Why you should avoid traveler's cheques?

View from Oceanario de Lisboa

I was so much into traveler's cheques, as they are safe, and in addition, their advantages are preached a lot. However, after having difficulty in encashing them in Lisbon, and spending a lot of money for this, I realized, it is a good idea to avoid it, unless you are flying with a considerably high amount of money. Your passport and a return ticket are required to obtain a standard traveler's cheque from a bank. I learned from HSBC, Colombo-06 that the maximum I can take to New Delhi from Colombo was traveler's cheque worth of 1000 Euro, when I tried to purchase 2000 Euro of traveler's cheques. To purchase the traveler's cheque of 1000 Euro (168,280 LKR), I had to pay an additional amount of around 15 Euro (2524 LKR). Since even to change the currency, we need to pay almost the same amount. Hence I don't consider this an additional expense, as my alternative would be to take the cash with me, in Euro.

However, after having difficulty in encashing them in Lisbon, and spending a lot of money for this, I realized, it is a good idea to avoid it, unless you are flying with a considerably high amount of money. Your passport and a return ticket are required to obtain a standard traveler's cheque from a bank. I learned from HSBC, Colombo-06 that the maximum I can take to New Delhi from Colombo was traveler's cheque worth of 1000 Euro, when I tried to purchase 2000 Euro of traveler's cheques. To purchase the traveler's cheque of 1000 Euro (168,280 LKR), I had to pay an additional amount of around 15 Euro (2524 LKR). Since even to change the currency, we need to pay almost the same amount. Hence I don't consider this an additional expense, as my alternative would be to take the cash with me, in Euro.Now, I am with the traveler's cheques worth 1000 Euro (100Euro * 10), in Lisbon, trying to encash them.

Interestingly, among the branches of 3 banks in IST, BPI and Santander Totta clearly declined to encash. They mentioned that they had stopped using it! Thank God, Caixa Geral de Depositos, the third bank in the campus, agreed to encash. The bank officer noted that he hadn't seen a traveler's cheque for months! I have to pay a comissao of 33.65 Euro and Imposto s/commissao of 1.35 Euro, making it 35 Euro of total commission. Deducting this from the amount of 1000 Euro, I was paid 965 Euro. Please note that the traveler's cheques are already in Euro. So this 35 Euro was a waste of money that I had to spend just because of my unwanted attraction towards the traveler's cheques. To repeat what I mentioned before, avoid traveler's cheques, unless you are planning to travel to a city full of thieves!

Now, I am with the traveler's cheques worth 1000 Euro (100Euro * 10), in Lisbon, trying to encash them. Interestingly, among the branches of 3 banks in IST, BPI and Santander Totta clearly declined to encash. They mentioned that they had stopped using it! Thank God, Caixa Geral de Depositos, the third bank in the campus, agreed to encash. The bank officer noted that he hadn't seen a traveler's cheque for months! I had to pay a comissao of 33.65 Euro and Imposto s/commissao of 1.35 Euro, making it 35 Euro of total commission (3.5%). Deducting this from the amount of 1000 Euro, I was paid 965 Euro. Please note that the traveler's cheques are already in Euro. So this 35 Euro was a waste of money that I had to spend just because of my unwanted attraction towards the traveler's cheques. To repeat what I mentioned before, avoid traveler's cheques to save your time and money, unless you are planning to travel to a city full of thieves, or if you have already confirmed that the country/city you are visiting is traveler's-cheque-friendly, and they change them at the major banks or shopping centers for free or for a minimal charge.

An update on 30/12/2012: "With effect from 1 January 2013, The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited "(Bank)" will discontinue the sale of Travellers' Cheques service, while the encashment / payment of Travellers' Cheques service will not be affected."
That is a message from my Sri Lankan bank. It seems that traveller's Cheques are becoming old-style.