When traveling, you have to use a variety of methods of payment for services and goods. It is more convenient for some tourists to use plastic cards, while others prefer to pay only in cash. Meanwhile, there is a means of payment that successfully combines the advantages of non-cash payments with plastic cards and cash - these are traveler's checks.
If you do not like to carry a bunch of coins and bills of various denominations with you and you are afraid of losing or compromising your plastic card, take travelers checks on your trip. Travel checks are an international means of payment that can be used to pay for purchases in stores, services in cafes, hotels, bars, restaurants, at railway and airline ticket offices, at gas stations and at car rental points. In addition, they can be exchanged for cash at any time at banks or at special exchange offices. To do this, it is necessary, in the presence of the cashier, to put a second signature at the bottom of the check.
Who issues travelers checks and what do they look like?
The most famous issuer of travelers' checks is American Express. One of its owners Flemming Bury in 1891 invented this document, which for more than 120 years has been one of the most popular means of payment. Travelers' checks Visa Interpayment, Thomas Cook Mastercard, CitiCorp are in circulation today. In addition to these companies, travel checks are issued by some foreign banks and large tourist holdings.
Travelers checks are personal checks, since they indicate the name and surname of its owner. In addition, each check contains its face value, currency of payment, and the issuing company. All operations with checks are made only upon presentation of an identity document. The authenticity of a traveller's check is considered proven if the signatures of its holder on the top and bottom of the document are identical to each other.
Where to buy or exchange travelers checks?
In Russia, traveler's checks were in circulation in the 90s of the last century. They were not widely used, since Russians most often used checks as a tool for accumulating foreign currency and only occasionally purchased them for tourist trips.
The stabilization of the ruble exchange rate, the growing popularity of plastic cards and the availability of electronic payments have significantly reduced the popularity of traveler's checks, and the refusal of Sberbank to sell them through its network of branches completed the business. Since August 2013, American Express has stopped selling traveller's checks in Russia. Today in our country it is allowed to pay with traveller's checks only in duty-free shops. You can cash them in some banks, for example, in Svyaz-Bank.
The popularity of traveller's checks abroad is quite high. You can buy them at all leading banks, American Express check purchase and sale points, as well as in large hotels. You can find out the nearest point of sale of checks on the website of the issuing company. For cashing traveler's checks, a commission may be charged, the amount of which ranges from 0.5 to 2.5%.
