Forex Travel Card for students travelling to The USA from India

Its July already! In a few days time, we can see flocks of young Indian brains taking off to the land of opportunities. We are all in a shopping spree now; shopping, learning to cook, collecting documents, getting loans approved, buying bags, packing, visiting friends and relatives and what not? Amidst such power packed weeks, one thing which constantly baffles our minds is that one question : "How are we going to manage our expenses there?".

Thinking of carrying traveler's cheques? - Welcome to the era of 1990s :p

Grow up, people! Come on, we have completed one tenth of the 21st century already! E-Commerce is the buzz word now. Don't you want to manage the deposits and spendings online? Well, then opt for the "Traveler's Forex Card". Here's a TOI report on the Traveler's Card (different banks call it by different names).

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Prepaid-forex-cards-best-bet-for-foreign-trips/articleshow/20979472.cms

And this one is for the loyal "The Hindu" fans:

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/money-wise/this-summer-reap-the-benefits-of-travel-cards/article3459494.ece

Now that we are on the same page, lets dig more into what this card is all about. This card is yet another debit card, but with a striking difference. You cannot use it within India (this includes Indian E-Commerce sites like flipkart, snapdeal, etc.). Yes, you heard it right! You can't use it here. Then what do you use it for? You deposit the INR equivalent of $1000 (for eg. $1000 = Rs. 61360 as on 11/07/2014) into this card's account in India and you spend $1000 using this card at the US. As simple as that. Fluctuations in currency won't affect the balance in your account. But what makes this attractive is the fact that you don't pay any extra charges on the goods purchased in merchant establishments (that accept VISA or Mastercard). And there's more, there are no extra charges on the goods purchased online, via the E-Commerce websites like ebay and Amazon too! ONE THING TO NOTE IS, TO OWN A CARD YOU DON'T NEED TO HAVE AN ACCOUNT IN THE BANK FROM WHICH YOU WISH TO BUY THE CARD. Despite, having an account can help you to request the bank to transfer money from that account to the card's account; this is important because RBI regulations don't allow you to pay the bank via cash. However, if you(or your representative) hold an account in another bank, you(or your representative) may consider giving a cheque.

I was curious to know more about this and went on a hunt to seek the best deals available on these cards. Based on my research, I've listed below some of the major players only. There do exist other banks and establishments offering similar services (like Thomas Cook). But we do need the one's that are omnipresent and easily accessible, don't we?

Here's a list of observations, that are general to all the banks offering these cards.

• Charges for getting the card (one time payment) - Rs. 100 to Rs. 450 (varies with bank)
• Charges for loading cash into the card's account - Rs. 75 to Rs. 250 (varies with bank)
• Charges for withdrawing money from ATM using this card (only in the US) - $1.5 to $2 (varies with bank)
• Charges for checking the balance using an ATM - $0 to $0.55 (varies with bank)
• Charges for "swiping" card at merchant outlets (only in the US) - Free!!!
• Charges for online purchases (only in the US) - Free!!!
• Hidden charges - Damn! There is service tax (varies with bank) for every thing task you do (except of-course for looking at it) 

Here is a comprehensive list of the charges for each bank. As you can guess, my favorite one's top my list. 

Sl.NO	TRAVEL CARD	SETUP	RELOAD	WITHDRAWAL	BALANCE CHECK
1	HDFC Bank ForexPlus	Rs. 125	Rs. 75	$2	$0.50
2	ICICI Bank Travel Card	Rs. 150	Rs. 100	$1.50	$0.50
3	Axis Bank Travel Currency Card	Rs. 150	Rs. 100	$2	$0.50
4	ING Vysya Bank	Rs. 125	Rs. 75	$2	$0.50
5	Deutsche Bank Navigator Prepaid Forex Card	$1	$1	$2	$0.50
6	IDBI Bank World / Global Currency Card	$3	$2	$1.50	$0.55
7	Kotak World Travel Card	Rs. 125	Rs. 100	$2	$0.50
8	PNB World Travel Card	Rs. 100	Rs. 100	$1.50	$0.50
9	Standard Chartered Bank SmartTravel Card	Rs. 250	Rs. 100	$1.50	$0.50
10	Citibank World Money Prepaid Card	$7	$4	$1.75	Nil

I hope this information helps you. All the best graduates!