Many people wonder if they should travel with credit cards or leave them at home. Definitely plan to take credit cards with you when you travel, even when you travel abroad. Notifying your card company isn’t required, but it’s a good idea to protect yourself and ensure that you can use your card on your trip.

It’s a good idea to let your card companies or bank know when and where you’ll be traveling. With identity theft being such a problem these days, your credit card companies may grow suspicious if they see an unusual spending pattern. For example, if they see some charges in Paris when you live in Cleveland, they might block charges on your card to protect you from fraud.

Travel with only a couple of charge cards and your ATM card. You don’t want to have a lot of cards at risk, but you do want to have more than one type of card. It’s a good idea because if something happens and one card can’t be used, you’ll have a backup. If two of you are traveling as a couple, consider carrying different credit cards. This will give you even more options.

Some places only take Visa; some only take MasterCard. Pick one or two of each and leave the rest at home. American Express may say “Don’t leave home without it,” but there are many places that won’t take their card. It’s a good card to have, but it’s also good to know its limitations.

If you plan to rent a car, sometimes car rental companies will put a large charge on your card at the beginning as a deposit, which leaves you with less on your credit line. Your backup cards will ensure you always can use a card. You do want to charge the car on a card that will cover collision damage waiver. That will save you money.

Credit card companies have started adding international transaction fees. Visa and MasterCard have charged a 1% fee for years, but now some banks that issue the card also tack on a 1-2 percent foreign transaction fee in addition to that. Find out what your bank or credit card companies charge before you use them. There are a handful of cards which don’t charge any fees at all.

Don’t let foreign vendors charge the bill for you in dollars. It may seem like they are doing you a service, but you’ll probably end up paying more. The dollar amount you are charged may be at a crummy exchange rate (way worse than you’d get with your credit card or ATM), and you’re card company will still likely charge you a foreign transaction fee.

Credit cards are accepted in more places all the time, but there are still many small B&Bs, restaurants and shops that take only cash. In some less developed countries you may find you need to pay in cash most places. In some places if you want to pay with your credit card, they may add 3-5 percent onto your bill to make up for the fees that they are charged. So take a few credit cards when traveling, but change plenty of money so you are prepared to pay cash.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 at 3:49 pm and is filed under Adventure Travel, Travel Basics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.