A traveler's cheque (also traveller's cheque, traveler's check, or travelers cheque) is a preprinted, fixed-amount cheque designed to allow the person signing it to make an unconditional payment to someone else as a result of having paid the issuer (usually a bank) for that privilege. As traveller's cheques can usually be replaced if lost or stolen, they are often used by people on vacation in place of cash. The use of credit cards has, however, rendered them less important than they previously were; there are few places that do not accept credit cards but do traveller's cheques – in fact, many places do not now accept the latter. As a result, American Express and Travelex now also sell "traveler's cheque cards" which are used like credit cards. Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 337 pixel Image in higher resolution (908 × 382 pixel, file size: 265 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)Travelers cheque produced by American Express for Citibank. ... Example of a Canadian cheque. ... “Banker” redirects here. ... A credit card system is a type of retail transaction settlement and credit system, named after the small plastic card issued to users of the system. ... American Express (NYSE: AXP), sometimes known as AmEx or Amex, is a diversified global financial services company, headquartered in New York City. ... Travelex plc is the worlds biggest foreign exchange company. ...

Traveller's cheques are available in several currencies such as U.S. dollars, Pound Sterling, Japanese Yen, and Euro; denominations usually being 20, 50, or 100 of whatever currency, and are usually sold in pads of five or ten cheques, e.g., 5 x €20 for €100. Traveller's cheques do not expire so unused cheques can be kept by the purchaser to spend at any time in the future. The purchaser of a supply of traveller's cheques effectively gives an interest-free loan to the issuer, which is why it is common for banks to sell them "commission free" to their customers. The commission, where it is charged, is usually 1% of the total face value sold. The largest volume issuer of traveller's cheques is American Express, the first to develop a large scale travellers cheque system in 1891.^[1] Other accounts attribute the development of travellers cheques to the Thomas Cook organization, or to the London financial community early in 1772. The United States dollar is the official currency of the United States. ... “GBP” redirects here. ... ISO 4217 Code JPY User(s) Japan Inflation -0. ... “EUR” redirects here. ... American Express (NYSE: AXP), sometimes known as AmEx or Amex, is a diversified global financial services company, headquartered in New York City. ... Thomas Cook Thomas Cook (22 November 1808 – 18 July 1892) of Melbourne, Derbyshire, founded the travel agency that is now Thomas Cook AG. He was brought up as a strict Baptist and joined his local Temperance Society. ...

Legal terms for the parties to a traveller's cheque are the obligor or issuer, the organization that produces it; the agent, the bank or other place that sells it; the purchaser, the natural person who buys it, and the payee, the entity to whom the purchaser writes the cheque for goods and/or services. For purposes of clearance, the obligor is both maker and drawee.

Use and acceptance

Upon obtaining custody of a purchased supply of traveller's cheques, the purchaser should immediately write his or her signature once upon each cheque, usually on the cheque's upper portion. The purchaser will also have received a receipt and some other documentation that should be kept in a safe place other than where he or she carries the cheques. John Hancocks signature is one of the most prominent on the United States Declaration of Independence. ...

When wanting to cash a traveller's cheque while making a purchase, the purchaser should, in the presence of the payee, date and countersign the cheque in the indicated space, usually on the cheque's lower portion (if at a restaurant, it may be helpful to ask the waiter to watch and wait for this to be done). Countersign is a military term for a sign, word, or any other signal previously agreed upon and required to be exchanged between a sentry or guard and anybody approaching his or her post. ...

Applicable change for a purchase transaction should be given in local currency as if the cheques were banknotes.

Security concerns

It is a reasonable security procedure for the payee to ask to inspect the purchaser's picture i.d.; a driving licence or passport should suffice, and doing so would most usefully be towards the end of comparing the purchaser's signature on the i.d. with those on the cheque. The best first step, however, that can be taken by any payee who has concerns about the validity of any traveller's cheque, is to contact the issuer directly; a negative finding by a third-party cheque verification service based on an i.d. check may merely indicate that the service has no record about the purchaser (to be expected, practically by definition, of many travellers), or at worst that he has been deemed incompetent to manage a personal chequing account (which would have no bearing on the validity of a traveller's cheque). China ID card, front (top) back (bottom). ...

Deposit and settlement

A payee receiving a traveller's cheque should follow its normal procedures for depositing cheques into its bank account: usually, endorsement by stamp or signature and listing of the cheque and its amount on the deposit slip. The bank account will be credited with the amount of the cheque as with any other negotiable item submitted for clearance.

In the United States, if the payee is equipped to process cheques electronically at point of sale (see: Check 21 Act), they should still take custody of the cheque and submit it to a financial institution, particularly to avoid any confusion on the part of the purchaser. The Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act (or Check 21 Act) is a United States federal law (public Law 108-100) enacted into law October 28, 2003 by the 108th Congress. ...

Loss or theft

Loss or theft of traveller's cheques should be reported immediately to the issuer and to the local police authority. The receipt issued when the cheques were purchased will expedite the refund process.

See also

• Cashier's check
• Certified check
• Money order

A cashiers check (also known as a bank check, official check, tellers check, or treasurers check) is a check issued by a bank on its own account for the amount paid to the bank by the purchaser with a named payee, and stating the name of the... This page is a candidate for speedy deletion, because: it contains no useful content If you disagree with its speedy deletion, please explain why on its talk page or at Wikipedia:Speedy deletions. ... A money order is a payment order for a pre-specified amount of money. ...

References

External link

• American Express Traveler's Cheques merchant site