Pre-paid visa card / Visa TravelMoney

its not just the forum that does not like travel checks. They are just not used here. The chances of you having your card cloned and the account cleaned out are very minimal. Stop worrying so much. The DR is not bad if you use a little common sense. Dont buy cokd at 3 am in alleys, matter of fact stay away from illegal drugs altogether. Dont get blind drunk and walk the streets. Use your credit card at bank atms when the bank is open. You will be fine.

Use an ATM at a bank during office hours. Avoid free- standing ATM's. Following this advice I have never had a problem during many many trips to the DR.

If you do feel the need to use a Prepaid visa sort of card, I like the Paypal mastercard. (Linked to your paypal account and not your bank account.) You can fill your account with x amount of money and get it out of a foreign ATM without exposing your bank account. They charge $1 USD per non-US ATM withdrawal. (plus any fees the bank's ATM charges). I don't use this much in the DR as I get the best deal using my Bank of America ATM card at ScotiaBank ATM's, but in other countires (like Peru or Argentina) using this paypal card is cheaper from a fee standpoint than using my Bank of America card.

That sounds like a good idea, edm7583, and the first time I have seen it on the message board. However, I have a question. With a regular PayPal account, you have to give a bank account or credit card as a back up. Should somebody clone the PayPal card, would only the money you put in the account to draw with the card be at risk, or could they also get into the backup if they attempted to draw out more than you thought you had there for purposes of the triip?

If you have a Bank of America account, use Scotia Bank ATH's fee free, well almost, every major town has a Scotia Bank!
Only keep a small balance, and transfer over as needed, pretty easy, travelers cheques are not worth the aggrevation. A back-up ATH card is good security, cash is king, just be smart. If you are really paranoid, get cash from the teller during the day off your ATH card.

There are at least ten threads on how to travel safely and get cash on this board, so search.