debit card in eastern Europe?
 

My daughter and a friend will be traveling in eastern Europe for about 10 weeks. They have no set itinerary, and will be moving from country to country - deciding when to move on as they go. Is there a problem with debit cards in eastern Europe? They have been told some countries block the cards, and they would need to alert their bank a week or more in advance when they will be in a new country....which will be very inconvenient for them.
Can anyone shed light on this?
Thanks so much.

Do you mean easter europe as in Russia and Ukraine? (If so, wouldn't they need to have their visas already?)

Or do you mean central europe (Czech, Hungary, Poland, etc). If so - yes, debit cards will be fine as long as they are part of the major networks (Cirrus, etc) - and not from a small local credit union or similar.

They should contact their banks before they leave with a list of countries they will be going to>

Thank you...they will be landing in Istanbul, then traveling to Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Belarus, Lithuania.....

Of course they should notify their banks as to where and when they will be going. I just did a month-long trip to Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Tallinn (Estonia0, Riga (Latvia), Vilnius (Lithuania) and 3 cities in Poland.

I don't recall whether I gave exact dates when I would be in a certain country, but I would imagine if they give approximate days in a country, that would be fine.

They can ask their banks how specific they need to be.

We used our ATM card in Hungary and Romania in 2005 with no problems.

The central european countries mentioned will have no issue with their debit cards, their bank may so you need to make sure it doesn't pull the cards by telling them and telling them again.

However, I would take a back up card because numpty banks will always do something stupid, it's in the software.

Do not let the thing out of their sight and brief themselves on the usual card scams you get both at ATMs and in restaurants etc.

Thank you all so much...this has been very valuable information.
Any suggestions for best bank for them to have a debit card from?

If possible look into a credit union account. Credit unions generally offer free access to foreign ATMs to which is added a 1% conversion rate imposed by Visa, the conversion agent. Whatever bank you choose, make sure you tell them your dates of travel.

If you are in the US, have your daughter look into setting up a travel account at a credit union. They're co-ops, not for profit. I have debit cards from 2 credit unions. There is no transaction fee or currency exchange surcharge on withdrawals from foreign ATMs. That's as cheap as you can get -- without getting award points.

One thought: in general debit cards don't have the theft protection credit cards have. If some one steals your debit card, they can use it as a credit card and empty your account. Whereas with a credit card your loss is capped at $50. In either case, the banking institution should be notified immediately. Maybe your daughter could get a plain ATM card for withdrawals of cash and a credit card for other uses.

Also I agree. Your daughter should notify the bank of her approximate travel dates in those countries. Don't want them to block all charges on that card.

I've only been to the CR of those countries, and there is no problem there at all.

As for as bank notification, that's the bank's rules, not the country. I notify my banks and just tell them the overall trip dates and the countries, but don't have to give a blow by blow of dates/countries.

Now I do have a Cap One Mastercard and they are more problematic in buying things online from a foreign country when you aren't there. One often needs to do this planning for a trip (tickets, etc.) and Cap One has this rule that you have to call them to authorize online foreign charges and then they will only allow it for 24 hours. Really annoying (my other cards don't do that). So if you don't have all your plans in place to buy everything in one day, you have to call them again. Which is why I mainly used a different card of mine from Chase bank where they are more accommodating. Cap One doesn't have those rules when you are actually there in-country, just for online purchases.

If their own bank told them they needed to be notified a week in advance of each country, I guess I would believe them.