Banking considerations for long trip.

I am driving to Alaska in May and will be gone 3.5 to 5 months and trying to make financial considerations. Both of my banks are regional Simmons and First United. I am considering opening up a Wells Fargo account as they have branches everywhere I am staying. Taking $2,000 CAD and $2,000 US I have MC and Amex. But I want to be prepared in case of emergency. I dont want to cause extra work, but want to be prepared, Any advise will be appreciated.

Your ATM card should work anywhere. Do you anticipate needing to go into a branch?

Do they still sell traveler's checks?

A few prepaid Visa/ MC cards hidden well in the vehicle.

I always keep enough cash in the truck (or airplane) to pay for enough fuel to get home.

I do not anticipate needing to go to a branch, this is unfamiliar territory for me.

Even if travelers checks were still sold, I doubt anyone would take them. I had a hard time using them in the early 80’s.

Open a Charles Schwabb account online, Transfer some funds into it or go to Schwabb Bank but they will have you use a computer in lobby to open the account

Get a debit card, you can use any ATM worldwide and they refund you any ATM fees

ATM , MC and AMEX should cover everything without needed a new bank.

venmo and venmo debit card. easy peasy back up

CC Cards. Just pay um off every month. No problem using them anywhere.

I was thinking the same thing. Venmo account and debit card attached to one of your banks. Gives you backup access to cash as needed and easy way to pay someone if you run into a major cost (i.e. - shell an engine or transmission, or find a gun you can't live without)

They take credit cards there.

Whatever Credit Cards you decide to use, notify CC companies of the areas you will be going to so they do not think someone stole your cards and freeze/lock them.

Best advice given.

A good credit card should suffice. Take your pick of the big banks. Just make sure they don't charge you any international fees for your Canadian leg, some do.
your debit card should work in any bank branch. I would stay away from any stand alone ATM's. Sounds like a nice trip.

Venmo, PayPal, some cash and a Master Card never failed me

I am with Wells Fargo, call them and have them raise your withdrawal limits per single transaction.

I hear you can withdraw over 4K, if needed do not know what their cap is.

I would double the cash....I travel a lot and have found cash has helped me out more times than I can remember. Plus having cash for that one thing that you’ve always wanted
Prob just me but cash still rules the day. Cash has saved me a lot of money

Pull 50 grand in cash and take me with ya. I’ll guard it with my life for ya

Anywhere?

Travel around many places don't take CC

Exactly

Sadly you have to declare over 10K when entering most countries, or you could have it taken

About half my CC tell me now there is no need to do a travel alert anymore.

And staying in North America should't be an issue, but it doesn't hurt to be safe

Red

What made me think of that was about 12 years ago I took the kids to Bill Smiths Cafe in McKinney off 380 for breakfast, they did not take credit cards and it was one of the few times I did not have enough cash on me to pay the bill. Waitress said we have a ATM machine! Put in my Debit card to get cash and it was declined, we had plenty of money in our account so I drove to the nearest Bank of America.
They told me it was turned down out of precaution because I was using it out of our normal shopping area, keep in mind we lived in far N. Dallas that is only 22 miles away!

Yes that was around 12 years ago and things have obviously changed for we have not had any problems recently traveling out of state and country with no problems nor did we notify them about our travels.
We have one debit card and one credit that is paid off monthly.

But you are right, it is better to be safe than sorry!

It's nothing but a dirt lot now. It was a great breakfast place for sure.

I have haven't used a Debit card inside the USA for like 20 plus years, seems like it would be easier to just keep cash on hand

I do have Schwabb Debit card I use for international travel

I appreciate the input and havepicked up some good tips. I will tend to be overprepared on this trip

Check your card terms for currency conversion fees or international fees.

The card I use for hotels, airfare, and stuff is no fee.

I have another card I uses solely for "riskier" transactions. I was hitting a soft drink machine in the customer's office multiple times per day over a week.

Got home and found a $1.85 fee for every $1.50 CA Pepsi

Definitely use credit cards over a debit card. If thieves get ahold of your debit card number, it gives them access to your actual cash. If they get ahold of your credit card number, they only have access to your credit, and only up to the limit. Furthermore, it's easier to get the credit card company to reverse the fraudulent charges than it is to get the bank to put stolen money back in your account.

We drove and spent the summer in Alaska.I notified my bank we were going and had no problems using our debit cards even in Canada.I did take travelers checks but didn't use any of them.That was 2010 so i'm sure some things have changed but I wouldn't worryto much but contact your bank.

I am not going any further than I can hitch hike back from!

GREAT INFO

Actually I pulled our rv and spent quite a few night in a lot of rv parks all the way to Alaska and never had any problems with out debit cards.It's a great place to visit and you will want to go back to see more of it.lol

I never thought I'd live to see the day...

Fixed it.