Dorgal

I have run into this confusion before in other countries.........Does anyone know if the ATM's in Italy withdraw money from the US checking account or savings account? In Mexico - the ATM does not give you a choice - - and the money comes out of checking. I was unprepared for this and had left my reserve of money in my savings account. I will be in Rome in Sept. and want to be sure I have it right. Does anyone know for sure?

xyz123

In general, ATM's outside the US withdraw money from the primary account on the card. 99% of the time, this is a chequing account. There are some banks that issue a primary card for a savings account and in theory these cards would work and withdraw the money from your savings account even though some have reported difficulty when trying to do this.

Budman

If you have an ATM debit card, it comes out of your checking account.

You can use your credit card in an ATM machine if you have a PIN for it -- but of course, it will be withdrawn as a cash advance on your credit card account.

If you have an ATM debit card that also acts as a VISA or Mastercard, I would recommend having your bank disable the credit card portion of the debit card while you are overseas, that way it can only be used as an ATM card with a PIN. Otherwise, if you lost the card, anyone could use the VISA/M/C portion to wipe out your checking account.

I hope I haven't thoroughly confused you.

mebanese

One of our friends used a debit card in Italy and it withdrew from a checking account - he had both checking and savings. We also used a debit card hooked to a checking account, but a special online Citibank account that we only use while traveling.

ira

Hi dorgal,

ATMs almost always connect to your checking account.

Good advice from Budman: "I would recommend having your bank disable the credit card portion of the debit card while you are overseas,...".