Travellers' Cheque Catch-22
CSA member Kenneth Ramsay wrote to warn fellow members about a sea of red tape he fell into after a recent holiday.

While on vacation in Green Valley, Arizona, he tried to present Royal Bank Visa Canadian-dollar travellers' cheques for payment at the Arizona Bank. They were not negotiable. Upon his return to Canada, he informed Royal Bank of the problem, and was told that as a requirement by VISA, banks and merchants may elect to cash only travellers' cheques that have been issued in the local currency. He was then told that the decision of whether to honour a travellers' cheque was at the discretion of the individual bank or merchant. Many of the smaller banks, in addition, had no access to Canadian rates of exchange.

When questioning the Arizona Bank's policy of cashing Canadian travellers' cheques, he was told that the only way they will cash a Canadian-dollar travellers' cheque is to open an account for the person cashing the cheque, credit the account with the face value of the cheque and later, sometimes much later, debit the account with the exchange difference.

Mr. Ramsay then called the first four banks in the Ottawa phone book and asked the same question of each ­ "I am going to the United States and wish to buy Canadian-dollar travellers' cheques. Is there any problem?" In each case, he was told that there was no problem.

His sleuthing led to phone calls to San Francisco, Baltimore and the U.K. Royal Bank's head office denied permission for him to include copies of his exchange in correspondence with them, in his letter to the CSA.

His summation of the situation? "My enquiries (it is apparent that the questions I have asked have touched a number of sensitive nerves) and the evident reluctance there has been to deal with them calls into question the wisdom of using traveller's cheques at all..."

Snowbird Precautions
Here are some wise words of caution from the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade:

* Given uncertain weather conditions (such as the storms which hit central Florida in February, 1998) please leave your itinerary ­ and phone numbers - with family and /or friends in Canada, so that they will know how to contact you in an emergency;

* Never start a journey by car unless you know the precise route and weather conditions;

* Restrict driving to daylight hours;

* Avoid using interstate highway rest stop areas unless they provide security and, instead, use convenience facilities at service stations, restaurants or fast-food outlets;

* Arrive by air before evening;

* Do not openly display your money or jewelry when paying bills at stores, restaurants, etc.

Small Medical Bills May be Larger Than You Think
Paying for U.S. medical services yourself is often the simple approach ­ but many snowbirds simply keep the small bills and submit them on their return to Canada. As most travel insurance plans only pay for claims in excess of the provincial medicare, compliance with government medicare regulations becomes very important.

All provinces have strict time limits on submitting bills, some as soon as 30 days following treatment. Your insurance company may force you to pay any additional amount they could not collect from your province. The simple answer is to submit any bills, which you paid, to your insurance company immediately. You should still call your emergency medical contact number, even for a small claim.