Bank cards abroad – a cautionary tale

February 3rd, 2010

I’ve been saying for a long time that one of the great unsung miracles of modern commerce is the magic way that I can slot a plastic card into a machine anywhere from St Petersburg to Punta Arenas and magically receive money drawn against my account. Compare that with when my father went on holiday to Devon as a child, when his father would get a specially-written letter of credit from the manager of Lloyds in his home town to the manager of Lloyds in the seaside resort they visited, outlining how much money he could draw whilst on holiday! Read the rest of this entry »