getting cash in Moscow

[Ludmilla A. Trigos]

Ian,

As I recall, if you have an American Express green card and you bring a copy of
a cancelled check, you can set up an Express Cash account in order to withdraw
money from the Dialog bank ATM at the American Express office without having to
pay a service charge.  The money will be extracted directly from your checking
account.  When I was last in Moscow (in the summer of 1994), I used this method
of getting cash and found it to be very convenient.

Best regards,

Ludmilla A. Trigos
Columbia University

Ian Helfant wrote:

> Dear colleagues -- Here's a mundane question in the midst of the more
> abstruse issues which normally get discussed here.  I will be leading
> Colgate University's Moscow Study Group this fall and have been exploring
> various possibilities for accessing in Moscow the relatively large amounts
> of cash necessary to run the program.  We are able to pay our institutional
> affiliates via bank transfers, but  several thousands of dollars in cash
> will also be necessary.  Does anyone have a suggestion about a better way to
> handle this than withdrawing money drawn from an American banking account at
> the American Express office (which involves a commission of at least 2 and
> as much as 5 percent) or wiring money via Western Union (at an approximately
> 4 percent commission).  Please respond off line to
> ihelfant at mail.colgate.edu.
>
> Thanks!
> Ian Helfant
> Assistant Professor of Russian
> 202 Lawrence Hall
> Colgate University
> 315-228-7721 (w)
> 315-691-4813 (h)
> 315-228-7176 (fax)