wanderful

Last year I took euro traveler’s checks to Spain and France, and it worked out fine for me. I got them through Citibank before I left. And I’m doing it again in a month when I head to Rome. The two times I used an ATM for cash — both times in Paris — I got pummeled by the fees, which I discovered when I got home and saw my credit card bill. I remember taking out the equivalent of $150 in the Marais and getting hit with a $12 fee. Is this usual? Was I doing something wrong?

J62

Yes, you were definitely doing something wrong. By using your credit cart to get Euro from a cash machine you were taking out a cash advance against your credit card. This is essentially the same thing as taking out a loan from your credit card co.

You should use an atm or debit card linked to your checking account. When you use it you are withdrawing money directly from your US checking account, not borrowing money from the cc.

European atms (those run by banks) do not charge withdrawl fees. Many US banks charge you a fee to use a foreign atm (ranges from $1.50 to a few $). Many US credit unions will not charge a fee. Even with a few $ fee you will get more Euro for your $ using an ATM than you will with a travellers check.

ira

Hi W,

>I remember taking out the equivalent of $150 in the Marais and getting hit with a $12 fee.<

That's very high.

Even American Express charges only $5 per withdrawl and a 2% exchange fee.

My local bank charges $0.75 and the 1% Visa/MC fee.

To find out how much your TCs are costing you, check the daily bank exchange rate and compare that to the cost of buying the TCs and the cost of cashing them.

ira

PS,

As J62 said, you should use an ATM card in an ATM machine, not a credit card.

Robespierre

<i>p.p.s.</i> Do not use &quot;standalone&quot; ATMs - always get your cash from the one on the front of a bank, for two reasons:

If anything goes wrong and your card is eaten, you can go inside and get help.

Independent ATMs charge exorbitant fees that banks don't.

Intrepid1

Make sure that bank is OPEN in case you DO need help or its academic.

suze

When people refer to using ATM machines, we are talking about using an ATM debit card from our checking account, not a credit card (which makes it a cash advance). As noted also you want a real bank ATM machine not a kiosk type like you might find in a store.

elina

&quot;As noted also you want a real bank ATM machine not a kiosk type like you might find in a store.&quot;

Why? Those &quot;kiosk type&quot; ones are also real bank ATMs.

suze

Often they impose a fee. They say so when you go to use them.

J62

Some, in fact many kiosk type atms are affiliated with banks. I use those that are in airports, street corners, hotel lobbies, etc without reservation. I don't particulary need to find one right next to an open bank branch as those are becoming less and less common in Europe as in the US.

The ones I avoid are those that are not from a bank, i.e. the kind you'd find in a 7-11 store in the US. Privately owned, but linked to the plus, cirrus, etc network.

elina

&quot;Often they impose a fee.&quot;

Not in Europe, or at least not in EU-countries. It would be illegal.

Neopolitan

The other point you make about buying TCs in euros before you go is the one I want to address.
The last time I checked at my bank I could buy them at &quot;no charge&quot;. Wonderful, right? No, there may be no &quot;charge&quot; as such, but the exchange rate was approximately 3.5% above the current exchange rate -- the rate I would have been getting for an ATM withdrawal in Europe.
Let's see, 3.5% on $2000 worth of TC's? That's $70 they would cost me. More than any charges any bank I'd ever consider would charge me for a few ATM withdrawals! Then IF places in Europe charged a fee for cashing the TCs (as they often do) that's even more cost.

So, instead just buy the TCs in US dollars which truly will not cost you anything at all to buy? But then you are at the mercy of whatever rate the place in Europe wants to give you to exchange those into euros -- probably a lot more than the 3.5% I talked about before. TC's are a no win situation, except as something you get a few of and never use unless you have an extreme emergency.

P_M

Sorry, wanderful, you made some rookie mistakes and that's why you lost money. No savvy traveler uses TC's anymore, and unless it's an absolute emergency, do not ever use a credit card in an ATM machine!!

First of all, use your debit or ATM card to get all of your cash. If you want to take TC's as a back-up in case of an emergency, that's fine, but get them in US$ because you will most likely bring them all home. By having US$ TC's you can just deposit them into your bank with no exchage fees.

Please take our advice and you'll save a lot of money next time.

Christina

I usually have some TCs for backup, as I get them free from AAA, but I never take them in euro. That makes them more expensive due to the exchange rate they charge when you buy them that way -- and they charge to cash them even if in euro.

I don't use them for my primary source of cash, anymore, but from what I've read on here, I think Italy may be one of the countries where TCs are especially expensive to use. I don't know -- they are reasonable in France and CR, but I still wouldn't take them in euro, no point.

Really, as others said, the problem is that you are using your credit card to get cash, rather than your bank ATM/debit card. That isn't your money -- so it is just like a loan and you are charged a lot for it.

bob_brown

I will be even more blunt. If you used your credit card for cash advances, then you got what you deserved. If you buy euro denominated travelers' checks, you are paying about 4% more for them than yuo need to pay for euro notes out of an ATM.

Some major US banks have affilicates in Europe. Bank of America and Barclays Bank have an agreement. Last year in the UK, I used Barclays ATMs and paid nothing extra. It was virtually like a transaction at home.

Most European aTMs don't charge a fee. Any costs you accrue are from your home bank and for the transaction fee imposed by Visa or Master Card. That fee is usually 1%.

GSteed

Information is valuable! Every day currency exchange gets less costly and easier. ATMs are 'magic'. They read your card, check its validity, check its status/balance and then give you an exact amount of money. All in 2/3 minutes. Twenty years ago, you visited your bank and bought TCs. Later you found an open bank somewhere, signed the TCs and got local money. If you don't want to deal with such services, use USA dollars. They can be converted to local currency everywhere. Your only cost will be the spread.

Robespierre

Christina, are you sure your AAA cheques are free? When I was with them (gold card) they were getting about 9% markup IIRC. How much does a 1000&euro; cost today, all costs in?

P_M

Robes, Christina said she never takes them in &euro;.

Robespierre

Maybe I misheard what the agent said to me when I looked into AAA cheques several years ago, but I <u>thought</u> she said that 9% was just for buying dollar-denominated ones. It didn't make sense to me at the time, but it sounded like too much for either USD <i>or</i> EUR cheques, so I passed. I didn't ask about any particular currency.

Neopolitan

Actually AAA will sell members AMEX TCs at face value if they are in US dollars. There is no charge, except if you use a credit card they will charge you as if it were a cash advance.

The problem then, of course, becomes the fees that someone may charge you in Europe and the often outrageous exhange rates they will give you for the currency exchange.

As I said on the other thread on this topic, whether you get TCs in euro or dollars, it's a no win situation.

At least if you take some US ones as emergency backup and don't use them, you can deposit them or cash them when you get home and they truly haven't cost you anything at all.