Paying for RVing or traveling

[DogFatherFL]

I do most of my RVing around FL. Travel by plane to visit friends &
relatives, who farther away. Either way I need to have money. I have CC (credit cards)and DC (debit cards). But,I keep my money in mutual funds, not at banks. So, I need some emergency way to get money, if the need arose. Traveler's Checks do not work like they used to. My CCs have large spending limits, but much smaller cash advances. Any ideas on how to carry more cash available with me.

Something like a GC (gift card) with the ability to get cash at an ATM. That also is password protected. I have used Amex & Walmart GCs in the past.They worked well for me. Sometimes they even give discounts on gas.

I would think a GC with the ability to get cash at an ATM and is protected in some way, from theft or loss, would be a great product.
Anyone know of such an animal?

[Bumpyroad]

wbwood wrote:

Jack_Diane_Freedom wrote:
I would suggest a pre-paid credit card. I have often given them to my children.

You often have to watch these. They often charge a fee and will only be good for a certain amount of time.

as I recall walmart are free and no time limit. they have some unusual policies however. I once had a $10 coupon that I printed out on the computer, and didn't want to carry that around so wanted a plastic one that I could put in my billfold. they wouldn't swap me plastic for paper so I bought a gift card with my paper credit sheet and got the plastic gift card. I guess rules are rules. 🙂
bumpy

[Chris_Bryant]

Personally, I would not travel with a debit card. To get cash, just shop with a credit card at Wally World (or most grocery stores) that let you get cash back.

[wbwood]

Jack_Diane_Freedom wrote:
I would suggest a pre-paid credit card. I have often given them to my children.

You often have to watch these. They often charge a fee and will only be good for a certain amount of time.

[Jack_Diane_Free]

I would suggest a pre-paid credit card. I have often given them to my children.

[sowego]

We carry a small cash reserve but mostly use credit cards & debit cards for fuel, supplies, and campgrounds. For cash when we need it, the debit card at Wally World and get cash back during a transaction works well enough we've not used an ATM for decades.

To get cash back you will need an account to draw cash out of.

[Bumpyroad]

when I used to do a lot of traveling overseas and in the US I carried a bunch of traveler's checks. In fact I just discovered a small horde of them and bought a camera with them. the salesman didn't know how to handle this purchase so had to check with mgmt.
I made the "mistake" once of buying some in Swiss francs?/dollars/whatevers and then had the problem of cashing them in to US dollars,etc. However their value vs. the dollar jumped up and I made really good interest on them. 🙂
but can't you just open a bank account with limited funds in it that would be accessible at an ATM?
bumpy

[wbwood]

Here's the problem. You (and 99% of us) put a lot of faith in the banking system. We make and save money and out in a bank or fund to keep safe. Most of the time it is safe. But let me throw a little scenario at you. We had over $15k in our checking account. We went to a music store to purchase a flute for our daughter for school. Price was just over $500. Pulled out my debit card to make the purchase. Denied. What? Try it again. Denied again. Figured there was something physically wrong with my card. Had my wife use hers (same account), denied. Tried again. Denied. WTF? Ended up using a credit card. Called the bank immediately. Was on hold for an operator for 20 minutes. She came on. I gave her my debit card number and she could not find the account. My heart sunk right then. Poverty $15k gone. She then goes on to tell me that there was probably a glitch in the system as they did some upgrading and to go into a bank. This was after 6pm. My bank (Wells Fargo) was already closed. And it was Friday night. We had plans for dinner and some other shopping. All that came to a sudden stop. I drove across a busy street to a WF ATM to try there. It worked. I took out as much cash as I could then.

That was a scary feeling. To know that you had a good bit of money in a place for safe keeping, but couldn't get access to it. We normally don't carry cash with us, but we started that day.

[wbwood]

I agree with another poster. Why not just use your credit card for the emergency (unless you carrying a hefty balance on it). You can pay it off after the emergency and when you can access your mutual funds. You already have a credit card as mentioned. Sounds like you are making it difficult on your own self.

[mlts22]

I have a dedicated checking account with my bank just for dealing with possible credit card theft. If an incoming charge comes in that puts the balance below $0, it gets declined. End of story. No fees, just transfer money into that account, use that card, and if a thief makes off with the card, cancel it and get a new one. I just transfer enough to handle a purchase, so there isn't more than $10 in the account.

[sky_free]

Wow, that is a lot of effort, money, and risk to avoid having a bank account.

[Z-Peller]

I do most of my RVing around FL. Travel by plane to visit friends &
relatives, who farther away. Either way I need to have money. I have CC (credit cards)and DC (debit cards). But,I keep my money in mutual funds, not at banks. So, I need some emergency way to get money, if the need arose. Traveler's Checks do not work like they used to. My CCs have large spending limits, but much smaller cash advances. Any ideas on how to carry more cash available with me.

You say you use a debit card, so you must have a bank acct?....why not set up a line of credit with your bank, then use online banking to transfer money from LOC to your bank acct if needed, then use ATM for cash. When you get home you can access you Mutual funds or whatever and payout the LOC .....make LOC big enough max to cover whatever emergency money you think you might need....you only pay interest on balance owing, and pay down any amount you choose......drawing cash on a c/c is very expensive compared to a LOC.....

[Jean_S]

Remember that credit cards charge a fee on cash advances and often higher interest rates on them. That's not a good use of your money.

[Jean_S]

Your financial advisor or broker should be able to solve your problem. We also have most our money in an investment account, as you do. Our Raymond James financial advisor can arrange to have transfers made from the investment account into our checking account either at regular intervals or when we request it. That way, cash is available when we want it through our debit card, but the bulk of our money stays in the investment account. If you have a Scottrade or other similar account, you should still be able to do your trades online and have the proceeds sent directly your bank account.

[DogFatherFL]

dfm wrote:
Go to your bank or credit card issuer and have the daily cash advance limit increased.

This sounds like a possibility. I could then mail them a check to cover
the cash advance, from a money market acc at Vanguard, TRow Price or
Fidelity.

[WoodGlue]

Get yourself a SECURED CREDIT CARD from somewhere like Capital One or Bank of America or even American Express, your credit line is whatever you have on deposit with them. This is a no risk or low risk way to bank. They pay you interest on the money you have on deposit with them.

WoodGlue