ATM's in Europe
 

Leaving tomorrow for Paris! Are ATM's bi-lingual? Do they give the choice of drawing from checking or savings?

yes, the ATM's are tri- or quad- lingual. Most were Cirrus or Accel or The Exchange (look on the back of your card) I didn't try to take $$ from savings, but I think my 14 year old son called our bank and asked them to transfer from savings to checking so he could spend more money! Check with your bank today! Have a good trip!

As I remember, they do give you a chance to select english. However, the ATM's I used in England, France and Italy didn't give me a choice between checking or savings, the money was just withdrawn from my checking account.

Jolene & Tammy: Thank you, that's just what I needed to know. What prompt replies!!!

One of your accounts should be labeled somehow as "primary" and this will be the one the ATM draws from if not selected. Check with your bank, and it's most likely your checking account, but I'd have some funds in both just to be sure. Have a great time!

The ATM's I have used in France allow transaction in English to various degree. Choosing "English", "L'anglais", "Union Jack", etc buttons. The number pad usually follows US practice of 1-2-3 row at top. Overall French ATM's are not that hard to figure out compared to other ones I have seen elsewhere. The hardkeys (what's one keypad) are in French, however. <BR> <BR>The ones with 1-2-3 row at the bottom really foul up the PIN entry. The German ones I used made me go thru at least 2 pages of screenfull of German instructions before giving me an English page.

When I use a foreign ATM, how do I know what the "maximum" amount I can withdraw is? I will be using ATM's in London, Paris, and several places in Itly. <BR> <BR>Thanks for any help. <BR> <BR>When replying, remove the "NOSPAM" <BR> <BR>[email protected]

Here's what I was told by my credit union before I left for Scotland last month: The maximimum I could withdraw was the same no matter what ATM I used. In my case it was $300 per day. So I took the average exchange rate at the time, figured out the US$ equivalent, rounded it DOWN to the nearest round figure, and used that as my standard amount to withdraw. I've also heard that the ATM will reject your card if you asked for more than what your banking institution would allow, but I never had that happen (so I don't know it that's true or not).