ATMs
 

Question: I belong to a federal credit union and won't be charged by them to use foreign ATMs. I'm headed to France in a few weeks (3 actually) and have never been before. What types of charges do their ATMs incur for foreign bank accounts? There are no affiliated banks with my credit untion (besides M&T Bank but I'd guess that's too small to have some sort of overseas affiliate). I can check on that I suppose. But if there are none, as I expect, are the charges generally a flat rate, a percentage, no charge, what? Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

European bank ATM's will NOT impose any fee at all to your bank for your withdrawals. Period. If your bank or credit union charges you nothing, there will be no fee charged to you.
The idea of others looking for banks that have affiliate European banks is strictly because that means your home bank won't charge you anything for using those ATMs. Since your bank (credit union) charges you nothing regardless it isn't even an issue.

Hi d,

In adddition, be aware that there are ATMs not affiliated with banks that do charge.

They will have a label telling you what the fees are.

((I))

Cool! Thanks a lot! Are the conversions favorable on these? I think the current factor is 0.774 American dollars for every 1 euro.

>Are the conversions favorable on these?

ATMs give you approximately the current bank rate.

Hi

You will pay a % for drawing cash, typically 2%.

Payment for goods depends on the reciprocal arrangements between your card issuer and the bank of the merchant you are dealing with.

The good news is that it will be cheaper than exchanging cash or travellers cheques.

Be aware that not all US credit cards will work in European ATM's.

And you may have problems in stores because you don't have the required chip. In these cases, the store can swipe the card and ask you to sign, but they may be reluctant to do this.

Peter
www.the-languedoc-page.com

dougf--you have your conversion rate reversed.

One American dollar will by you appx. €.77, excluding any fees. Remember that the euro is more valuable than the dollar.

After I posted, I noticed it's hard to see the decimal in there, so let me re-type it. It's € .77 to one US dollar.