CBA 'Travel Money Card' - Don't leave home without checking it...

We've used the Travel Money Cards for accessing money while overseas. You pre-load them with a specific amount of money in one or more different currencies then use it like a normal MasterCard or ATM card. Australia Post has a similar product as do the two big airlines in Australia. They are pretty common.

Once the TMC is set-up it works pretty well. But if you get one do check that it actually works before you leave home. The customer service rep at a close-by branch got our cards and set them up on the bank's system but she miskeyed an important number making the cards useless. It wasn't until we were overseas in the US and tried to use it that we discovered something was wrong. We were using cheap overseas cell phones as Aussie mobiles run on different systems than those in the US. The cheap phones we used didn't produce an audible tone when you pressed the keypad, so we weren't able to use the TMC touch-tone navigation system. Very frustrating and we complained to the CBA about it on return and they were very apologetic and implemented procedural changes to keep the situation from reoccurring. But it is cheap insurance is to check the card before you leave home.