Money on the Trail

[Dogwood]

Bring along at least two debit/credit cards. I was recently only carrying one ATM Debit/credit card. Although we keep getting told how safe paperless financial transactions are I was one of those 2 million people who had my ATM Debit card finacial info hacked into when I used it a Target store. The bank canceled that card and notified me they were sending me a replacement back home when I was out traveling/hiking. All I had was the cash in my wallet, which when hiking in the U.S. I typically keep $100 or less on me. Took me waiting around 3 days in town and hours with bank associates to finally have a new ATM Debit card rushed to me. LOL. I didn't even have money for coffee one morning.

[Jeff]

Whatever you decide do NOT bring travelers checks. Many stores, hostels, motels don't even know what they are !!!!!

[Old Grouse]

Your Citibank card should serve. Most ATMS here dispense only $20.00s, and that's just as well, because in many places they hesitate to accept larger denominations. I agree, try to use only ATMs at banks, not the ones in stores. Usually lower fees and much less chance of fraud.

[peakbagger]

Whatever you decide do NOT bring travelers checks. Many stores, hostels, motels don't even know what they are !!!!!

I had some travelers checks bought for a long section hike 10 years ago, I kept them in my car for emergencies. I finally cashed them in when I sold the car at the local credit union. None of the tellers knew what they were and finally had to call someone on if an how to cash them. I expect that to 99% of the trail businesses they wouldn't know one if they saw one.

[4eyedbuzzard]

If at a small town Post Office, especially early in the morning and/or on Saturdays, always ask the Clerk or Postmaster first if they have enough cash to give you some back. They typically don't open up with a lot of cash on hand.

[Coffee]

If at a small town Post Office, especially early in the morning and/or on Saturdays, always ask the Clerk or Postmaster first if they have enough cash to give you some back. They typically don't open up with a lot of cash on hand.

This has happened to me a couple of times. I got only $10 and $20 back on those occasions, less than the $50 limit. Grocery stores are usually better places to get cash back. But small town groceries usually don't do cash back at all. I really need to get an ATM card with a fee refund/waiver feature.

[tiptoe]

My bank (a small, local one) phased out traveler's checks a couple of years ago. I found that out when I was getting ready for a trip to Burkina Faso, which honors only Visa.

[theoilman]

The US is still on stripes, but converting to chip cards starting Oct 2015

[hikeandbike5]

I don't know how ATMs in the US work but sometimes you will encounter problems with large withdrawals when you are only issued very large denomination notes. Small businesses often struggle to change them.

atms in the us do not work like that.
they distribute 20s, 10s if you're lucky, and 5s if you're very very lucky.

[brybur208]

Never had a problem using my visa.

[shelb]

As they said, avoid the towns! Use them only for resupply!~ This will save tremendously.