThis

bud21 wrote: »

Hi everyone,


I’ve been looking all over the Internet and can’t seem to find anyway of avoiding the rip off charges / commission applied to purchasing sterling travellers cheques.
Does anyone know if/where I can buy sterling travellers cheques, commission free or at no cost to myself?


I live in Northern Ireland but am willing to purchase them over the Internet or by telephone from any company that is compliant with the FSA, as long as it doesn’t cost me a fortune!


Holidays are expensive enough at the minute without companies trying to charge up to £50 for providing travellers cheques. This is scandalous and hopefully some of you finance-savvy people on these forums will be able to help!

I have been told that companies are trying to phase out travellers cheques and replace them with pre-pay cards but I don’t like the idea of all the transaction fees that are applied when money is taken out of the pre-pay cards that I would top up before I go on holiday.


Any help would be greatly appreciated!


Kind regards,


Tony

The usual fee is 1.5%. Hardly a 'rip off'.

The same goes for the Prepaid Cards, one of the best charges 'only' 1.49%. Less if you go via a cashback website.

Travelex Cash Passport Globe ordered via TopCashBack or Quidco (if you have an existing Quidco account).

Cashback website > Travelex > Globe card.

Do not load the Prepaid card with any of these bank cards(as they may treat it as a cash withdrawal): Barclays, Lloyds TSB, Natwest, Santander or RBS. Co-op may charge too, but may refund if pressed(Simply because there is nothing in their T&Cs about this charge).

There are no other fees attached to using this card abroad, other than the 1.49% transaction fee.

dzug1

What's 'rip off' about it? They cost to provide, they cost to guarantee and to replace if fraudulently used. Why do you expect to get away without paying towards that?

And you'll pay through the nose when you cash them, overseas at least.

loobs40

have you read http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-travel-money ?

I don't know anyone who uses Traveller Cheques . Where are you going on holiday ?

PolishBigSpender

dzug1 wrote: »

What's 'rip off' about it? They cost to provide, they cost to guarantee and to replace if fraudulently used. Why do you expect to get away without paying towards that?

Of course, the modern MSE'er demands that such things come for free, and preferably with some extra cashback and Tesco Clubcard points, too!

I have said for years - MSE has very much created a culture of "take, take, take" with absolutely no consideration as to what it actually costs to provide the service. A commission of 1.5% to provide such a service is incredibly reasonable.

benjus

Just to address the original question, Lloyd's TSB offers commission-free Sterling TCs when bought over the phone: http://www.lloydstsb.com/travel_main_page.asp

Sterling TCs might be a reasonable option as a back-up to whatever cards etc you carry, as they are much easier to replace if lost or stolen. Just don't use them unless you *really* have to, and cash them in again when you get back to the UK. I wouldn't do this personally, but I can see that there is some sense to it. Also worth considering if the country you are travelling to imposes hefty charges of its own on ATM use.

Like the other posters here, I would say that cards are a much cheaper and easier option than TCs. The OP talks about charges when using cards, but fails to realise that TCs are quite a lot more expensive than that - do you really think you'll get a great exchange rate when you change those Sterling TCs into local cash?

dzug1

PolishBigSpender wrote: »

. A commission of 1.5% to provide such a service is incredibly reasonable.

Bear in mind that the PO charge 12.5% (more for some low values)for a similar service (postal orders) and I doubt it's that profitable.

PolishBigSpender

dzug1 wrote: »

Bear in mind that the PO charge 12.5% (more for some low values)for a similar service (postal orders) and I doubt it's that profitable.

I'm surprised they're still offered in the UK, I haven't seen anyone offering them here in a long, long time. As far as I know, they were mostly used by people travelling to Poland during the Communist era from other Warsaw Pact countries due to restrictions on exporting currency.

I do know that some Poles used them to bring a lot of cash into the EU pre-2004 - they were never questioned at the border, unlike if you were carrying in a lot of cash.

Are they still commonly accepted in the world?

Andream

Some places charge quite alot for taking cash from an atm which if you need alot of cash can add up to quite alot of money, what is the problem with using travellers cheques rather than a card, it is still safer than carrying large amounts of cash, yes they might seem a little old fashion but in certain places they are cashed easily and commission free. It is a personal choice and whichever is best suited to your destination.

dzug1

Andream wrote: »

Some places charge quite alot for taking cash from an atm which if you need alot of cash can add up to quite alot of money, what is the problem with using travellers cheques rather than a card, it is still safer than carrying large amounts of cash, yes they might seem a little old fashion but in certain places they are cashed easily and commission free. It is a personal choice and whichever is best suited to your destination.

As a generalisation, using TCs will cost more than using a card. They cost quite a lot either when you buy them or when you cash them or both. 'commission free' is a total myth. It might not be called 'commission' but it's there.

And there are very few destinations where they are cashed 'easily'

benjus

dzug1 wrote: »

'commission free' is a total myth

Unless you're paying £100 for each £100 worth of Sterling Travellers' Cheques.

But in general, the term "commission free" does annoy me quite a bit, as it is usually meaningless.