another atm question
 

In the process of changing financial institutions I was issued an AEX debit card. Are they readily accepted in Europe?

Sorry, I'm not familiar with the acronym AEX. It that American Express? If so, then no, it's not as readily accepted as Master Card or Visa.

AEX is American Express

What other symbols are on the back of the card?

How can you have an AMEX debit card? Debit cards are attached to a bank account - for europe it has to be a checking account. Do you have an AMEX checking account?

Are you sure this isn't one of those awful AMEX cash cards that charges you fees about 12 ways from Sunday.

I had never heard of an American Express debit card so I called to make sure it wasn't another credit card which I didn't need. It is indeed a debit card and the funds are taken out of a money market account just as you can write checks on the money markket account. Although the financial institution(which is United Bank of Switzerland) assured me the card could be used in Europe and even gave me the amount of the daily limit I still don't if it can be used extensively in Europe. There are no symbols on the back of card. Thanks for your info and concern.

Get yourself a "real" debit card and leave this baby at home until you figure out what it's all about. If it's got no symbols on it, it won't be usable anywhere.

Hi Chas,

It is a real debit card, linked to your money market account, which acts like a checking account.

You can even have AMEX link it to your account so that it becomes an ATM card, although a rather expensive one.

However, I make it a point to never use cc or debit cards which I didn't ask for.

Also, AMEX is not as widely accepted as MC/VISA, especially in small towns.

Hope this helps.

((I))

When my late parents travelled, American Express was about the only game in town.

Within recent years, however, I was surprised how poor acceptance of American Express credit cards seemed to be, while Mastercard and Visa had signs almost everywhere. I now use Mastercard and Visa exclusively, as I believe the currency conversion costs me less with them.

The main networks that link ATMs are run by affiliates of Mastercard and Visa, and I would think that those ATMs would not accept an American Express ATM card.

To get a good idea of what availability is, I would go the the American Express website and try to find a listing of how many ATMs they work with, and where they are. One reason I haven't used a US bank that has affiliations with European banks (and that seem to minimize the cost of currency conversion) is that I don't want to waste my overseas time finding the "right" ATM, when ATMs that work with the mastercard and visa networks seem to be everywhere.