I heard it's better to use american based card companies like Visa. Have you tried to use others, Mastercard, Maestro...?
Reply to this mastercard works also in many many places.. so will debit cards, like link or cirrus, especially in large sities like santiago and lima, so try them first before pulling out the credit card. not sure if visa is more common than master card as i had both.. but i can say that when my visa was maxed out.. i was still able to survive on mastercard in argentina uruguay and colombia.
Reply to this My experience, thus far, was limited to Ecuador. There, the question of Visa vs. Mastercard wasn't so much the issue as cash vs. credit. Major hotels and restaurants accepted Visa and Mastercard fairly interchangeably (though not so much Amex and certainly not Discover), but otherwise Ecuador was much more a cash only country. ATM's were readily available, though you need to talk with your bank ahead of time to insure they will activate your card for the countries or region you will be in over periods of time (i.e. I gave my bank a general itinerary before I left and they activated my Visa debit card to be accepted in the region I was going to be in so I could get cash or charge items to the debit card). However, due to the exorbitant fees banks charged the business owner to process a Visa or Mastercard order, many to most places did not accept credit cards. Just my experience but I would plan to talk to my bank and just be able to withdraw cash from ATM's as needed. Keep in mind, if you have to transfer funds from one account to an account connected to an ATM online or via an ATM, you'll need to give computers a day to "catch up" when in S. America - again at least in my experience - so cash may not be immediately available if you do an online transfer.
Reply to this Mastercard and Visa work most places but I only use debit cards and have had no trouble anywhere in Sth Am.Just make sure you have $ for the next town ,when travelling in Bolivia ,as many towns don't have Cash Machines and they charge a fortune to get cash from credit cards.Being broke and getting to the next town for $ is all part of the adventure but at the time its not so much fun.In Colombia some cash machines don't accept foriegn cards but don't stress just go to the next machine.
Enjoy Sth Am ,its an incredible part of the world.
Reply to this just as a matter of interest ..is anyone using those pre-payed visa cards to travel? and how is it working out..is it working the same as a normal visa credit card? but perhaps without as many charges?
Reply to this I went to my bank ,in Australia, 3 or 4 years ago to get a Visa Debit card for travelling.They told me that they are no different to a normal Debit card except they have online protection like Credit cards.So the only advantage of having one is online shopping.But I am no expert.As I said in last entry ,I have only ever used my Australian debit card and have had no trouble what so ever.
But I will say BE CAREFUL remembering your card.In all the world you take your card from the machine then get your $ but in many parts of Sth Am you get your $ then your card so me ,and many others ,have taken the $ and walked away without the card.You have to reenter your pin to do 2nd transaction ,so $ is safe enough, but trying to organise a replacement card from the Peruvian jungle is a drama.
I also sugest you have a 2nd account with not much in it.You can use this as a give away if you're robbed or if you lose main card you can have $ transfered or family can lend you $
Reply to this My experience of 6 months travelling from Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Columbia and finally Brazil. We took credit and debit cards with us. Every time we tried to use a credit card the facility was "broken" not once did we used it (mastercard) We used to withdraw small amounts 100 pounds at a time and use debit cards from cash machines which weren't a problem
Reply to this Did you also try Maestro cards? We will take mixture of credit and debit cards and of course will prefer to use debit cards.
Thanks for all your advice.
Reply to this I use my Visa debit card all the time in chile were ever visa is accepted and have never had problems. I have also used it a number of times at a whole bunch of different ATM machines.
Reply to this does anyone know what te average charges are for using a cash point in most SA countries!?
Reply to this If you mean a debit card connected to your bank account, I don't remember paying very high fees from the ATM, if there was a fee at all. Keep in mind your home bank may charge their own fee, however, and there was usually a small international currency fee. That said, I found it worthwhile to pay the fee as opposed to carry large amounts of cash.
Reply to this Australian banks charge 5% of the withdrawn amount + the local bank fees ,around US$2 a time
Reply to this Thats quite a large percentage really...im weighing up my options on ways to carry money in SA, carrying loads of cash is obviously out of the question. At the moment, either a debit or credit card seems to be the best way. although i do beleive you a protected more with a credit card
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