Hour building in USA: how to pay?

[mattia_70]

Sorry guys, maybe a little bit off topic.

I will do hour building for a month in USA in a few days.

I wonder: if I get to the spending limit of my two credit cards, what is the best way to get US dollars from UK (or Italy, my two credit cards) to US?

I do not want to go there with plenty of cash in the first place because I do not want to have too much cash around and second because changing money is costly. Obviously they will not accept cheques either from UK or italian banks.

I can use my cash card to get money from an ATM whenever I need but I have a day limit.

Any other suggestion?

Thanks

[LH2]

How much does your bank charge you for the use of ATMs abroad? My European banks want 4% (my American bank 0%) It might cost you about as much to use an ATM as exchanging over the counter.

Alternatives: Get your bank to (temporarily) increase your spending limit, traveller's cheques, Western Union (check their fees Italy/UK -> US first), bank transfer, postal transfer, Paypal (in a pinch), gold bullion, munitions of war (very popular), industrial secrets, sell your body... I'm running out of ideas here :E

[jxc]

Speak to your bank and ask if they will increase your daily limit but withdrawing cash on a credit card is very expensive

maybe your bank has a branch in America you may then be able to open a temp account and then do an international transfer very little charges that way

Cheers
JXC

[nh2301]

Just prepay on the credit card.

I reccomend Nationwide, their cards have no fees for international transactions.

[FrankAbagnale]

mate if you can get amex travellers cheques then you can open a bank account in usa and deposit them there without incurring a single cent of charges. or you can cash them at any gas station from time to time.
by the way, where are you doing your hour building, as I am interested in completing some hour building in the US, would be great if you can recommend a few organisations.

[chongololo]

Just make sure that you don't pre-pay for any training or aircraft rental at any school or FBO unless you are 100% sure that they are reputable.
Some folks have lost a lot of money by being ripped off by schools who took their money then closed the doors.
You might be able to run a tab at the school then pay for it all in one transaction on your card thereby avoiding fees for each transaction if you did it seperately.
Good luck.

[PilotPieces]

Why not pay in small chunks on your credit card? Might even get a discount for the aircraft rental.

I wouldn't risk paying for more than 10 hours at a time though.

[corsair]

Lodge money to the credit card sufficient to cover the costs. Then you'll never approach your limit.

I don't know how it works in Italy. But I did on my card when I was in the US. The credit card company even paid interest.

[mattia_70]

Thanks to everybody for the suggestions (and for the irony also. I know it would come. I appreciate ;-))

I will not certainly pay big sums in advance.

For those who asked, I will do the first hours at Ormond Beach Aviation and then decide if to stay or move around. All I know about the different organizations come from browsing Pprune so no suggestions from me.

Cheers