Using ATM's in Canada
 

In the past, I have used my ATM card to obtain currency when I was visiting Canada.<BR>Just recently while in Delaware I could not find a Bank of America branch and used an ATM at another bank. I was charged a usage fee of $1.75 by the bank that owned the ATM.<BR>My question is this: <BR>Will I have to pay an ATM usage fee at Canadian banks when I withdraw money?<BR><BR>(I have not in the past, but things have changed!!)<BR>

Most likely you will as even drawing from a Cdn bank ATM which is different from your home bank results in a charge. But for the convenience, what's a buck or two...especially when travelling?<BR><BR>FYI, the Canadian banking system is significantly different from the American system in that really there are only 5 major banks, and then a few credit unions.

I think it depends first on your card and second on the type of ATM you use. I have a Gold Royal Bank client card which allows me to access any other BANK's ATM without charge pretty well anywhere in the world. If you have one of those then so long as you use a BANK's machine there will be no charge.<BR><BR>However more and more PRIVATE ATM's are springing up in corner stores and on street corners which charge about $2 per transaction no matter what card you use. This is spelled out to you just before you access your cash allowing you to abort but I guess enough people go ahead to make these machines profitable.

The fee I paid was to the bank that owned the ATM. BOA lets me have two free off net transactions a month.<BR><BR>I am not sure I agree that $2.00 here and there is trivial. Would you take $2.00 out of your pocket several times over a week's time and throw them up in the air and let the winds take them??<BR><BR>The charge may be unavoidable because there is a flat fee for cashing checks, too.

Bob,<BR><BR>I just returned from Toronto. Yes, the banks up there do charge an usage fee for using their ATM. The fee that I paid was $1.25 Cad. The only thing that I suggest is to calculate the amount of money that you need before hand and withdrawal that amount in one shot. Most places accept credit card also.<BR><BR><BR><BR>Dave

atm fees piss me off. the banks are gouging us every chance they get. klam...i wish i had the extra money you must have. what's a buck or two? well you times that by 25 transactions and you've paid $50 to access YOUR money.

Hey Bob Brown and x--LAY OFF! The guy posts a ?, I take the time to answer it in good faith and you guys flame me? Great.<BR><BR>If you bothered to read my reply, I said "for the convenience". If you're not willing to pay for the convenience then take all your spending money with you when you begin your vacation and spend the rest of your vacation worrying that you'll be robbed or the hotel cleaning staff is going to steal it. Or you can get travellers' cheques and spend some of your precious vacation time finding stores that accept them, and then spend more time at check out counters while they triple verify the t/c to be real.<BR><BR>You are paying for convenience...<BR><BR>And since most people only go on vacation for a week or two at a time, and presumably you're smart enough to draw out what you will need for the week, than means one or two withdrawals...like I said a buck or two!<BR><BR>Unlike you richies, I don't have enough to spend that warrrants accessing the ATM 25 times while I'm on vacation.<BR>

I believe the maximum withdrawal in a 24 hour period in Canada is $500. Often there is a charge, even with the Royal Bank Gold Card. It is a way for banks to make money. But it is a minimal charge, about $1.50. I have been charged this fee, even with the Royal Bank Gold card at the ATM's (Bank of Nova Scotia, CIBC, etc) but I don't worry about it too much. CIBC is prevalent as the ATM of choice in many convenience stores such as 7-11.<BR><BR>But do be prepared in case the ATM's are down - it has happened to me twice lately and I don't carry cheques anymore. Sometimes they just aren't working so make sure you have a credit card just in case, or extra cash. We rely far too much on the web these days.<BR><BR>BTW Klam, Bob Brown is an excellent source of information on this board and always polite. <BR><BR>I didn't see where he "flamed" you at all. I think that you over-reacted to his post. He may have a different opinion than you but that is no reason to get irate.

I just took another look at my card. It's a gold Royal Bank Client Card. Not only have I never been charged access fees in Canada but I just got back from Asia where I used the card in Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan and was not charged an access fee. I do pay a $25 monthly fee for my VIP account but that includes all my banking needs including cheques, a safety deposit box, overdraft protection and no 'service' fees so I think it's a pretty good deal.<BR><BR>Anyhow - i agree whether it's $1 or $2 or whatever. It's the principal of the thing as much as the cost that offends me.

Just to clarify what dnorrie said about $500 being the maximum allowed to withdraw in 24 hours is WRONG. <BR><BR>It's different for everyone, depending on what amount was setup when you opened your bank account. <BR><BR>There is a limit too how much you can take out at one time from a machine and that varies with the different banks. This being that the roller on the ATM can only hold and read so much. I've encountered some ATM's where I can only take out $500 and some where it is $700. If you need more you have to do another transcation and yes another service charge.

Just looked at my banks website, its them that is charging me for using other banks not that bank.<BR><BR>So those private ATMs that you see all over the place would be a double whammy. I would be charge the $2 that goes to them and then my bank would charge me as well I guess.

The rules of Cirrus and Plus prohibit a bank from imposing a surcharge on a withdrawal made by a foreign ATM/debit card. So if you use a US issued ATM/debit card in Canada, your bank may charge you but the issuing bank is not supposed to if the transaction is through the Cirrus or Plus network.

Yo! Bob. We do not have the anti 'double dipping' laws that the EU has.If you use a Canadian bank machine, you will be charged a fee from source. We get the same service from American bank machines, be they BOA machines or 7/11 machines.<BR>Welcome to the 'free market'<BR>or 'NAFTA' type environment where only corporaions get to set the standards.

Well, I just got back from Canada and have first hand answers to my original question posted in May. I used my ATM card 3 times to withdraw money at bank machines, and there was no added fee for using the card.<BR><BR>I don't know about withdrawal limits because the queation never came up.<BR><BR>I was not able to use my card a "drug store" machines because all of the ones I saw were Cirrus and my card is Plus.<BR><BR>I am sure there would have been a fee for using them, but I have any idea of the exchange rate at these machines.<BR><BR>

This is not an EU issue. This is a Cirrus/Plus issue. Their regulations prohibit the imposition of the surcharge for having the audacity to use one bank's ATM which is not your own on ATM/debit cards issued outside the country where the machine is located.<BR><BR>Therefore by these reguations, not EU not NAFTA, imposition of such surcharges is illegal and if you are a Canadian cardholder and are charged $1.50 by a US ATM, you are being ripped off and should report the violation to Cirrus or Plus.

I live in Canada and have a Royal Bank card that is also Cirrus/Plus. If I withdraw from my bank there is no charge. If I withdraw from another Canadian bank there is a charge of $1.5-$2 CDN depedning on the bank. At a non-Royal Bank machine in a gas station, it might be $3CDN. In Florida, they have ATM's at the beach that charge $3US and up. XXX does not know what he is talking about.

I damn well know what I am talking about. If it is a Cirrus or Plus transaction, their rules prohibit imposition of a charge through the shared teller network for using another bank's machine if your card was not issued by that bank. This is plainly stated on, for example, the Citibank machines which state the bank may charge a fee of $1.50 on US issued cards. The fee most assuredly shoud not apply on cards issued outside the US.<BR><BR>The way banks have found around this are to make the transaction through other shared teller networks than Cirrus or Plus.<BR><BR>I do know that when I go to Canada, I do not pay a fee to the bank whose machine I use. My bank does not charge a fee so I pay nothing.<BR><BR>If you are being charged by a Florida bank for a withdrawal by that bank and you have a Canadian issued card, you are being ripped off big time. Of course what you have to make sure of is that the charge is by the US bank and not by the Canadian bank.