ATM use, please clear up
 

I just want to ask again about using an ATM to withdraw from my credit union savings account (I do not have a credit union checking account).
I was looking back at some old ATM discussions, and people were saying a person might run into trouble by trying to withdraw from a savings instead of a checking account. Why?
I use my ATM card here in the US to withdraw from my credit union savings account without any trouble. Is there some reason I would have trouble trying to do the same in Zurich or Istanbul?

I don't think there is a definite answer. That is why there are multiple responses. Unless the bank deals frequently with clients who use their cards overseas, I have gotten bozo answers from the bank (or credit union.)

Some claim that an ATM card linked to only savings account works in Europe.

It did NOT work in my experience.

I had a BofA ATM card linked only to a savings account. The local bank claimed I "should" be able to withdraw cash from an ATM machine. What he said was not correct. I could not get cash out of ATMs in France or Spain. While abroad, I had my family create a checking account and had it linked to the ATM card. Voila, the ATM card was able to access cash out of the hot off the press new checking account.

Do you have other ways to withdraw cash?

There are reasons other than the savings/checking issue that prevent you from getting cash. Having a debit card linked to a checking account at a different bank is one backup strategy.

After all the problems, I confronted the BofA why the ATM card did not work. The reason was that the ATM machines in Europe did demand draft accesses to the savings account. The savings account could not process demand draft transactions. Well, so why did they not tell me this before the trip?

I had a problem withdrawing from a (credit union) savings account, too. Can't you open a checking account at your credit union and transfer the money from your savings account?

There is also a difference between an ATM card and a Debit card. Debit cards will exhibit the Visa or Mastercard logo, ATMs will not. In many cases, but not all, ATM cards will not work. Debit cards do. Some banks allow debit cards to be linked to checking and/or savings, some don't.

dave

dave - not all debit cards have the MC or Visa logo.
I have never been able to withdraw funds from my savings account in Europe, including in Istanbul. I set up a checking account at my credit union and use that to access funds overseas. I can go online and transfer funds into checking from savings as needed, but withdrawals are from the checking account.

Seamus, I agree that not all will have those two logos. However, they are the most universally accepted. My point was that some folks think that an ATM card and a debit card are the same thing.

Is the credit union account on the Plus or Cirrus or other world-wide system? If it is and the savings account it accesses is the only account on the card, maybe, I'm speculating, maybe it might work.
But I've had my plain old Mastercard debit card not work on the occasional atm in Europe, and so I found another atm. If your credit union card won't work at all, you won't know until you get there. Why chance it when a checking account is so easy to open?

I really would not chance it when it is so easy to open a checking account and transfer the money before you leave. Make sure the ATM card you get is on the Plus or Cirrus system and you will not have any problem as long as you notify your bank of the dates you will be traveling and where.I don't think the ATM's we have used while in Europe have even had a savings account option.

Transfer money to your checking account and make sure that the credit union knows your dates in Turkey, otherwise it might consider the withdrawals suspicious. The same goes for your credit card. We always give them our itinerary, so we have had no problems when traveling abroad, but were denied paying with a credit card in NYC because that city is considered a high risk area when it comes to credit card fraud.

I'm with Seamus. Almost always, the ATM's we've dealt with in Italy and France didn't give a choice between saving and checking but defaulted to checking.

Don't know what would happen it you have only the one savings account.

Your cards wil work only if they are linked to one of the major international networks - CIRRUS etc. those from major banks all are. those from credit unions are sometimes not inked to networks.

So - you need a card linked to a checking account and to one of the major interntional interbank networks to pull cash in europe.

By all means, don't risk it, and set up a checking account that you KNOW you can use. Also, make sure you have a 4 digit PIN, or a 6-digit that can be truncated to 4 digits only. Double and triple check with your bank on that. AND, be sure to notify your bank that you will be traveling in X country between dates such and such, or they may put a fraud hold on your account when they see unual transactions from overseas. Then you are up a creek again.

My experience matches TDudette's...ATM cards work nearly everywhere, out of checking account (no choice). I have had one card not work in London at one bank, walked 15' to another bank and worked fine. I have never used Debit and would not, since I prefer taking cash out of an account.

I have one main ATM card, but a couple of others from other banks, that I have used once.

I am intrigued by the idea of using a card with only a savings account. Someone here says that the machines use your primary account (no mention of savings or checking).

I asked at my credit union about the checking or savings account issue some time back and now I realize she was just "talking off the top of her head", telling me I could access my savings account with my ATM card.
I will go in tomorrow and create a checking account and link the two accounts. I suppose I still have the problem that maybe this credit union isn't linked to the Plus or Cirrus network anyway. In that case, I guess I will just buy everything with credit cards.

but presumably you will at some point need to withdraw some local cash for small purchases, taxis, newspapers, or other small purchases.

I have another ATM card which I will take as my back up as well. This one has lots of fees attached to its use, but as you say, we will need cash sometimes.

if your card has high fees, you might want to see if your bank for the atm can renegotiate them. I have had companies recently reduce standard fees just because I asked.
If fees are a concern, make a withdrawal each time that will last you a while, as opposed to frequent small withdrawals.
Also, try to choose an odd amount if the machine allows it, for example, 990 TL rather than 1000. That way the machine dispenses some notes of smaller denominations. I found it a challenge to get change in Turkey, even at my hotel desks.