ATM Machines
 

Sure hope I can get some help here. I have been getting conflicting answers to the following question. I am traveling to Italy in October and need to know if I will be able to access my savings account at the ATM machines? I do not have a checking account or credit cards. So Ineed to know if I have to take all my money when I go or have access to it while I am there?

Thanks,
Tom

Why not call your bank and find out. You would have your ATM card and should be able to access it. I usually call my bank and let them know where I will be traveling so I am not locked out of my accounts.

Check with your bank. The ATMs I've seen in Europe (Italy, UK, France, Ireland) don't ask which account you want to withdraw from.
In the past, you could only withdraw from checking at overseas ATMs. Don't know if this is still true.

You can have your bank peg your ATM card to any account - you just have to call or go in and ask them - and check to make sure it works before you leave for Italy!

Why not ask your bank this question?

I have often read that ATM withdrawal need to be from the checking account, not savings account. But certainly your bank should be able to clear this up.

With no credit cards or ATM card, you could take your money in a combination of cash, travelers checks, and one of those preloaded travel cards. None of these are the most economical way, but given your situation might be your only choices.

TRSW, is there some reason your bank can't open a checking account tied to your savings account? And then issue an ATM debit card. If they can't, change banks. There is plenty of time between now and October.

I definitely would not want to chance that my ATM would access my savings account while I am in Europe.

While I have read a posting stating that there exist ATMs that let you access savings account from Europe, I have yet to have seen such a beast.

Having enough problem involving savings accounts, here are my observations (as an user.)

Unless your bank is frequented by a good number of foreign ATM users, your bank, whether a teller or the bank manager, is CLUELESS about what works from oversea ATM machines. They don't tell you (that they are clueless); instead you are assured (frequently incorrectly) that "it should work."

Same is true about the toll-free customer number.

To avoid what ifs, put the money you want to access from Italy in a checking account; unless you are a minor, in which case, you cannot open a checking account in your name only (at least in my state), but need to open a joint checking account with a non minor you can trust.

The ATM machines I have used never asked for the account number. EVEN when one ATM card was tied ONLY to ONE SAVINGS ACCOUNT, withdrawal was still denied.

Hi TRSW, during my trips to Italy my experiences have been that to utilize your ATM card it has to be connected to a checking account and NOT a savings account. And your pin number has to be four numbers.

Greg is right, do not count on a bank employee in the US to have knowledge of ATM's in Europe.

Is there any reason you cannot open a checking account sometime this summer and get an ATM card connected to this checking account?

If there is a reason (such bad credit that no bank will allow you to open a checking account for example) then you will have to get perhaps some Euros and a preloaded travel card. The fee will be high but that will have to be looked at as one of the cost of traveling.

If it is because you are underage that is another whole matter. Can you have an adult (parent or whoever is trustworthy ) open up a checking account in your name and their name?

TRSW, to prove a point. On another thread a poster and her mother who were visiting England started talking to a couple who were quite upset. This couples bank had told them they needed Euro for England. And they needed pounds (or Sterling). England although it is part of the EU does not use the Euro. So again, do NOT depend on bank employees to know what they are talking about regarding money, ATM's etc. in Europe.

I agree with greg that the "ask your bank" advice is flawed. As someone who maintains US based accounts, I can tell you that most staff at financial institutions in the US are appallingly ignorant of anything outside of the 50 states. Many do not even know what the united kingdom is when i give my address -- i kid you not!

Most banks will routinely issue a Visa check card/debit card which is keyed to a checking account. Find a bank with cheap charges, open an account in time to get the card and try it out on your bank ATM at home. Then loiad the account just before your trip and close it when you return. Just be aware that unless you are working with a small local bank that there will be industrywide foreign exchange charges in place by fall if you use MBNA, Citi, Fleet, Banc Onaae, etc.. The banks are falling in line to make some more money.