ATM Question

[suzanne]

Someone posted on TA that you can only withdraw money from your checking account when using Parisian ATMS. Several people, of course, chimed inwith various opinions as to whether this the case. I mentioned it to Jim and he inquired at about this at our credit union. They had no idea what he ws talking about. Since my husband tends to leave most of our money in savings and transfers it as we need it, I don't want to talke the chance of being in Paris and not being able to get any money. Does anyone know for sure what the truth is about this. I cannot remember what we did in the past. Thanks

[Becky (Berkeleytravelers)]

Suzanne - as I understand the issue, the problem arises when you have money in two different accounts. The default for European ATMs appears to be the checking account, and it doesn't give you the choice (as a US ATM would do) to select a different account for the withdrawal. So, you probably would be best transferring funds to the checking account before you leave (or, if your credit union allows you to do this on line, you maybe could do it from Europe).

[roundtowngirl]

I agree that you should probably transfer money to checking and then use that account to withdraw from. I do want to remind you to call your bank and tell them that you will be traveling overseas. We forgot to do this before going to Germany and ended up being put on hold waiting for a customer service rep. to allow us to use our card. It is difficult enough to wait on hold in the U.S. but having to do it during an overseas call was very expensive!

[Becky (Berkeleytravelers)]

Some additional points about ATMs in Europe, for those who are doing this for the first time:

Be sure your bank knows you are going to be in France (ditto your credit card companies) so they don't block your account for possible fraud when foreign transactions start appearing. Just call the number on the back of the card, go through the maze to get an actual human, and tell them you want the security desk to know you will be traveling and using your card internationally. They will ask the inclusive dates of travel and where you will be. (Trust me, you don't want to have to call Visa from Paris, as I did a few years ago!)

There are ATMs everywhere, literally (especially in the areas where there is a lot of foot traffic)! Don't worry about being able to find one when needed.

If your card is refused, don't panic! Often there are communication problems with the computers, especially if it's the middle of the night where your bank is and its systems are being updated. (Ever try to get access to account information at oddball hours, and get a message that the information was not available?) Try again a few hours later and it likely will work. Before you leave, however, be sure you know where to call if there really is an issue that needs to be addressed.

Be sure your PIN is one that the European ATMs recognize. I have seen conflicting statements about this, but the consensus seems to be that the PIN should be no more than 4 digits with no letters. (I'm not sure sure about that last part, as all letters would translate to a number on a keypad - but I would not want someone to have problems that could be avoided by changing the PIN to all numbers.)

To avoid at least some transaction fees, see whether your bank has a partner institution in Europe (e.g., BofA has a partnership with BNP Parabas, which has ATMs all over). There appear to be a few institutions (credit card companies and banks) that don't charge a foreign transaction fee. If that matters to you, check around and see if you need a new card for that reason. (Personally, I don't find the fees so stiff that it would be worth the bother for me.)

Check on your daily withdrawal limit, and keep in mind that your withdrawals will be in euros (so, currently, withdrawing 100 euros will cost about $160 USD especially considering the conversion rate). If you need to raise the limit (at least temporarily) most banks will do that on request.

To keep track of how much is available in the account, I often will write down the approximate value of the account translated to euros, and then keep a running record of the euros withdrawn (but I try to leave a generous "cushion" in my calculations, for the things I forgot I withdrew and for automatic payments, etc.) This is especially important on longer trips. If you have internet banking access, it's not a bad idea to take a look from time to time while traveling so you can see how well you are keeping track of things.

As noted above, if you have two accounts linked to your card, you won't be able to switch from checking to savings for withdrawals at ATMs, because in Europe they are set up so the default for withdrawals is the primary account (no option to select a different account).

I have heard that there are merchants that won't accept debit cards. I have not found that to be the case, but at the same time it would not be a good idea to use a card for a charge that could be more than you anticipate (e.g., car rental). I do know that the rental car agencies (even in the US) often block out a large preapproved amount, which will affect the amount available to be withdrawn on an ongoing basis.

If you are from the US you won't be able to use your ATM card (or credit card) in most machines. That's because European cards have a computer chip, and US cards have a magnetic strip, with the embedded information. You can still use the cards if a human swipes them, but not in a completely automated machined. (In a train station, for instance, if you are picking up tickets you prepaid using a US card, you can get them from the ticket agent by showing the same card used for the reservation and the reservation number, but you can't get them from a machine because the machine can't read a card without a chip.)

I hope others will chime in with additional general information on this subject, as it's one that generates lots of confusion and frustration for first time travelers. If readers have questions, please just post!

[gracejoan]

When you make the necessary calls to credit card companies and your bank, make sure to call them more than once...yes, that's right..sometimes, who knows why, they do not get it on your account. I call about 1 week before and about 3 days before I leave to double check..

Can save you a lot of trouble!!!

[willow]

My experiance with ATMs was not too complicated.
I had set up a BofA account prior to the trip and made sure I had ample money in there.
Then I only used the BNParibas ATMS..it saved me quite a bit on fees. At one point I did have to use my TCF account, and it doesn't not allow you to chose where to withdraw from, so I made sure I had funds by creating a transfer online with my laptop.

I know your PIN must be 4-digits long and all numeric to work too.

Right now I put away a little bit each month to me BofA account to save for the next trip!

[Jody]

Willow, smart move to put away a bit for your travels. We are both retired but my DH has a part time job in a sporting goods store..mainly to keep him out of my hair and he gets his fishing stuff ast cost!! We have a seperate BofA checking account and all of his paychecks go in there for our travels!

[kittyhead]

i know that i could not use the atm card that was attached to my savings account. i had that on my 1st trip there, that card did not work. i called my back and they said because it was attached to my savings account, i could not use it there for security reasons. so i always take the one attached to my checking and that always works. i also call the bank ahead as well.

[Darcy]

I have had to call my cc company from Paris because of a cc problem my husband had at home which caused the cc company to suspend my card. I used the Call Collect # on the back of my card and fortunately got it straightened out.

[grunblack]

I didn't have a problem drawing from our savings account. I notified the bank before we left that we were heading overseas but there were no issues in any country.

[mez]

Just to clarify in the interests of less confusion, what Aussies e call 'savings' accounts, the US call 'checking'accounts. So while Aussies have no probs accessing a svaings account, Americans do.

[Roniece]

thanks Mez, I know my blonde brain was having problems with the checking account!! I used my card to withdraw funds from my savings account last year in Paris and it worked ok..

RDB

[cybee]

Speaking of money...OY! The euro hit a new record high as against the dollar! Now the exchange rate is 1.60!!!!

[grunblack]

That's the sort of exchange rate we have always had!