To the OP: If you're asking about using it to withdraw cash, I think that subject has been covered! :)

If you're asking about whether your check card will work to pay for things, I've used mine in London, Scotland and Italy in the last year. (Haven't been to Paris.) You may need to have the clerk swipe it instead of using the chip-and-PIN mechanism (this is for all US cards, not just B of A). The only issue I ran into was in the automatic ticket machines in Italy; my card wouldn't work there, but it worked fine when I took it to the ticket agent. I assume it's because my card has no chip, but I'm not positive. At any rate, no big deal.

Thanks for the info. I have just returned and had no problems using the card with ATMs or purchases.
Many thanks!

SeaUrchin,

If you are not allergic to credit unions for some reason, try them out--you might have one in your community. We have had out problems with our local credit union, but a phone call gets you to a local representative who was able to striaghten out the problem. We have had no charge on ATM withdrawals and just the 1% Visa charge on credit card purchases.

Etrade has a great checking account with ATM Cards - and they give refunds for all ATM charges - we used their ATM cards on our last trip and all of our fees were refunded in Italy, Ireland, and England...No worry about which bank to use or anything.

We are closing our BofA accounts and going only with ETrade Max Rate Checking now because of how nice it is to get money from any bank and not be charged and ATM access fee!