Atm's vrs. T.C's

Hello All
Could someone please tell me if i can use canadian t.c.'s in india or do i need to use atm's?? The exchange rate to change into american in canada is not so favorable. Although usa $ will certainly go further there. Also My bank card is (canada trust) which is connected to plus and interac. Will that card work ??
Help and thanx again in advance

You shouldn't have a problem with Canadian tc's, if you are worried is the exchange rate any better for the Pound or Euro's..

Your Canada trust card will be fine, my card was connected to plus and I never had a problem with it.

Thanx so much steven ber that puts my mind at ease

not quite that rosy, sb.....CDN$ checks are *not* universally accepted in banks in India, although ok for sure at your arrival airport and in major cities. I have been taking about 50/50 US/CDN the last few years as there are places, primarily in smaller centres, that will not accept CDN $ checks. I was shocked last winter to find that even the State Bank of India in Mapusa (Goa) where I have had no problem for several years would no longer accept CDN and none of the other 4 banks that they suggested I try would either. No big problem, as the official money changers in the town did take them, but at a terrible rate (29 vs 30.1 or so bank rate). I would suggest you take some of your stash in US tc's and a few US 10's and 20's for emergencies.

My ATM experience is really limited as I spent the whole winter in Goa and Mapusa (a fair sized centre) is where I looked after business that couldn't be handled in Arambol. I brought my CIBC bank card this year (interac and Plus) and tried it in the several ATM's in town (even ones with the 'Plus' symbol) and it was not accepted. Visa and Mastercard 'debit' cards seem to have an easier go of it, but these are not the same as the credit cards and I don't know if they are even commonly available in Canada. BTW, CIBC charges $3 per transaction on international withdrawals, some banks charge more, some less; you should check on your bank's fees as this could really add up if you are changing small amounts at a go.

To err on the side of caution, don't rely totally on ATM's and CDN$ checks; much as it hurts, it's worth taking a chunk of your funds in US checks and cash from my experience.

Just a couple of points first of all I agree totally with m2's reading of the situation, take both a card and TC's and though I know it must hurt eh, take U.S. dollars/T.C's!!
It's been a while since I saw the Canadian dollar on the exchange rate "menu board" which suggests that it is not as widely accepted as say the Euro or the "yankee" dollar!!
Secondly for anyone considering a trip using only a card (and there seems to be a few people thinking this way), bear this in mind you usually will have to make long unwanted journeys into commercial centres to use the ATM"s this also means you have to carry large somes of cash around with you.
And should you lose or damage yourcard (or indeed type in the wrong pin number three times as your's truly did last year!) and need to replace unblock your card your in for some fun. I personally could'nt unblock my card until I got back to Holland!! Something to consider if relying solely on your little plastic friend!!

this was the plan i worked out-i opened a citibank checking account and i have a debit card with the visa logo and they assured me that it would be accepted in any atm anywhere in the world that has any of the logos on the back (cirrus, star, maestro, nyce) and that there would be absolutely no fee for the transaction and no charge for the conversion other than the actual conversion rate...i also plan to take travelers checks and some american cash, and a master card for purchases which is an online account where i will pay electronically from another checking account in the usa.

interesting thing is the citibank account will be invisible to citibank in india they told me...so i have the option of using the atm machine to replenish it when it needs, and am hoping to be able to electronically deposit into it from another account, though that is not set up yet.

anything else i should do?

Last year I relied almost solely on my salary account with internet access and another account with a VISA debit/ATM card . I transferred from my salary account to the VISA card when needed. Should the card have been out of the picture I could`ve transferred to an Indian bank via the internet access.
A last precaution (which I did`nt use ) would`ve been to leave a sealed envelope with the salary account ATM card & code with a very trusted friend in case I had lost both the VISA card and the encryption thingy.

thanks vistet-
are there no requirements for opening an indian account? i suppose if it is not necessary i wont need to do it, but i wondered if there were any requirements to opening an account at a bank in india if one is not an indian citizen.

now that i am retired and jobless and homeless i am finding out that even though you have a wad of money in your hand there are 'requirements' to opening a bank account in america for an american citizen. there are ways of maneuvering but there is a lot of little issues no one would guess until the situation happened to them, and if they were in a foreign country and were told no the first time might never discover what the workaround is.

Put this down to my naive mindset - I just assumed that an Indian bank would be interested to handle my money, should the need arise.

I would also be interested to hear the answer to this question.

Has anyone had experience with exchanging $AU TC's? I can get the $US ones pretty easily but it costs more again so I'd rather not if I don't have to..

It would be nice, and cheaper, to use our own currency but in my travels I have found nothing beats the now not quite so mighty US dollar. US cash you can exchange just about anywhere, and US T/Cs in larger places. A lot of people in India have at least heard of Australia, mainly because of cricket, but loved or hated the Americans are known to all.
Slightly off topic, but I really was once asked, by an engineer in East Berlin, Whether the Sydney Harbour Bridge joined Australia and New Zealand. No chance of changing AUD TCs there! ( A while ago, of course )