Cards: Don't leave home without them!

Desjardins Access Cards are an excellent choice for trips to the United States, Europe, West Indies and Central America. If travellers also carry a VISA credit card, they generally have everything they need to avoid any problems. Also, it is always practical to carry the equivalent of C$100 in local currency, exchanged either here or at your destination, depending on what your travel agent recommends.

A transaction abroad using your Desjardins Access Card costs $3.00, a fixed rate. You can make one transaction per day, up to C$500 in local currency, and the exchange rate is beneficial. The rate varies, depending on the time difference, the VISA centre where the transaction is processed and the financial institution that owns the ATM. You may ask your caisse to temporarily increase the daily withdrawal limit to have more flexibility during your trip.

Withdrawals abroad are made from chequing accounts so it is best to transfer as much money into yours as possible before leaving. ATMs work similarly in most countries but the keypads do not always include letters. If your PIN number is a word, memorize the corresponding number sequence. For example, the sequence corresponding with "plant" would be 75268.

There is nothing better than using a credit card or a Desjardins access card to pay for expenses such as your hotel, souvenirs, car rental and unexpected items. Avoid carrying too much cash. You can link a PIN number with your VISA card before your departure (your caisse does it on request) to get cash advances from an ATM.

Be careful: the interest on cash advances is applied on the day you make the transaction; there is no grace period like there is for purchases. To avoid these fees, you can transfer money into your VISA account to use on your trip. As is the case for the access card, the exchange rate in effect on the day VISA International receives the bill is beneficial.

Note: Due to frequent changes, ATM locator data on the PLUS network may not be up-to-date. Therefore, it is important that you check your information before your departure and plan for alternate payment options (traveller's cheques or other) in the event of a problem.