There was a time when traveling was much more difficult than it is today, and accessing your own money from overseas was almost impossible if you ran short. That's why James C. Fargo, a 19th-century president of American Express (AXP -1.93%), invented the traveler's check. Read on to learn more about these important pieces of living financial history.
What is a traveler's check?
A traveler's check is a financial product that's issued by certain institutions in fixed denominations. They're easy to replace if they're lost or stolen, which once made them very popular with tourists who were traveling internationally.
Because they're not linked to your bank account directly, they protect you from identity theft, but they can still be cashed, deposited, or used as currency in other countries. They're not as universal as they used to be, due to the rise of credit cards, debit cards, and digital payments -- but they're still out there.
What are the uses for a traveler's check?
Traveler's checks have a lot of uses if you're in an area where they're widely accepted. You can literally do anything with them that you can do with other forms of payment, including:
- Make purchases: Because traveler's checks are in set denominations, you may have to add some local currency to make your purchase, but they're generally acceptable anywhere you might go in a foreign country.
- Exchange for cash: If you need more cash while you're overseas, you can exchange your traveler's checks for cash. Local banks may cash them, hotels often do, and you can return to the place where you purchased them, if there's a local branch available.
- Deposit into an account: When you're done with your trip, or if you need to seed a bank account in a foreign nation, you can also treat your traveler's checks like checks and deposit them into a bank account for face value.
What are the benefits of traveler's checks?
Traveler's checks are still the ultimate secure way to pay when you're outside the country. Not only do they protect you from total loss, unlike cash, because they can easily be traced and replaced, but they also protect you from identity theft.
In 2026, more people are shying away from traveler's checks, and they've fallen out of favor with younger travelers. Instead, people are using a combination of payment methods, including their own debit or credit cards and prepaid cards issued by their banks. This protects them significantly when traveling, and makes traveling less stressful since they're accepted everywhere.
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What are the alternatives to traveler's checks in 2026?
Prepaid travel cards are the closest thing to traveler's checks that are commonly used. Like traveler's checks, they're generally accepted anywhere and can be used to get cash or pay for purchases. They work exactly like debit cards but are instead loaded with cash so that none of your personal information is revealed when you use them.
Digital payments are another option available in some countries. These can also be very secure, depending on the way these things are set up. Payment processors like PayPal (PYPL -1.37%) can make these payments simple and provide some security against identity theft, although not as much as a prepaid travel card or traveler's check could.
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