Are European ATM's similar to American ATM's in that they give you the option of choosing between cheking & savings accounts? I apologize if this has been asked before, but would appreciation any info anyone has. Thanks in advance!

No not always - I used one in the Gatwick Airport and was not given a choice for an account - luckly it came out of my chequing and not my VISA!

We've used them all over Europe, and there's never a choice - the funds will be withdrawn from your "principal account" - usually your checking. Check with your bank.

In Europe (well, the UK at any rate) each ATM card is specific to one account. As a rule, you can only get ATM cards for checking accounts (not savings accounts) and credit card accounts are totally separate. Some checking account cards have the Visa/Delta sign on them but these are debit cards not credit cards.

I had to decide between traveller's cheques and an ATM card. Glad I chose travellers cheques, as they were simple to use and everyone accepted them. Even shopping they didn't charge me any commission because I was buying stuff in their store, and I always cashed them at AE offices at no charge. Met another traveller who had only her bank card, and she was having trouble. The bank machine just wasn't accepting her card for no reason that she could think of, so she was SOL. Plus, the machine could eat your card. So, I decided to play it safe, and was quite happy with the results.

Just back from two weeks in Scotland. Used our bank card all over Scotland, no problems whatsoever. We had to tell them when we applied for our card, which account we wanted the money withdrawn from, namely checking or savings, and that's where it is always drawn from. Much easier I think than traveler's checks.

When in Paris recently, ATMs would not give any money at one location on Sunday. I was told that when the banks have a run on foreign currency, they can just decide they don't want to give money out and don't for no reason. Many ATMs had huge lines waiting to use them. One person in our party had an alphabetic pin number, and you must have a numeric one to use in Europe.

We only have a checking accoutn and never encountered any difficulty in obtaining funds through automatic teller machines in Paris and London (but carried several $$$ worth of American travelers checks just in case the ATM cards decided not to work).