universitylad

I noticed a topic on ATMs and thought I'd relay my experiences from a recent (May 2005) trip to France.

On my first trip to Europe in 1999, I went for several weeks alone and took my ATM card. I also brought $1000 in travelers' cheques as back up in case things didn't work. The ATM's did work well and I came back with all $1000 worth of travelers' checks. (In fact, I still have a few hundred dollars of those cheques around for emergencies!)

For my subsequent trips to Europe, just took my ATM card, credit cards, a few hundred dollars in cash, and a few left over travelers' cheques from 1999. It always worked without a hitch, UNTIL THIS LAST TRIP!

Early one morning, I was up early to catch a train to the Loire Valley and stopped at a bank to take out a few hundred Euros. It was working fine, until it stopped suddenly and then decided to keep my card!! It was before 7 and the bank was not open, but I had to get moving to catch a train. At the train station, I paid with my American Express card, but the clerk said the computer was telling her she must keep my card!

!Each of my methods of payment was slowly being taken away and I still had 5 days left in Paris! Thank goodness my MasterCard worked and I had a VISA along as well.

The next morning, I was able to stop at the bank whose ATM took my card, and they were able to give it back to me. They couldn't tell my why the machine took my card; neither could my bank.

In any case, my recommendations for current trips are:

1. Use an ATM that is connected to bank; if the machine does take your card, at least you can go in and talk to someone.

2. Know how to make a collect call from a foreign pay phone! Get exact instructions about what numbers to dial before you leave. No one in the train station would help with English and it took me almost 45 minutes to figure it out. My Rick Steves guidebook failed my in this regard .

3. Take some cash as a back up.

Patrick

A well-written and thought provoking post.
I'm one of those travelers who go off to Europe sometimes for months at a time, with no traveler's checks and no foreign cash, and rely totally on credit cards and ATM card. I've never had a major problem (other than ATM only cards not working at all in Belgium and at a few banks in Italy), so I suppose I tend to be rather smug when I often post "don't worry". But I suspect like others, my opinion may change drastically when someday I run into a major problem with either credit cards or ATM card, or (horrors!) both.

xyz123

Well what was said here was you need a back up and as much of a proponent of ATM's and credit cards as I am, you have to back up in case.

Back ups? I bring 3 credit cards, one visa, one mc and one Amex.

I bring 2 different ATM cards.

I bring $200 in US cash in nice $20 greenbacks (no $100 bills please) so if worse comes to worse, I can go into a currency exchange place and change $20.

In a severe severe severe emergency, I can always go into any bank branch and use the ATM debit card as a credit card for a cash advance or make a credit card cash advance which is, yes, expensive. I also bring my US cheque book as I can cash cheques at Amex offices with my Amex card.

Now the reality is that I have never ever once had a problem but sometmes computer links go down, the 6 hour difference in time might mean an early morning withdrawal is occurring at a time a bank's computer is down while updating that day's accounts etc.

This remote possibility and you seemed to be a victim of Murphy's law (whatever can go wrong will go wrong) will not cause me to change the way I do it.

DeeDee

Thanks for a very thought provoking post! All very good suggestions!

May I add that it would always be advisable to use an ATM a day prior to a train trip, just in case you might experience the troubles universitylad describes. Planning to pull cash a day ahead will allow time to handle unexpected bank problems.

MareW

Does a clerk really have the legal right to retain your credit card because "the computer told her to"? I would be worried it was some kind of scam.

Glad you brought along enough backup to get by!

bob_brown

My most valuable use of travelers' checks came when I did not even have to spend one; I just showed them.

My wife and I were eating in a small Paris restaurant, just off Boulevard Raspail near the intersection with Boulevard Mont Parnasse, southeast corner. (Some of you may have seen it on a side street that connects Raspail and Montparnasse at an angle. La Petit Lapin)

To pay the waiter, I handed him my primary credit card. He came back rather quickly waving the card and saying something about "No good."
I started fumbling for my other credit card, which was in my passport case under my shirt.

When my wife rose from her chair to go to an aTM in a bank nearby, I thought the waiter was going to explode. He was making sounds like a tea kettle that is at the boiling point but the whistle is jammed. He was getting more steamed up even though I was still seated and fumbling quickly for other means of payment. (We were leaving the next morning and I was low on cash.)

As luck would have it, I could not readily find my other credit card while the waiter upped the pressure in the tea kettle. Not knowing what to do, I grabbed the checks out of my passport case, and spread them on the table. That calmed the waiter down long enough for me to locate my other card. Fortunately card #2 worked to his satisfaction.

I still have some of those checks. I carry them, just in case. The $20 idea is better because $20 bills are convenient in case you have to use one or more rather than breaking a $100 check. So I now stick two or three $20's in my passport case.

My wife had the same credit card that had just bounced, so handing him her copy would not have done much good.

I never did figure out why he became so agitated when my wife rose from the table. I guess he thought she was skipping out. I, however, was still seated. I guess I need to learn the French phrase for "Going to the ATM."

suze

For universitylad-

Maybe when they saw you walking around in your pajamas on the plane, they cancelled your credit (just kidding, just kidding)!!!!!

BabsB

Good suggestions. I am traveling with my 17 year old son, so am basically in charge of finances. I plan to take two credit cards, two ATM's hooked up to different accounts, some $20.00's and a few left over travelers checks from a previous trip. I'll give the kid some money for his wallet, and emergencies if we get separated. Of course, I will have my trusty money belt and will only carry what we need for the day in my wallet. We have never had a problem in the past, but it is best to be prepared. I do like the idea of not going to the ATM the morning you are planning to leave town.

Betsy

I was in Florence on the late April holiday weekend a few weeks ago, attempting to use an ATM outside the post office on a Sunday night. The bank across the street had posted a hand-written sign saying their ATM was out of order. After I clicked through the menu and stood there awaiting my euro, the machine whirred and rumbled, then flashed "Wrong Code." Huh? Not to be outdone, I tried again with the same result. On the third try, I typed in my PIN very s-l-o-w-l-y, and voila! (or the Italian equivalent) out popped the money. I recalled that my husband had the same problem once in Paris. So if this happens to you, try typing in your PIN slowly.

LoveItaly

Hi universitylad, I really know (inside source ) that your wearing your PJ's on the plane had nothing to do with your monetary problem. LOL.

Seriously though, your thread reinforces all the more to me why I want to arrive in Europe with some Euro. Even though I pay a bit more for it here in the US. Thanks for sharing your story. And may I say that your thoughts are IMO right on! Take good care.