Old travellers cheques

Slinkyswimmer

Have found an old US$20 travellers cheque issued by Thomas Cook. They say they don't deal in travellers cheques anymore, my bank says same thing and refused to take it to pay into my account. Post Office will only deal with those they have issued. I was directed to Kanoo (something to do with American Express apparently) who offered me £5. I know this issue has been posted before but none of the answers seem to have worked. Any more ideas? I am unlikely to be going to the USA to use it there.

Kernow666

Take what you can £5 is better than nothing , $20 is worth about £13 at todays prices you the time you spend checking around I doubt you will find anywhere else

Roger1

As a general rule, travellers' cheques are valid indefinitely. American Express had such a message on theirs, and of course benefited from interest-free 'loans' from the TC holders who held on to them.

As yours is from Thomas Cook, they should have responsibility for it. A Thomas Cook travel agent will give you the brush off. (These days, they deal in package holidays and not much else. A great history disappeared. )

Escalate the matter! I'm sure they wouldn't want you to contact the Daily Mail with the story. Or if that's too much bother for $20, forget it.

Slinkyswimmer

The local post office are going to try to find out the legal position for me. Yes I could take the £5 from Kanoo but I thought that £8 'fee' was a bit steep. Might well escalate it. My bank was less than helpful and said they had had someone in the previous week with a significant number of travellers cheques and they were unable to help him either. Thanks for posting.

Voyager2002

Slinkyswimmer wrote: »

Have found an old US$20 travellers cheque issued by Thomas Cook. They say they don't deal in travellers cheques anymore, my bank says same thing and refused to take it to pay into my account. Post Office will only deal with those they have issued. I was directed to Kanoo (something to do with American Express apparently) who offered me £5. I know this issue has been posted before but none of the answers seem to have worked. Any more ideas? I am unlikely to be going to the USA to use it there.

You can use it next time you go to Cambodia.

George_Michael

Travelex used to accept TC travellers cheques and may well still do so.
Try giving them a call or sending an e-mail.
01733 279760


[EMAIL="travellerscheques@travelex.com"]travellerscheques@travelex.com[/EMAIL]

zagfles

You could just pay it into your bank account. Find out how much they'd charge for a foreign currency cheque. It shouldn't matter that it's a traveller's cheque, they should accept it just like a personal cheque.

Slinkyswimmer

Thanks for the suggestion of payng it into my bank account. I have already tried that but HSBC are adamant that they don't take travellers cheques any more. I asked if that was their official position and told that it was. They had already checked it for another customer with same problem.

Kernow666

George_Michael wrote: »

Travelex used to accept TC travellers cheques and may well still do so.
Try giving them a call or sending an e-mail.
01733 279760


[EMAIL="travellerscheques@travelex.com"]travellerscheques@travelex.com[/EMAIL]

will only by back if issued by them

System

Would you not be better finding a charity that takes US dollars and paying the cheque to them?

Slinkyswimmer

That would be a great solution but not sure how to do it. I signed the cheques when I bought them and then they have to be signed again in the presence of the person cashing them. I don't think I can just give them away to a charity as they won't be able to cash them. If you know how this could be done then I would be happy to do it.