Cleaning out a drawer at home we found some uncashed traveler’s cheques.   We used to take them with us when we travelled out of the country.  They enabled us to have money without carrying lots of cash.   However, technology has evolved and systems that handle forms of payment like traveler’s cheques have gradually disappeared.  It used to be that if you had some traveler’s cheques in your possession you could redeposit them in your bank account because, after all, you bought and paid for them there and they don’t expire.  But wait, not so fast.  I took a $100 US VISA traveler’s cheque to my bank but couldn’t cash it.  Instead, I was given a form to fill out that I could then send in to an encashment service which is out of the country and hopefully they would honour the cheque and reimburse me.   So, I filled out the form, mailed it, and guess what?   I received an email a few weeks later telling me my old traveler’s cheque would be cashed if I replied by email that I understood there would be a service charge for them to do so.  I thought what the heck, do I have a choice?  So I replied OK.  They did cash the cheque and deposited the money automatically into my bank account.  Then surprise!   My bank also hit me with a service charge, I assume for allowing the wire transfer to go through to my account.  So, after the two service charges I ended up with $82.44 Canadian out of a $100 US traveler’s cheque.  I guess that’s better than nothing. 

That’s Coffeetalk.  I’m Vic Dubois.