I need 1000 Euros in cash the day after I arrive in Europe to pay the landlord. I am worried the ATM may not want to give me that much as it sounds like each has its own limit. (I will also need spending cash upon arrival.)

I am in Wash DC til tomorrow. There is an AmEx office right in my buidling that sells Euros. Their exchange rate is 1.37 today. (Bank of America is 1.36) When I look online at today's posted rates it is 1.29.

My question is this: Lets say that today I were to use an ATM in Europe. Would the rate be 1.29? Are there excessive fees tacked on and a higher rate? I'd like to buy a thousand Euros now while there is an AmEx office handy (when I go back to LA it will be a hassle.) By my calculations I will be paying $90 extra to get the Euros if today's rate is really 1.29 and that's how much an ATM would spit out in Europe.

Sorry if tis is a dumb question.

Well, I think you are right. You are not probably not going to be able to get 1,000 Euros from any one ATM plus your bank probably has a limit on how much you can get in one day.

You will get an exchange rate with an ATM someplace between what you see at the BOA and the web. The 1.29 is for "traders" Generally the ATM is a better deal, but you may need to consider some other options.

Hi vivi,

The ATM will give you your euro for about 1 pt over the published rate.

You could ask your bank to raise your daily limit for a day. You could then keep taking money out of the ATM until you have what you need or it runs out of money.

You might ask the landlord if you could make two 500E payments.

You will save about $70 using the ATM.

What I would do is to have another account with ATM card and deposit funds before travel and if necessary, get your daily limit raised. You should then be able to get 1,000 euro by withdrawing from both accounts. You may have to do two withdrawals per card as the limit in Italy is often only 300-400 euro per transaction.

OK, thanks so much you have answered my basic question which was so wordy: Is it costly to buy Euros in the US? And the answer seems to be Yes! I will call my bank about the daily limit.

You may be able to persuade your landloard to "hold" US cash, or travelers checks, denominated in Euros, until the middle of the week, when you can complete the necesary ATM withdrawal(s). If you can get Euro-denominated travelr's checks for FREE (your bank, your AAA, etc), then this might be a worthwhile strategy.

Best wishes,

Rex

Hi Rex,

If vivi buys euro TC's won't she be clobbered by the exchange rate, even if the TC's are free?

Hi vivi: I just bought 700 euros the other day as I need them to pay a hotel in cash, also. I paid about $960 for them from Wells Fargo. I guess that figures out to about 1.32 (what the receipt says). I figured it's just much easier to bring it with me because it's always nice to have cash on hand right away. And it's not so much money that I'm nervous to bring it. The balance of the lodging, food, etc will be paid with credit card or ATM withdrawals daily. I raised my daily limit, too. Have fun!

My daughter just ran across this problem when she moved to Florence and the landlord wanted the rent. She is only allowed $500 per day, rememeber to work the euros into that so you will not actually be getting the $500 or whatever your banks limit is. She also found that some of the ATM's did not even allow that much so she found the ones that did allow her the maximum. You must also remember that banks here consider after 3 p.m. on a friday until Monday as one day, so plan accordingly. She found this out the hard way as well. She did speak with her landlady and she was very nice about getting the money over a 3-4 day period. Good luck.

Many timnes when travelling in Europe I have gotten cash from a teller with my debit card. The amounts have been equivalent to $300 or less. Do the daily withdrawal units apply? If they don't wouldn't this be the best way to get larger amounts of cash?

But when you go to cash those traveller's checks you are gonna get "clobbered" again with the exchange.

I have a $500 a day limit on my ATM card, and my wife has $500 a day limit on her ATM card (different numbered cards, but same checking account).

Or, will your bank raise your daily limit?

I'm facing the same problem on my trip in Sept., and my credit union said they would not raise the daily limit, so I opened a second free checking account at another bank in order to have two ATM cards for my use.

AAA doesn't give you euro TCs for free, anyway, so that's moot. I think they charge more than the quoted rate from Amex. And, you will pay more on top of that to cash them if the landlord doesn't want them and you take them back. I don't know how much as I have never done it, but I remember seeing signs in the exchange bureaus for a fee to cash TCs even when they are in the local currency -- I think it's about 3 pct or so when they are already in euro.

I feel like there are free traveler's checks somewhere - - credit unions, maybe? or maybe "VIP" banking accounts?

And yes, the plan would NOT be to actually PAY with the traveler's checks, but rather, ask the landlord to HOLD them as "good faith" that the cash payments would be forthcoming mid-week.