Cuba

grumps007

Hi.
We are going to Cuba shortly and cant understand the credit card problems linked to America. Can anyone tell us which credit/debit cards we can use.

Alan_Bowen

You cannot use any issued or linked to a US banks, so no Amex, Diners, MBNA or Capital One for example. Barclays or HSBC should be fine

[Deleted User]

grumps007 wrote: »

Hi.
We are going to Cuba shortly and cant understand the credit card problems linked to America. Can anyone tell us which credit/debit cards we can use.

Take plenty of USD in cash - the Cubans do love the yankee dollar and you get much more bang for your buck.

Voyager2002

Deleted_User wrote: »

Take plenty of USD in cash - the Cubans do love the yankee dollar and you get much more bang for your buck.

No!

There is a special ten per cent tax on transactions involving US dollars, so you would do better taking pounds sterling cash, or Euro, or....

Voyager2002

Alan_Bowen wrote: »

You cannot use any issued or linked to a US banks, so no Amex, Diners, MBNA or Capital One for example. Barclays or HSBC should be fine

Agreed. Interestingly, I found that Metro Bank was just fine (that was before they started charging for use outside Europe).

Note that ATMs will only accept visa cards but I used my Mastercard inside banks and Cadecas (money-changers) to get a better exchange rate than would have been possible with cash. Some banks are very slow, but Cadecas are quick and efficient despite the long queues.

InsideInsurance

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Interestingly, I found that Metro Bank was just fine

Why interestingly? Who did you think their USA based parent company was?

There is an american chap that's the founder but the US sanctions are not so wide ranging that it applies to any company with american employees/ directors

[Deleted User]

Voyager2002 wrote: »

No!

There is a special ten per cent tax on transactions involving US dollars, so you would do better taking pounds sterling cash, or Euro, or....

Trust me, Cubans love dollars.
I'm talking real Cubans and not the ones you meet in tourist shops.

Voyager2002

Deleted_User wrote: »

Trust me, Cubans love dollars.
I'm talking real Cubans and not the ones you meet in tourist shops.

And I was talking about banks, money-changers and anywhere else you can legally get CUC or CUP for foreign currency.

Cubans who make their living from foreigners love money of all kinds, while those I met in rural areas (just as real as your friends) did not know what foreign money was, and were actually more comfortable with CUP than with CUC.

[Deleted User]

Voyager2002 wrote: »

And I was talking about banks, money-changers and anywhere else you can legally get CUC or CUP for foreign currency.

Cubans who make their living from foreigners love money of all kinds, while those I met in rural areas (just as real as your friends) did not know what foreign money was, and were actually more comfortable with CUP than with CUC.

There isn't a Cuban alive who doesn't know what a US dollar is.:rotfl: