Welcome to the World of WashMut no service credit\debit card. There are several posts on this topic.
Bottom line "Star" Network is Domestic and WM recently changed to them because from their end the fees for maintance were cheaper. Though they are aware of this problem it appears (according to my local branch) that nothing is going to be done about the problem.
Get another card - I did and closed my account with WM. which I hated to do because the local staff is great.

There are so many different factors involved with Visa and MasterCard plastics issued from different banks. I am a trainer at a Visa/MasterCard processing center, and we process transactions for financial insititutions around the country, both bank and credit union.

I say there are different factors involved because it all starts with the actual owner of the ATM and what they will allow on their end as they disburse cash at THEIR ATM. They assign the daily limits per card, join whatever network they choose, and if your bank is not on THEIR network then you are out of luck. IF there are VISA logos and MasterCard logos listed on the ATM you should be able to use the machine to get cash advances. Again, limited on how much by the ATM Owner. Visa and MasterCard are the grand daddy's of them all, and for that financial institution who owns the ATM, they must abide by International regs issued by Visa and MasterCard.

Again, if your F/I is not on their network you won't be able to use their machines.

Now, in recent years, we have had f/i's in the USA actually block countries. What that means is that they have found that fraud is prevelant in those countries more so than others, and they completely block that country from their network. This means, if the f/i (financial institution) blocks the country, lets say, Italy, nobody using their f/i issued card will be able to use the Visa card in that country.

So, there may be several factors involved, and if you as a regular bank teller, you will get the blank look. ASK FOR THE VISA OR MASTERCARD PERSON IN THAT BANK TO GET YOUR ANSWER. If they don't know, tell them to ask their Visa or MasterCard rep for the answer.

Hope this helps without going into LONG gory detals on how these networks function.

Janners, Thank you for taking the time to post. Very informative.

Hi Pilates

If you have any questions, please ask or email me, I can try to help with some questions as much as possible.

Anyone else, if you have questions,
email me at [email protected]

I want to thank everyone for this discussion thread. Although my husband and I are going to Prague, not Italy, I had concerns about my WaMu ATM card after reading these posts. We are not active ATM users (mostly while traveling) and we recently received new cards from WaMu without the Visa or Mastercard logo. Since we are departing on 10/16, I headed straight to my bank to inquire about getting a card with the logo.

The assist mgr expedited the delivery of our new ATM/debit cards (2days, FedEx) and had me pre-select the pin, just in case the mailing (7-10 business days) didn't make it before our departure.

So now we not only have our ATM with logo, but also a debit card to use as a back up if something happens to our credit card (which has highway robbery fees!)

Thanks again everyone.

I just talked to someone else at WAMU, and she stated that you have to get a special International ATM card for it to work in Italy.

Just go to your branch and ask for one. Yeah, I'll bet they'll know what that is, but then again you'll never know. She said that the problem only exists in Italy.

That part doesn't surprise me though!

metalmd,
What you need is another bank. The star system as Christina pointed out, is only domestic see http://www.star-system.com/?go=atmLocator.International
A special international ATM card? Cirrus is international, as you saw.
If you like to be lied to get teenagers, but change banks.

Henry