chef111

Going to Ireland in Sept. Only have a Washington Mutual ATM card with CIRRUS & STAR logo on back. Heard lots a horror stories about this card not working! Also I only hold 1 credit card a citibank Mastercard for charges only! Lastly, people are saying that you can only withdraw from your checking is this true even if your card is linked to your savings??? Should I bring back up Euros & Shilling from the US before I go??? Any one who just came back from Ireland -can you help?? THANK YOU!

shashie

In 1996, my ATM card (CIRRUS logo) worked against my savings account. In 2001, it did not -- the screen did not ask you to specify "savings" or "checking" and I eventually learned "checking" was the default. (I was not getting any error msg, nor any money!!!) Bank employees there tried to help but couldn't. My husband was back home, so he added a checking account at the credit union and all was well for the rest of the trip. Used the same card against the checking acct in 2003.

Vamps27

I think the problems were mostly in spain and italy. This Link http://tinyurl.com/2vzs2 has most of the info your looking for. I thought I read something about a person using it in ireland and being fine.

Vamps27

oops story this is the link http://tinyurl.com/lgj23

eurogoer

Hi, Chef. I think I can help you a bit here. In June I went on a trip to Scotland (mainly Edinburgh) and Ireland (mainly Dublin) and I ended up misplacing/losing my Citibank MasterCard, which worked fine in both countries until I lost it. I was left only with my Washington Mutual ATM card with the STAR logo on the back to live on for a few days, and this remaining card always worked wherever I used it...in the automatic train ticket machine in Edinburgh, on the train to Prestwick Airport, and at any ATM I stopped by in Dublin.

I don't have savings linked to the Washington Mutual ATM card, so I can't offer guidance there.

Vamps27

eurogoer so did you just get charged the 1% for using the card or did you get charged with something else from washinton mutual? I ask cause I just opened up a new account with them and I can't get a straight answer out of them.

eurogoer

Sorry, Vamps, I never looked into that. (Ignorance is bliss?!)

chemgirl

I recently opened up a checking account with "WaMu" and explicitly asked about using the card to withdraw money in Ireland. It is a Cirrus Gold Mastercard Debit card and they told me it would work with my PIN in foreign ATMs with no charge from them (when I signed up they had a promotion with no fees for using a non-Washington Mutual ATM). If your card is an ATM linked to savings only, you might want to consider opening a checking account with WaMu to get the debit card. Then you can use it for purchases or ATM withdrawls (but ask about any fees associated with the Debit card for foreign purchases. I won't be using mine for purchases so I didn't bother to ask). Besides, they pay you 0.03 cents per debit card purchase so that's nice too.

Oh, and I'm not getting any additional money before I leave. I happen to have about 25 euro from a friend who studied abroad in 01 and gave me her leftovers, so I'm taking that but nothing else.

Hope this helps!

partyteacher

We used our WaMu Mastercard ATM card throughout Ireland in June with no problems whatsoever. It is linked to both our savings and checking account, but the withdrawls only came out of our checking account. There was no choice. We also noticed that the keys to enter your pin number have both numbers and letters on them. We had been told they just had numbers on them. ATMs are everywhere in Ireland. You won't have a problem.

PT

chef111

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!