Hey
Will be going to brazil, colombia, argentina, peru, bolivia( total for 7 weeks) and want to take a credit card?( or possibly common bank travel card, not really sure what i Should get)
I have enough money to load up my account rather that go into debt.
I don't want to be carrying alot of money around( Rio, Sau Paulo not the safest place), so i guess i will be doing a fair bit of relatively small withdrawals each time.
Any advice or help with general financial in South America greatly appreciated!
If you already have the money and don't want to open a line of credit, get the Citibank Plus Visa debit. It's just like an ordinary bank account, you load it up and use it as a visa. I would suggest taking this as well as another bank issued visa/mastercard, such as ING direct orange everyday, or even a commbank debit mastercard, as even if they don't have good fees, you should have them as backup in case you lose the Citibank card, or it gets stolen/etc.
I don't think a 28degrees is really necessary or the right product for everyone, as you have to remember it is still a credit card - not a debit card!
Generally those "travel cards" you see the banks promoting have some pretty hefty loading fees, withdrawal fees, etc and a pretty poor exchange rate, just avoid those.