Smart Ways to Keep Your Money Safe While Traveling
Nothing ruins a trip faster than being pick pocketed, scammed, or having a card number stolen. Whether fumbling through guidebooks or gawking at new sights, tourists are often unaware of their surroundings, making them easy prey for thieves.
Don’t be an easy target. Here are some smart tips for how to protect your money when you travel.
Use Credit and Limit Cash
The general rule is to bring enough cash to cover your expenses for the first 24 hours of the trip or until you can find an ATM. By using cash, you can more easily adhere to a specific budget since it forces you to spend within a certain range.
The downside is that cash isn’t replaceable – if you lose your wallet or get robbed, you could lose all of your vacation funds if you only use cash. However, most credit cards have zero-liability policies, meaning you won’t have to pay anything for unauthorized charges if your card is lost or stolen. So you’ll want to use a credit card for your major purchases (like hotels, car rentals, etc), but keep cash on hand for smaller sales at local businesses. Just make sure to bring the contact information for each of your credit cards with you on the trip so you can alert the credit card company should your card get lost or stolen.
Overall, it’s best to bring some cash with you on your trip, but just don’t carry too much on you at a time. At the ATM, only take out the cash you may need for that day and plan on visiting the ATM everyday. And always take at least two credit cards with you, one as your primary card and one as a backup, and never keep them both in the same place.
Tell Bank and Credit Card Companies about Travel Plans
There is nothing more frustrating than carefully choosing a souvenir or gift only to have your credit card declined because your bank doesn’t know you’re out of state. Be sure to alert your bank and credit card companies of your upcoming travel plans. If you don’t, they may think a thief (not you) is making all those vacation purchases and will shut down your credit or ATM card. If you contact them in advance, they’ll change the settings on your account so that new charges in your destination area don’t trigger an identity theft decline.
Choose ATMs Wisely
Try to use ATMs inside banks, hotels, or airports rather than stand-alone machines. Watch out for sketchy ATMs and be sure the cash machine is legit before inserting your card. There are fake cash machines in tourist areas, and thieves will tamper with real ATMs to steal your card’s information. Visa and MasterCard have ATM locators on their sites so you can find trusted locations in your destination area.
Trim Your Wallet
Don’t take a big, thick wallet with you – you won’t need the vast majority of those cards or other items. Before you leave, take the time to go through your wallet and take out everything except the necessities (a universal credit card and a backup, an ATM/debit card, an identification card, etc.). Not only will it help you travel lighter, but if your wallet does get lost or stolen, you’ll have less to replace.
Make sure to remove any card with your Social Security number. For health insurance cards, make a copy of the card and remove the last four digits of your Social Security number. Bring the photocopy with you on your trip and leave the original card at home.
Divide Your Money
Whenever possible, divvy up your travel cash and even credit cards into multiple safe spots – never carry all of it in your wallet. If you’ve got all your money in one place, it only takes one time for a thief to completely wipe you out. Instead, break it up and hide various amounts of it in different spots to reduce the impact of theft. You can even wear clothing with multiple pockets and spread your stuff out among the pockets. If you have a travel partner, divide it between yourselves and carry it in multiple areas on your body.
Additionally, never leave cash or credit cards lying around your hotel room. Theft doesn’t only occur outside the hotel – hotel staff have access to your room, and if your room door is accidentally left unlocked, other hotel guests can enter and steal your belongings.
Protect Your Devices With Passwords
Losing or having your phone or laptop stolen can give someone access to your financial apps and other personal information. A thief might pull up your bank account or credit card information and make fraudulent purchases. To ensure your safety, password-protect each device to keep your information safe, and program devices to auto-lock after one or two minutes of inactivity.
Be smart on vacation: the way you handle your money will either increase or decrease your risk of theft. As long as you are careful while traveling, take a few steps before you go, and stay aware of your surroundings, you will be fine and able to enjoy your travels.
How do you keep your money safe when you travel? Let us know in the comments!