Keep your money safe abroad

Money trouble abroad is not an uncommon thing. Things happen! A bad exchange rate here, a sketchy ATM there, losing the only card you brought with you. All of it is preventable with a setup you can do before you leave.

The setup

• Two cards, two places. One on you, one at the accommodation. If you only carry one card and lose it, you're lost with no avenue to pay for hotels, transit, etc.
• A day of cash in small bills. Markets, tips, and the taxi whose card machine is somehow "broken".
• Get an RFID-blocking wallet, and prefer Apple / Android pay for daily spending. Skimmers cannot intercept payments made with your phone.
• Know how to freeze / lock your cards through the bank's app. In the event that they are lost, you don't want to be waiting on hold for your bank.

Be ATM smart

• Prefer machines inside banks during opening hours. You're much less likely to be victim to skimming in a monitored bank.
• Check the card machine for skimmers. They often sit over top of the card insert, or act as a fake keypad.
• Shield the PIN with your other hand. Never expose your card details.
• Decline the ATM’s own currency conversion too. Same trap, different look.
• Get cash for the country you are visiting before you visit. Your bank will often have the best rate you can find, and it is safest!

Keep this in mind.

Somewhere, a terminal will ask: pay in your home currency or the local one? Local. Every time. The "convenient" home-currency conversion carries a hidden margin, usually 5 to 10 percent, it is made to look like it is to your benefit.

If a card goes missing

1. 1 Freeze it in the app first. Freezing is reversible; cancelling is not.
2. 2 Skim the recent charges while you look for it.
3. 3 Found it? Unfreeze. Gone? Cancel, and use your other cards.
4. 4 Prefer a credit card over a debit. The bank is often quicker to handle lost credit cards and credit card fraud, and you're much more likely to get your money back if someone spent money with your credit card.