jimcolorado

To JSMITH: The following is part of a trip report I posted last June. Wish your advice was absolutely correct. I called both my bank and the credit card company many times in the weeks prior to leaving. I'll say it again, be prepared for any eventuality.
"Message: Just returned from two weeks in Italy. I took with me 400EURO TC's (left over from convent deposit needs) and 500 Euro currency purchase prior to trip from Thomas Cook and my VISA debit card along with a couple of misc. credit cards. Arrived on a Sunday and did not try to use the Debit card. However on Monday I tried to make a withdrawal and was refused, the Bancomat telling me that my card was "not authorized for international use." Prior to my trip I had spoken to the bankcard department at my bank, checking out the issues discussed on this forum about loss of a card and unatuhorized use, etc. I told them that I would be travelling in Italy, and even went so far as to have them send me a new card, since the mag stripe on mine was getting a little worn. And yer I have a 4 digit PIN. I talked to them at least 8 times over various issues relating to the use of the debit card in Italy. I called my bank (7 hour time difference) and as it turns out (3 phone calls and most of a 20 EURO phone card) there is a significant problem with the integration of the Cirrus/Star/VISA network in Europe and many (no exact number) of bank networks in the USA, and they knew before I left that there was a strong probability that my card wouldn't work in Italy. In the end my debit card never worked (many apologizes from VISA), and I was stuck with having to get cash advances from Thomas Cook and American Express. This was somewhat inconvenient because there isn't a Thomas Cook or AMEX on every street corner, and you are limited to 230 EURO per day cash advance. I guess the reason for my post is that I see many pepole here tell other posters that there is no need to take cash or travellers checks with them, and I am here to say that I am glad that I had a source of money to fall back on during those first couple of days in Rome. BTW, the lines at FCO ATM machines were huge!! As many as 50 peolpe waiting at several we walked by."

jsmith

jimcolorado,

I've used the procedure I outlined every year since 1991 and as mnay as 3 times a year in England, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Gibralter, Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia without a single problem.

The debit card is a Mastercard issued by Bank One on the Cirrus network.

The credit card is a Visa issued by First USA.

I've never had more than 6 people in line ahead of me - Gare du Nord in Paris when arriving by Eurostar when the franc was still in use.

What can I say?

jimcolorado

Glad your ATM use has been so uneventfull and problem free. I shudder to think of how I would have felt, just gotten off an 11 hour flight from the USA, enough command of the Italian language to ask for the location of the toilet, no EURO in my pocket, and that blasted ATM message staing me in the face. There is absolutely no harm in taking some local currency to get by in an emergency. The small percentage extra cost is good peace of mind for me.

JulieHHH

Hi, I travel to Canada daily from the US and use my MBNA credit card card. My MBNA card gives the best rate of exchange out of all other credit cards I have used including Citibank. They will monitor your account for unusual activity and phone or call you if you make charges out of the country all of a sudden.

The Debit/ATM cards give the best rate, depending on your bank, better than credit cards. I am lucky because my small bank gives a very good rate. The trick is staying away from Tricky ATMS in foreign countries because they are not Bank ATMS and charge enormous fees. Even Bank ones are unfamiliar to you, so it's wise to double check on that bank say, Bank of Ireland's policies if you are traveling often.

I found Citibank to be horrible on the exchange rate in any country, and I am sorry I use their services. MBNA has been great, but it's a CREDIT CARD, I do not want to pay interest, so ATM is always the cheapest way to go. As for protection as a consumer, I usually pay cash to get a better deal and avoid TAX and I only buy from people I trust. Credit cards are necessary but I do not rely on them.

They are for reserving hotels and emergencies only. You can save big on buying goods in Europe by paying CASH. you save big at B&B's, no tax there, everywhere.

West Ireland by the way had enough Bank of Ireland everywhere and the scare of few ATMS was bogus. There are plenty and everyone takes credit cards. Not everyone accepts Debit/Checkcards though.

Julie

xyz123

Just a few thoughts on the above

1. It is of course illegal not to pay sales tax and this business of paying cash to avoid taxes is all part of the underground economy depriving state treasury's of their rightful due taxes but I am sure that does not annoy most people.

2. The ATM operator positively does not set the rate of exchange on a cash withdrawal from an ATM. The international clearing houe of Visa (Plus) or MasterCard (cirrus)does and it is basically the same as credit cards i.e. the interbank rate 1%. Some banks are beginning to surcharge ATM withdrawals with 2% surcharges but at this point in time, Citibank is not one of them.

3. Is it better to pay cash in foreign lands??? Where do you get the cash from?? If you are exchanging US dollars or US dollar TC's for cash, you are paying an additional 8 to 10% to pay cash.

Actually the smarterest way to travel is to use one of the surcharge free credit cards, such as MBNA, to charge eveything everywhere and to supplement that with withdrawals from ATM's for those few occasions when you are forced to pay cash (street vendors, pubs, fast food etc.)

Incidentally, when you use ATM's of the shared teller networks (Cirrus or Plus their regultions prohibit the imposition of a fee by the bank whose machine you are using. It has nothing to do with whose machine it is...it has everything to do with the network you are using.

Finally, nobody should rely solely on plastic. You should have some sort of back up available just in case. The easiest back up is simply US dollars. In the unlikely event there is a problem with the ATM's, you can usethe exchange windows at the airports. Has never happened to me, however.

wojazz3

I probably misunderstood, but it is of course, not illegal not to pay sales tax in a country of which you are not a resident. Thus the duty free stores. It is actually encouraged not to pay the countries taxes.

Bill

paula_brandt

Dollarbill is absolutely right! We use a credit card most of the time when we travel, and we were stunned last year when we came back from France to see a 3% charge on EACH transaction!!! We'll be using our ATM card more often and carrying cash this time. We leave for Paris Saturday, and only wish we knew about the no fee credit cards earlier The fees are quite a scam, IMHO.

xyz123

Paula:

This question of surcharging credit card transactions has been on travel bulletin boards for several years. In addition, you received notice from your bank when this was instituted albeit probably in small print.

However, there are still lots of banks which do notimpose this surcharge. Simply get a credit card from MBNA or Capital One and voila problem solved.

Alan

Wow! My head is spinning with these amazing experiences. We are leaving (from Australia) in two weeks, and now, despite previous assurances from the bank, I don't know what to do. So I have cut-and-pasted three pages worth of salient quotes from the above posters, and I am going to get an appointment with someone in the bank and sit down and go through every one, asking how I can be sure this won't happen to me. It probably won't do any good (I think I'll end up taking the dreaded TCs!) but it should be interesting.Thanks to all the above posters for invaluable information!

clbc

Alan - as a fellow Australian I'll be very interested to learn of yourexperiences. We travel to Paris, Lisbon and Madrid in October and I'm hoping for no problems with mastercard and visa...

brandsberg

I don't know if this has been adressed, but will ad the information. I don't want to look thru all the posts.

My bank informed me just before my last trip that some of the machines will only take a 6 number pin as of the first of the year.

They advised me if I had trouble to add 00 in fornt of my regular number.

That may explain why some of the posters are having trouble with their cards overseas.

Check with your own bank to make sure you know a 6 number pin before you leave.

We had one of the cards cobbled up because we made too many attemps.

tamjam

We have had difficulty, especially in the south of France, in using an ATM for withdrawl from a savings account. No problems from checking account, though.

vcl

We can access our bank account on-line and transfer money from one account to another. We also pay bills on line. I've sat in a cyber cafe, checked my credit card balance, paid the bill, transferred money from savings to checking, and happily gone off with refreshed line of credit to hit the shops and the ATMs. The electronic life is wonderful.

Budman

<My bank informed me just before my last trip that some of the machines will only take a 6 number pin as of the first of the year.>

What? Never heard this before. I only have one credit/ATM card (BoA) that has a 6-digit PIN, and the latest advice was that it wouldn't work in Europe.

Any first-hand experience in using a 6-digit PIN in Europe?

Is this an April Fools joke?

mibrownidgirl

Don't know about pin numbers but after having a bad experience in Paris with ATM's, I do have some advice. Always have an alternative money supply. (traveler's checks or ?) When we were on vacation the people who stock the the ATM's with money were on strike! Who would have thought?

xyz123

That strike in France a couple of years ago was and remains so misunderstood. The drivers delivering cash to banks went on strike and there was a shortage of cash throughout the country; not just for tourists using ATM's.

And the country survived...you know how. Merchants started accepting credit cards for purchases as small as 5 FF (about 80 cents US or so at the time)...the metro used to have a rule it would not accept credit cards for purchases less than 42 FF, it lowered it to 5 FF and life went on.

Sure it can happen but it will be more than the ATM's that will be affected and you always need back ups.

mibrownidgirl

Nice to know the whole story. We really weren't inconvenienced too much since it was over the day after we arrived. Since we did not have francs with us, the only problem was paying for our tranport to the hotel. They did not take credit cards but they were really very nice and said they would contact us the next day for payment.