book6783

I seem to remember reading a post that it might be a problem trying to withdraw money from an ATM on a Saturday or Sunday because of U.S. bank times. We'll be arriving at FCO airport very late on a Saturday night. Do you think it will be a problem?

OReilly

I have occasionally had problems withdrawing from ATMs in Italy & France on Sundays. Also, I have run into problems arriving late at night at airports when there was no cash left in the ATMs!

I always advise, if you are arriving late, have sufficient local cash to get a taxi to your hotel. Also, make sure you can withdraw cash from your VISA card, in case of emergency. This will work when your cash card will not. however, you pay interest from the day you withdraw the cash, so I REALLY mean "in case of emergancy".

saps

Any caution you read had nothing to do with bank times in the US (you can withdraw money in the US on Sunday so why would it matter in Europe)

If there was a caution it was probably either than by the end of the day Sunday some ATMs might be out of money. If so then go to another ATM.

Or...If for some strange reason your card gets eaten by the ATM machine then the facilities (i.e. bank branch) might be closed. Slim chance of this happening though.

You'll be fine.

janisj

Actually even in the States there is a period late Sun night/very early Mon morning when my funds are not accessible. I think my bank's system is brought down for maintenence or reconciliation. But other than that, unless an ATM is empty, the day doesn't make a difference.

nytraveler

I've never had the late at night off-line problem (I assume that would be 2/3am in the US - so 8-10am european times. And many people here have reported getting money out of an ATM right off the plane.

I think the out of money thing may be a more common reason. I mean - that happens here too - if you go to Citibank on a summer Sunday after about 3 pm you may have to try 6 or 7 machines to find one with any money left - or even try another branch.

(I've even been there about 6/7 pm on Sunday when there were people on the other side refilling the machines with cash - I guess the bank had too many complaints of people wandering from branch to branch trying to get money.)

Neopolitan

The other thought is that if you have taken your daily limit out, you could be denied after midnight if it is still the same day "back home".

curmudgeon

I've been surprised once or twice by the time difference making my evening and next morning withdrawals show up in the same day for my bank (probably more common for west coast folks). The other thing I've seen in a few cases is banks where the atm is in a enclosed area and a card is required to access it on nights/weekends; not something that applies to airport atms in any case.