I lost my bank card, had it stolen, or worst, my bank card is demagnetized and I have no access to my money!! WTF?!?!!?
prevention:
- Have multiple bank accounts, this is especially important if you’re traveling alone and don’t have a significant other or friends to bail you out. Avoid bank fees by having a free bank account. You won’t be using your secondary bank account everyday, so you don’t need any fancy bells and whistles like no international ATM fees. Keep a decent amount of money (A grand don’t come for free, but it can get you out of most situations) and only use it in case of emergency. Replace it as soon as it’s spent.Having a credit card with you can have a similar effect, but will probably cost you a lot more in cash advance fees. Try to keep your credit card only for point purchases or purchases that you can’t make with your bank card.
- Have the contact information for someone trustworthy back at home that can receive mail for you should the necessity arise.
- Don’t keep your bank cards together, that kills two birds with one stone, first, you’re less likely to have them both stolen at the same time, second, you’re less likely to have them both demagnetized at the same time.
- Always make sure you put your bank card back in your wallet when you’ve finished your transaction.
- Keep fresh unfolded, unwrinkled, US dollars (or Euros, depending on your location) on you for emergencies, long enough to get you through the waiting period for getting a new card sent to you in your part of the world. The more remote the location the longer your card will take, but the cheaper the cost of living, and vice-versa… $500 should get you comfortably out of any situation, but you can probably make do just fine with $250… time to discover the pleasures of street food and dorm rooms!!!
- Write down your banking information in your address book in an encrypted way so you have the phone number of your bank as well as your account number, but someone would not be able to know that it’s your bank information.
solution:
- Depending on your bank and location the solution can be quick and painless or long and strenuous. If you’re somewhere with a limited or non-existent mailing service, it can be difficult but not impossible.
- Most of the time you’ll call your bank (the number is usually on the bank of your bank card, so if you lost it and you didn’t write it down you’re shit out of luck, hopefully you have access to the internet.) So, call your bank, tell them you need a new card rushed to you ASAP at your current address. If you’re like me and you don’t have a current address and the card needs to be sent to a PO box, your bank won’t like that, so have it sent home where someone can sign for it and then forwarded to your PO-box.
- Make sure that you can still sign in to your online banking if they cancel your old card, or to give you another solution if you can’t.
- This is much easier to do if you informed your bank ahead of time that you were traveling for an extended period of time, and given them the name and address of your emergency contact, and made sure they actually put all that info on file. Banks don’t like new information, it’s hard to process and doesn’t fit into their pre-recorded scenarios. The less curve balls you throw at them the less friction you will run into.
- Hopefully you still have your crisp emergency stash… ration it wisely.
Good solid advice and a lot of common sense.
Thanks Pedro, we’re glad you’re on the same page :)
Oh boy.. I can’t understand people who travel on credit. I know at least a couple of backpackers who first spend on travel and then go to work for several months to pay the bill. Wouldn’t it make more sense to do it the other way around? I’d enjoy my travels way more knowing I’m using my hard earn money, without having to worry about what comes up next!..
Good tips! :)
Right there with you Zara! But to each their own. It’s hard for some people to save up sometimes, and I can understand how the motivation of paying off debt could get one to buckle down more effectively than the more abstract goal of saving.
Learned this lesson while traveling with a student group. The bank ATM ate a student’s Visa card. It was Sunday and we were just visiting for the day.
Lesson 1: If possible, only use the bank ATM while the bank is open.
Lesson 2: If you can locate a commercial bank you can draw money off your Visa card without using the machine.
Lesson 3: On short trips I overpay my Visa before leaving and use that card as a Debit card while away.
All good solid advice. I hope you guys worked it out with the student.
What is it you do John?
Hello Jade,
Thanks for the comment.
We were in Siena on a Sunday but it was close to the end of the trip so I just loaned money to the student. Upsetting, but not a disaster. Nonetheless it was a lesson regarding weekend travel that was never forgotten.
I’m a high school teacher in Nova Scotia. Our European trip is intended to introduce students to the roots of our culture (London, Paris, Florence and Rome) and to simply give them the confidence to travel independently. Many do.
thanks~John
On Twitter @papapigeon (Our tours are called Pigeon Tours)
That’s really cool John! I didn’t know Nova Scotia had such a program! Another reason to add to the list of things I love about my adoptive country!
I’ll look into it more!
Great article.
My first trip to Japan, with school they told us to only take travellers cheques. Near impossible to find somewhere to cash them :(
We have 1 credit card for limited use. Was great when we decided to leave Paris early for Brussels. We only like to spend what we actually have in our account at the time.
Traveler’s cheques, does anyone even use those anymore?!!?
Having credits cards is great, if you know how to use them well, they definitely can work to your advantage, with points and everything. Unfortunately most people slack in the department and end up paying more in interest than they get back in points.
I’ve been knows to be guilty of this!
I’m glad you’re on your game!
Good solid advice and a lot of common sense.
I was shocked about the first picture.
Thanks Wesley. Glad to be of service. :)
Isn’t that photo great? Her name is Erica Simone. She has a whole series call Nue York where she strips naked in awkward NYC situations. Check it out: http://ericasimone.com/gallery/nue-york-collection
Great advise! Mostly these are things I know I should do, but am often too unorganised to sort out before I leave. …apart from having a spare emergency back-up fund. Usually that is just my travel fund!
This post was very useful! I spend last October in Argentina and in my last week I was in Ushuaia. I didn´t have much money with me but I had my credit card, so I wasn´t that worried… however, once I checked-in in the hostel I was staying they only accepted ‘fresh money’. As a result, I got only 150 pesos (+- 10 euros) for 3 days, so I went to get money from the ATM. It was really hard because apparently in Ushuaia sometimes ATM don´t have money and my card was not accepted in many machines… only on the second day and after 12 AMTs I made it!!!! Now I know that next time I should take two different credit cards… :)
PedroL
Wow Pedrol! That sounds like a frustrating experience. I’m glad everything turned out alright!
Also sounds like you had a great trip though!
Thank you for the very informative article Jade!
If I may suggest one rather important point to highlight to your readers would be the following. Be careful of what some travellers may at first hand consider to be “relatively” safe storage options. For example, luggage with regular zippers are not at all safe! These can be easily opened with something as simple as a ballpoint pen and resealed without ones knowledge
If available I would suggest enquiring with your hotel about the availability of safes in rooms and even safes located at the reception desk. Even if such safes are available, remember that to avoid problems with guests loosing their access code or safe keys, the hotel security or management will typically have spare keys securely locked away. Just to be extra safe ensure that you keep a small, light-weight, tamperproof, lockable container or bag that can be placed inside such a hotel safe. It doesn’t have to be heavy-duty, it only has to serve as a deterrent. ;-)
I trust the above adds value to you and your readers :-)
Chris
Thank you Chris,
I do think that is all very valuable info for our readers. Thanks for taking the time to read and post your comment here!
All the best,
Jade