ATMs in Paris
 

I have read on Fodor's that French ATMs sometimes restrict how much money you can take out. I am going to Paris in September, and will need to make a large ATM withdrawal for a guided tour of Mont St Michel, which requires cash. This will be about 500 Euro, and I would like to take this out at one time rather than over a period of days. Has anyone had a problem withdrawing this much money from Paris ATMs ? I will not be exceeding my bank's limit.

I have not had a problem at bank ATMs. Last month used BNParibas with no problem getting 500 euros at one time.

Never had that problem, but if you do encounter it, just walk to the next ATM and make another withdrawal. They're everywhere.

Some ATMs do restrict the amount that can be withdrawn at a session, but as StCirq notes you can get around that by just going to the next ATM - and they are ubiquitous.

You also need to check with your home bank to see what limit they impose on ATM withdrawals in a single day. Most (but not all) will temporarily increase that amount if you ask.

500 euro is not really a huge amount, you should be OK.

300 seemed to be the limit on the ATM machines I used during my Paris visit just last week. I did not go to a second machine, as 300 was fine. I did ask once for 500 instead, but the machine said 300 was the limit.

Perhaps they do , but I wouldn't find 500 euro a problem, although I don't typically get it. But I have gotten 500 euro a couple times at ATMs in Paris.

But if by any chance you do find one that limits you, just go to another, it doesn't have to be a different day. There are plenty of ATMs around to choose from in the center of the city. I liked BNP as I think it actually asks you what kind of currency you want (50s, 20s and 10s or mixed).

You know if you went to BNP and then CIC, those two banks wouldn't know what you did with the other one, and the French post office actually has good ATMs, they give you lots of small bills (they are outside La Poste). For this tour, you probably want big bills, though.

The bigger issue is restrictions your own bank sets. My bank will not give more than $300 a day, despite my asking for a raise in the limit.

I just got to Paris yesterday and I had issues withdrawing money from my capital one 360 debit card from practically all the ATMs in the ORY airport. When I called capital one, they said that if the ATM has high fraudulent activity, then they will not allow me to withdraw any money. The next morning, I tried with the ATMs close to the Eiffel Tower and it was the same deal. I couldn't even withdraw 100 euros. I then tried with my Chase debit card and I had no problem withdrawing 100 euros. So it must depend on the bank. It looks like capital one 360 is very strict about it whereas Chase is not and I am so thankful I have two checking accounts because of this issue. Using my capital one 360 debit card as a credit card has not been a problem at all, however. And the capital one rep said that I can withdraw $1,000 from an ATM in one day but I just need to go to one that doesn't have an alert on it and unfortunately he couldn't tell me which ones they are. Good luck!

I've never had a problem and routinely take 500 Euro at a time. I use ATM's that are located in or outside of actual bank buildings. They usually do not have limitations of withdrawal amounts.

I have never of a French bank ATM limiting a withdrawal amount. I have heard of a user's banks limiting the amount of a withdrawal. For USA banks, a limit of $500 per day(about 400€ or less) is non uncommon.

Some banks will raise the withdrawal ceiling if you ask.

@Sarastro - happened to me last week that an ATM in Paris limited the withdrawal amount to 300€. I know it was not a restriction from my home bank because I was using a card on which the limit was higher than that, and I had not used the card in a couple days so it was not a case of multiple withdrawals aggregating to exceed a daily limit. On other machines did not have that problem. Sorry I do not recall which bank's ATM it was, but it was in central Paris.

The restrictions I have encountered are due to MY home bank having a daily ATM limit. At my previous bank, I signed paperwork and they increased the limit to $1,000 per day. My current bank limit is $300 per day.

Just returned from Paris and had no problems at all with the ATMs. I withdrew 900euro at one stage. I did find there was a minimum withdrawal of 50 euro which annoyed me as I was trying to clean out my travel card which only had 40 euro left on it, so I had to leave it in there!

I think the limits are set by your bank not the overseas banks.

The only reason that an ATM would have a minimum withdrawal of 50 euros would be if it only had 50 euro notes left to distribute.

That's what I thought, that doesn't sound normal to me (having a 50 euro minimum). I'm sure I've gotten 40 euro at times, but usually do get more as I don't like going to the ATM that often. I could see a 10 euro minimum or something.

I have no idea what a travel card is anyway, but wonder if it was related to that issue.

Thanks all. Lots of good info. One question - I have a Mastercard ATM card. If I use an ATM that is not in their system, I assume there will be an additional fee. Would that usually be a flat fee or a percentage of what you withdraw ?

Bank ATMs in France do not charge a fee but the bank that issues your ATM card may. It could be a flat fee, a percentage or both.

I've never seen an ATM in France that wasn't compatible with the Mastercard/Maestro/Cirrus network. If it really wasn't compatible, you wouldn't be able to make a withdrawal at all but that's not an issue in France. The bank that issues your ATM card is the one that determines the fees not the ATM network.

<i>Would that usually be a flat fee or a percentage of what you withdraw?</i>

There is a 1% currency conversion fees that comes form Pulse/Maestro/Sirrus but otherwise, all other fees are imposed by your local bank.

Banks can also choose to not pass on the 1% network fee resulting in you paying 0%. It really does depend completely on the card issuer.

Questions about money and credit cards always get all kinds of conflicting and incorrect answers.

First, NO bank in France will limit how much you can withdraw. Think about it, why would they, they make money on any tranaction. It is ALWAYS your home bank that sets limits. So to know what those limits are you need to ask your bank. They can change the limits if asked and they assess your credit rating as justifying it, just as they change the total amount of credit you can run up on a card in a month.

Do not listen to 'just go to another ATM' as an answer. It is a 'daily withdrawal limit amount' you are talking about. So what does that tell you? Reach the limit and you are not going to be able to withdraw any more that day. You would have to wait till tomorrow.

Second, you cannot use a Mastercard in an ATM that is not compatible with their system. What can matter however is whether the ATM you use is at a 'partner bank' linked to your home bank. Using your card at a partner bank can mean no ATM usage fee will be added. Again, you need to ask your bank if they charge a fee for a foreign ATM withdrawal and/or do they have partner banks where they do not.

Contrary to what some people think, it is NOT the foreign bank that charges the ATM usage fee, it is YOUR bank. Private ATMs can charge a fee but will always tell you before they do and ask you to 'accept' or 'not accept'.

You also need to ask the BIG question, does your bank add an exchange loading onto the Interbank Exchange rate. Many banks add 2.5% for example in loading (in the US the common term used is 'foreign transaction fees')which can add up depending on how much you spend obviously.

Meant to give you this link to read.
http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-...nsaction-fees/

Absolutely any card with a Visa, MasterCard, Visa Electron or Maestro Card logo will work in any ATM in France. Visa & MasterCard are united in the French bank card system, so any card that they control is accepted.

If your home bank has a "daily limit" on ATM withdrawals--and almost all do--they probably use their own local time to decide when a new day starts, not the time zone clock you are in.

Yes, right, d_claude_bear. It's therefore often pretty easy to do back-to-back withdrawals if you watch the clock.

<<Second, you cannot use a Mastercard in an ATM that is not compatible with their system.>>

BS. As Kerouac rightly pointed out, any Mastercard is compatible with their system. Stop improvising!

<< <i>NO bank in France will limit how much you can withdraw</i>>>
wrong again, improv. As I posted, exactly this happened to me in the last month. This ATM clearly stated that withdrawals were limited to a certain amount. It was not a case of having reached my daily limit, as I took the max allowed from that ATM and shortly thereafter (and not at a time which would reflect a new calendar day back home) at another ATM successfully withdrew additional funds.
This is not the first time I have encountered this situation; it is not common, but it does occur.

<i>This ATM clearly stated that withdrawals were limited to a certain amount. </i>

There may be limits on certain ATMs but not on BANK ATMs as those of us have carefully noted. Non bank ATMs, and there are a number of these, may have limitations of some type but I am firmly on the side of those who state that bank ATMs have no withdrawal limits.

Specifically Seamus, what bank did you find that imposed a withdrawal limitation that was clearly not one imposed by your local bank?

I have encountered the same thing, Seamus, in rural France (Cordes-sur-Ciel, to be exact). Limit: 300 euros. My daily limit was 500. Went to another ATM and successfully got another 300. Same day - no time zone issues.

I've also encountered the Sunday morning no-ATM-availability issue, when apparently the US banks are re-engaging with the French ones and you can't get a darn thing out of any ATM machine anywhere. Usually resolves itself by after lunch.

Allen,
I would like to add just 1 thing to all the above. When we went over there we carefully placed enough money in our checking account to cover expected debit card usage. Never had a problem wherever we went at shops or ATMs. Imagine our shock when we got home and found that our bank took all the transactions from our SAVINGS account not our checking. Then they hit us with overdraft fees and moved money from our checking to our savings to cover and charged us for that too. I got that straightened out REAL fast. but just a word of caution. Check with your bank as to what their normal procedure is. This was a credit union. If using an ATM, be careful with your wallet. Pick pockets LOVE ATMs around major tourist sites and watch you like a hawk. Keep those wallets/purses in a safe place. Cards and serious in a neck looped pouch inside your clothes like those used for passports. Saved my butt a couple of times when my decoy wallet disappeared.

When there are limits on the amount you can withdraw, it is for your protection, not because the bank is being mean. If your card and PIN are stolen, the restrictions are a godsend.

I really cannot imagine using a decoy wallet just to tempt pickpockets.

We've had restrictions in Italy and France. Here we can withdraw $1,000 in one transaction, but when in Europe €400 maximum. Doesn't matter as we wouldn't need to carry more than that anyway.

Sarastro - sorry, do not recall which bank ATM it was, but am certain it was a bank ATM as I do not use any other kind (except in an emergency.)

My own (French) bank's website informs me of my restrictions for withdrawals:

460€ a day from a BNP Paribas ATM (although my bank is not BNP Paribas, it has close relations with it)
310€ per 7-day period from the ATMs of other banks
3050€ of Visa debits per 30-day period in France
3360€ of Visa débits per 30-day period in foreign countries
340€ per 7-day period from foreign ATMs

So it's all pretty complicated but clearly outlined by the bank. One thing for sure is that I would never be able to get enough money out of a foreign ATM like a lot of you need to do for those apartment rentals.

Reminder -
An ATM machine in France [all of Europe??] will take cash from whatever account is the PRIMARY account. I *believe" that with credit unions, the savings account is primary. The option which account to use for funds withdrawals is not given, which is why it defaults to primary account. You need to ask your bank which is your primary account. Lesson learned, burbil.

When in Germany, we ask our bank(s) at home to allow up to $1500 per day withdrawal from ATMs. Thus, we can quite easily get 1000 euro without problems at the atm machines we've located and keep using, since we know it is not going to give us a problem. I guess I did not ask my bank to raise my daily limit for Paris... didn't really need more than 300 euros per withdrawal anyway, but when I asked for more than 300 (but less than my home bank limit) I was turned down. 300 max.

Switzerland also does not restrict, once we've asked our bank(s) at home to raise the daily amount.

allen - are more than one of you travelling? just get €300 out each.

just one of you? carry two cards.

it's a good idea to do this anyway [and keep them in different places] so that if one is lost/stolen/won't work, you've got the other one.

I suspect every ATM and every bank is different. In May, in Venice, an ATM outside my nearby bank would not process my card, but the machine inside the bank did...go figure!

Makes me think Lasoy24 is probably right about ATMs that experience high fraud rates are set up to be pickier about what kinds of cards and from what other banks and countries they will accept transactions.

SS

I didn't intend to start a hail storm here, but there seems to be enough of you who ran into "limits" for whatever reason that I will likely take out the money on 2 separate days, which should avert any problems. Thanks again folks.