Katiemay

Is there a percent charged for using the
Visa debit/bank card for atms overseas,
either to us at tim of withdrawal or to our
local bank.

Christina

not by that ATM, but you'll have to ask your own bank if they will charge you for doing that, many do. It's an out-of-network withdrawal for them. Lots of banks charge people for those, whether overseeas or in the same city.

IN practice, there is certainly some kind of fee that network charges your bank for using it, they don't get it free. I don't think it's a percentage of money, though, but am not sure. Obviously, they pay the network they are on some fee for using it. Recently, I saw my bank statement for the month I was abroad and they did have itemized charges of about one percent for each time I used the ATM with some notation about STAR network charge (STAR is one network on the card, which surprised me, as I thought STAR wasn't in Europe, that's a mystery to me). I have a premium account, so they notated the charge and then refunded it to me (I don't pay any out-of-network ATM charges anywhere).

1239

I am in Paris right now and had a few issues with my ATM that have since been resolved. I did go online to see what charges were, please keep in mind that they fluctuate but I think you can go online and compare actual daily rates to what I was charged:


100 euro today; $134.89 on my account
service charge has not hit yet

yesterday:
100 euro, $134.86 plus $2.70 service charge

Let me know if you find out if this is a good exchange or not.....

Best and safe travels

Christina

BTW, I can't swear that is a charge by the foreign ATM on my bank statement. They have a convention of charging you things and then refunding them for some accounting purposes of their own, so that could be their own notation for using the STAR network on another ATM than their own. Then they refund those charges to their premium customers.

P_M

1239, you paid a 2% markup on the market exchange rate. This is good because if you had exchanged cash or traveller's checks you would have paid a 7-10% markup.

Travelnut

You will typically get charged 1-3% for the foreign currency transaction, and then you'll get a charge for using an out-of-network ATM.

suze

Ask your home bank this question.

nanabee

this has been discussed quite a bit - there are a number of bank's that will partner with foreign banks - this allows you to use your bank card in the foreign bank's atm machines without fees. but, you are charged fees for the exchange rate.
you need to contact your bank.

xyz123

As it stands right now, the two main shared teller networks (cirrus and plus) are subsidiaries of matercard and visa respectively. As such, their regulations do not allow the ATM owner to charge any fees to ATM cards issued outside their countries. Thus if you have a US debit card and make a withdrawal from an ATM in London, the English bank is not allowed to charge you a fee. Your bank might and unfortunately many of them do sometimes to the tune of as much as $5...this is criminal but then again remember these are banks dedicated to the proposition that any fee is a good fee; they have to pay for the idiotic loans they made somehow. The additional fee is the foreign conversion fee. The shared teller network follow mastercard or visa regulations regarding this that is they use the interbank rate and add a 1% conversion fee as the debit goes through their system which is justified as they assume the currency fluctuation risk. Unfortunately, there are many near criminal banks in the US that now charge an additional fee claiming it is a foreign conversion fee, as much as an additional 4% although the usual rate is 2% although they have absolutely no currency fluctuation risk or anything like that as the debit reaches them already converted. But again after all we've never met a banker who doesn't feel any fee is a good fee and they have to pay for their idiotic loans somehow.

Today because of several lost court cases in the USA (making the lawyers lots of money and the customers little pieces of money is what we call at home class action lawsuits, which benefit lawyers greatly) banks are required to spell out in more detail these fees which used to be buried in the exchange rates...so somewhere along the way here somebody pointed out a 2% fee his or her bank charged on an ATM withdrawal in Paris...this is purely done by your bank. Ask them what the fee is for. They won't be able to answer as it is a pure rip off fee as so many of them are.

The bottom line is the only fees you will pay will be those your bank feel they can sock you with, the owner of the ATM is not allowed to charge for out of country cards.

nanabee

You want to be very careful about using a Visa or Mastercard for ATM withdrawals! If you do you are charged loan fees for the amount you withdraw in the loan amt of anywhere from 12-25% depending on your bank. The loan fees are assessed the minute you make the withdrawal until you pay off the loan.
I never use a Mastercard or Visa for this purpose I only use my bank card to get cash from an ATM machine.

alanRow

You want to be very careful about using a Visa or Mastercard CREDIT CARD for ATM withdrawals as then you are charged cash advance fees & interest from the day of withdrawal - use a CC for cash only in emergency

Visa or Mastercard debit cards attract the "normal" currency fees

GSteed

Using an ATM machine to facilitate a check/debit account withdrawal incurs a use fee. The fee has no relation to the currency conversion cost. If you are counting pennies, withdraw the maximum daily limit. Do not make multiple small withdrawals. The use fee pays for the machine and its upkeep. Many ATM machines are operated by private businesses that have no connection with the card company.

xyz123

I have n ever been charged any fee to use my USA debit card in a European ATM...no ATM can exist in a vacumn, to allow withdrawals across international borders they must belong to some kind of shared teller network. As I stated, the shared teller networks do not allow ATM operators to charge fees if the card being used in not from the country where the ATM is located...

I have found a couple of US banks on the internet which charge the proper amount for ATM withdrawals....$0...and while travelling in the USA, almost all ATM's will charge if you have the audacity to use the machine of a bank not your own, these enlightened banks rebate the ATM fees.

Besides, this is the 21st century and for the most part in most parts of Britain and the USA, the places I travel about the most, they have this wonderful thing known as credit cards. I was in London last week for the entire week and subsited on one £20 ATM withdrawal as I used my credit cards for everything from buying my 7 day oyster travelcard with extensions to and from Heathrow, my hotel, a small top up of my mobile phone to cover the calls I made, daily lunches almost every day at Pret a Manger (most of which now take credit cards),theatre tickets,dinners all week, buying sodas and chips and that sort of thing from grocery chains such as Tesco or Sainsbury for half time at theatres (can you imagine, the theatres charge £2 for a soda and don't even serve the flavor I want, I pick one up for 90p or so along with chips for half time). The only things I needed a little cash for were the odd visit to pubs for a pint and my daily use of an internet cafe to check my e mail and the newspapers from home..in the 7 day period I used my visa card 47 times (incidentally I did not inform the credit card company nor did I have any trouble with them blocking the card) and I used Capital One visa and paid no conversion fees whatsoever.

And to boot, during the week the £ came down from $2.02 to $1.98...maybe the greenback can now start rallying!

GSteed

Good information. May I ask where and how you pay the Visa invoice? If I understand you, you are not paying to use the ATM nor are you paying a conversion percentage but are dealing at the daily rate.

hopscotch

xyz123,

Way to go. It appears that you are beating the system, but there must be a catch in there someplace. How does the CapOne exchange rate compare with the inter bank exchange rate?

Jake1

Here's how MC explained it to me: CapOne (or any other bank) doesn't determine the actual exchange rate--though they can and most do pass on the 1% MC/VISA fee and add on some sugar for themselves. How the daily rate is calculated is set by by Visa and Mastercard and is essentially the interbank rate, though that can vary slightly depending on a number of factors.

xyz123

The actual currenchy conversion rate is seb by visa or mastercard...they usually use the interbank rate then add on a 1% fee...this is what reaches your bank...your bank then chooses whether to pass along the 1% fee (99.9% do) and whether to add an additional fee (almost all do)..Capital One simply does not add any additional fee nor does it even pass along the 1% fee but they use the same conversion rate.

You just have to ask.

bilboburgler

In the UK (and I guess others) you will find back ATMs and then other ATM's which may have a variety of badges stuck around them. Some of these are not the bank you foolishly think they are and they can hit you with a charge but will tell you. In my exp the airport ATMs in UK are true bank ATMs

ira

Hi K,

The ATM will give you Euros. No charge for the service if it is an ATM owned by a bank.

The Visa people will convert the euros to USD at what they consider to be the "current bank rate" - about $1.36 right now.

Visa will add about 1% for the service.

Your bank will then charge you whatever they think you will stand for.

Some charge 3% "conversion fee", some don't.

Some charge a $5 "out of network" fee, some are as low as zero.

The highest charge will usually be from your own bank.

Katiemay

I went to my bank, Washington Mutual
today and they said they charge 1%
on their redrawals, period. No other
fees. This is on their free checking
accounts. Other accounts pay $2.00
for each withdrawal plus the 1%.
Why??? I don't know.
The 1% us what M/C charges them.
Christina, what is the name of your
bank?