3 Important Things To Check About Your Credit & Debit Cards Before Flying To Los Cabos

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Last Updated 9 months ago

The day has finally arrived for your big vacation getaway to the beach resort destination of Los Cabos.

Running through the pre-departure check – tickets, passport, suntan lotion – you realize you forgot to address the credit and debit card.

Here’s a handy guide to help you address those pesky lingering money questions quickly and easily before you jet off on your Los Cabos vacation.

Reason To Be Aware

According to the National Urban Public Safety Survey, 75% of the residents of Los Cabos consider their city safe for tourists.

When it came to the use of ATM machines in the beach resort destination, nearly 40 percent mentioned that they felt insecure when using bank cash machines in the area.

Because of this, it’s always a good idea to double-check some security measures designed to keep your card and money safe before leaving home.

Notify Your Bank of Travel

A disappointment on any trip is when the bank cuts off the credit or debit card you were relying on to pay for your vacation because they suspect fraud from someone in Mexico.

The best way to avoid this issue is to notify your bank in advance that you will be traveling to Los Cabos and the dates of your travel.

This way, they will be expecting charges to come from Los Cabos in Mexico and won’t consider them suspicious transactions.

You will also want to set up and opt-in for alerts to your phone. This way, if your bank wonders about any strange transactions, they can quickly contact you to confirm the transactions via alerts or notifications to your phone.

Many banks are now tying this process to the GPS on your phone when you have downloaded and installed their app.

Instead of disturbing you on vacation, they access the data on your app to determine your location and then easily and quickly confirm the transaction with no hassle to you.

Best of all, no advance notification to your bank is needed.

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Charges For ATM Use

Beware of the fees for using ATM machines when traveling in Los Cabos. Most banks will charge account holders an ATM transaction fee on top of one charged from the bank in Los Cabos where you take out the money.

The double charges for withdrawing cash can add up quickly.

One way to limit the charges is to withdraw larger amounts at the ATM. The fee is the same for $50 pesos ($3) as it is for $5000 ($300) pesos.

Better to withdraw the $5000 one time instead of multiple $50 withdrawals.

Also, be aware that there are some banks that waive ATM charges around the world and reimburse the fees that the ATM owner charges as well!

If you travel often, it may be worth considering opening an account at a bank that waives ATM fees both ways worldwide. There are a handful of them, and some are free with no minimum account balance to maintain!

The Dreaded Foreign Exchange Fee

Double-check your card before leaving to make sure it has no foreign exchange fees.

There are many “travel” credit and debit cards available today that waive the pesky fee banks charge to convert Mexican pesos back to US Dollars to charge to your account.

Also, be careful making purchases where the hotel or other service provider offers to “make the conversion” for you and gives you the option to choose dollars or pesos.

The smart option is most of the time to select pesos because the credit or debit card company will generally provide you with a more favorable rate as its customer.

Fraud Prevention Protection

Last but not least, make sure your card offers fraud prevention protection. This is more important when cash is taken out of your account by using a debit card.

Generally, with credit cards, you can always contest the charge.

However, either way, fraud prevention protection limits your liability in the event of fraud with your credit or debit card.

Fraud prevention protection is always an additional smart money peace of mind feature to help you enjoy your Los Cabos vacation worry-free.