Debit Cards!
 

Hi!

I was wondering if anyone out there knows anything about using French debit cards in the US? I am currently living in France and get paid to my French bank account, thus I need access to that money while I am on a 2 week vacation back home in the US. Does anyone know if they will work in America? I suppose I can ask my bank, but it's the weekend and you know how that goes in France!! Just wondering for some personal experience...
Thanks in advance

I don't see why they wouldn't work in the US if your card is part of the Cirus or Star network. You might want to also post this inquiry on the US board.

They work just fine. The main thing to know from your bank is which American bank will not charge you a fee. For example, if you are at BNP Paribas, Bank of America will not charge you a fee.

Thanks! I've added it to the US group as well. Sorry this might sound like a dumb question but what is the cirus and star network?

<< what is the cirus and star network >>

Not sure what they are but the names are on my ATM card and the card works throughout Europe and the US. I guess European cards do not have these logos.

If your card works at one ATM it will work in all others.

No adrienne, if it works at one ATM that has the Cirrus and/or Star network logo on it, it will work at all others with Cirrus/Star logos. It would not work on one which only has a European network logo or a PLUS network logo.

Fortunately, though a few years ago the ATMs were "one or the other", now typically most ATMs work for multiple network systems.

My Guaranty Bank just changed to BBVA Compass. My debit card used to have Cirrus, pulse, and Star on the back. My new card has Plus, Interlink, and Star. I am going to have to see what the Interlink and Plus are good at. I might have to switch banks before I travel to find a debit card with Cirrus and pulse on it.

As I understand it Cirrus and Star and those kind of networks are networks that are used that handle money transfers between banks, and banks/ATMs sign up to use them. Your bank has agreements with various ones so that its cards will be accepted if the ATM uses those networks. I think Cirrus is owned by Mastercard and Plus by Visa.

amberwvsofgrain: "<i>Sorry this might sound like a dumb question but what is the cirus and star network?</i>"

Not dumb at all. What logos/symbols are on the back of your card? That will tell you/us if the card will work and where.

Actually what really counts is the front : Visa or MasterCard.

ATM machines are linked to different systems. Even if the card does have a visa logo on the front - it needs to be linked to the same systems.

'Actually what really counts is the front : Visa or MasterCard.'

In fact we have a French debit card that doesn't include ANY indication of a network, and I suspect can't be used anywhere other than in France. When we got them, which I think was before the Euro, it was cheaper to have one that could be used in France than to have an international one. Since we have other cards, we decided to go for the cheaper one.

I tried to use it once in Spain a long time ago, and it didn't work. Haven't tried since, but as there are no international networks mentioned, I'm pretty sure that it wouldn't. So it is worth checking your French card for network information.

My ATM card works at almost all ATMs in Europe and yet it isn't a debit card and thus doesn't have any Visa or Mastercard logo on it. It has PLUS and STAR on the back, however. What is odd is that when the charges come through on my statement, it says something about STAR network even though I think that is only a US network. ALl I know is it works, so maybe the PLUS links to STAR who does the final calculation. I think some of these things are a little mysterious and you can't always say for sure a card will or will not work if it has some unknown networks on it. I think I asked my bank about that once, and even though it isn't a debit card, the Visa/PLUS network takes over when I use it abroad.

I think every ATM I've ever seen that had a Visa logo also had Mastercard logo (on the machine), but mayber there are some that only do one. And I thought that if you have a Visa logo you are by definition linked to PLUS, and if a Mastercard logo, you are linked to Cirrus. I know some banks only refer to the MC or Visa network thing, so I don't think you can have a Visa card and not be able to use the PLUS network. I think they are basically the same thing (Visa/PLUS).

Amber,

If you haven't already done so, check with your French bank to determine how much you are allowed to withdraw per day via ATM. Our bank, Credit Agricole, had us on a ridiculously low amount for daily withdrawal when we first opened our account. That's since been changed but it would have caught us out on a holiday.

Find the network on the back of the card. Google the network to find locations in the U.S. Plus is Visa. Cirrus is Mastercard. Just do the Locate ATM in the city you'll be and it'll give you locations. The BNBParibus-BOA link is cheaper, as nearly all U.S. ATM's charge a fee for use of a card from a different bank. In addition to Cathinjoetown's advice, I would also notify the bank that you'll be out of the country so that fraud protection doesn't shut down your card.

Thanks for the advice everyone! if it helps the bank is LCL (Credit Lyonnais) and the card is also a mastercard, so it looks like from your comments I should be good to go!! Thanks for the advice and help.

I think if it says Mastercard, it will work in US regardless of the terms from your bank (debit/credit or settled end of each month).

I've used a Belgian Mastercard and a Swedish Visa card in the states.

From memory, I initially had to try different banks for drawing cash.

On long business trips (where the card was used for air tickets, hotels, restaurants etc for up to 3 months) I used to put a credit balance on the card before departure.


Peter

"Actually what really counts is the front : Visa or MasterCard." - no. I have a card that is only an ATM card (my choice) with no Visa or Mastercard logo and it has worked just fine in ATMs all over Europe and Asia.

I have a Visa card (Axa Banque) and a MasterCard (Banque Pass Carrefour) and neither one of them has <B>ANY</B> indication on them -- neither Cirrus nor Plus nor anything else. They work in every ATM in the world that has either Visa or MasterCard on it.

We have used our Dutch bank cards in the US, not only at ATMs but also to pay for goods in supermarkets and buy petrol. They worked fine. Our credit cards also worked no problem, but we never used them at ATMs of course.
We tried our bank card once and found it worked so we used it a few times, just to be sure we didn't max out the CC during our 4 week stay.