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[sheepgirl]

I travelled with a credit card and never used it because I had to get my mom to pay it back and then reimburse her (I know, I should be able to pay it over the internet, I'm just not techie enough). Then I arrived in Frankfurt airport at 5:30 AM on a Sunday and found that my ATM card had suddenly stopped working. I had no cash, having come from South Africa and spent all my rand so as not to have to pay to change it into Euro. If it weren't for my Visa card I don't know what I would have done. Someone with a less understanding mother may have been stuck. Someone more organized with regards to $$$ would have had no problems even with a defunct ATM card.

[taoist]

I don't know how much of an issue identity theft really is but, to be on the safe side, you might want to consider a debit card, as previously suggested.

I've got a VISA debit card that I regularly use... you've just got to make sure you've got the money in the account before you spend it (which would probably help some people avoid huge credit debt!). To do this, I use the internet to transfer money between my savings and the debit card account.

As for tedkarma's comments about debit cards being less secure in terms of disputed transactions, I don't believe that's the case... After I got back from travelling in Spain I found what I thought were some dodgy withdrawals from my account. I rang my bank and began the process of disputing these withdrawals, a process which they off-hand to VISA (or, presumably, whoever is underwriting your specific card).

The VISA employee soon informed me that the withdrawals were actually from an ATM and therefore unlikely to be illegitimate. That information jogged my (obviously flakey) memory and I recalled that I had made those withdrawals. The VISA employee then asked me whether I wanted to go through with the dispute (which would cost me a bit of cash if it turned out I was wrong) and, having realised my mistake, I left the matter there...

So, from that limited experience, it seems that a debit card underwritten by VISA will have the same kind of protection as a VISA credit card... but you might want to check that with your own financial institution.

All the best,

[Gregor]

I have been asked about banking in the United States, and the question at once amuses me and makes me nervous, because I have NEVER known ANYTHING about it, but least of all now, because I haven't been there in almost ten years (I am American, though, so the perception is that I know everything about the place).
I DO know, though, that I have travelled extensively in 5 of the 7 continents (having missed Africa and Antarctica...SO FAR!), and I have never had a credit card.
I don't remember having been asked for one in Eastern Europe, but the sorry facts are that, if you are white and of a "fully developed" country (BOTH of those things, mind you), then even if you are asked for such a thing, if you don't have one, the chances are VERY slim that they would turn you away. They want the US dollars or euros, and chances are also pretty slim (at least in the officials' minds) that you are travelling on anything else.
Dangerous as this may sound, I have never had anything with me but cash. Sometimes a reserve of American green, if traveling in different countries, but usually just local currency. Not even travelers' cheques! Hell, when I went from Indonesia to China, knowing full well that I would not be returing to Jakarta anytime soon, I just changed all my rupiah into renmimbi and went with that. AND I only had a one-way ticket into the country and a 30-day tourist visa.
South America may be harder to get along with than that these days. I have no idea. But I would be SHOCKED if you were denied entry to any country down there just because you had no credit card or any OTHER banking plastic.

[pheonixstar15]

http://www.pirg.org/consumer/banks/debit/fact.htm
Some info on Debit Cards. Credit Cards generally come with more fraud protection, though I am not sure how much this applies internationally. Remember if they can get your debit card they are taking money straight out of your account, and they can still use it as a credit card in stores if it has a visa or mastercard logo. If it does not you may be better off, but if they can get your PIN your in trouble. If you ask around and read the different banks policies concerning fraud you should be able to find one that would limit your credit card fraud.