"Nova" wrote in message
Swingman wrote:

She's been in a shop in England and needed something, called me, and two
minutes later ... the time it took me to go online or call the number
....
the money is on her VisaBuxx card.

While she's away at college it is how I fund her monthly allowance, or
any
emergency purchases that need to be made, like books, etc.

My daughter has been in Tegucigalpa, Honduras for the last three years
(I'm still trying to figure out how to get some hardwoods shipped home).
We deposit money into her checking account here in the states and the
funds are immediately available to her in Honduras via her debit card.

One thing to watch is the fees associated with the debit card's use,
especially overseas. Initially she would was using the card for a
single $.75 purchase and was getting hit for a $3.50 transaction fee.
She has since changed to withdrawing amounts of $50 - $75 cash at a time
to cover small expenses incurred during the week avoided the multiple
ATM fees.

We didn't have that problem two years ago with her VisaBuxx card in Europe,
but times change, so it is definitely something to watch for ... thanks for
the heads-up!

There is a $2.50 transfer fee (charged to my account) when transferring to
the VisaBuxx card, no matter the amount ... but that is the only charge,
other than the below, that has been associated with the card, with two
different banks, since we first started using it nine years ago.

For me that is cheap for an instant transfer of funds, and the peace of mind
it brings.

That said, don't overdraw the account (something that is not easy to do, but
can be done), because then they stick you with a $15 charge ... that's
happened twice in nine years and both times it came out of the next transfer
of her allowance, so she has always been REAL careful about it. AAMOF, she
keeps a close eye on it and will call me if it gets lower than $20 ... and
an added attraction is that I also get an instant e-mail alert from the
issuing bank when the account drops below $20.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 1/06/07