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No, you cannot. It is useless. Any credit card issued from an American source is absolutely useless in Cuba. Even if you read somewhere that you could use it.. Even if your friend or family member said you can use it. Even if you called Chase bank yourself and the operator said it should work… forget it.. It will not work in Cuba.

What about other credit cards. Like a card from the UK?

Maybe it works, but maybe not. Even if the issuing bank says that it will work, there is probably a good chance (over 50% chance) that it will not work, or will only work in certain banks. In Cuba, the banking system is antiquated. Even if your card technically works, there are so many other problems that come up on a daily basis, that in practical terms, the card can sometimes be useless.

For example, UK, Australia and Canadian cards are generally supposed to be accepted. But maybe the bank has other issues and cannot process the card. The phone system is down or there is a power outage or the internet system is broken for the day. Maybe the outage lasts a week. This is very common. Maybe you are in Trinidad and want to get money from your card, but the teller explains to you that they can only extract money from your card in the bank in Old Havana. That is a 5 hour car ride away…. So you will basically be stuck with no money.

It happens all the time. And I have had to personally lend money to tourists on several occasions. It’s always a mess. Just bring cash and don’t depend on your credit cards in Cuba.

By |2017-05-19T02:23:27+00:00March 7th, 2016|0 Comments

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