textraveler

Can someone please clarify for me the numbers versus letters on Italian ATMs?

I thought most European ATM keypads had numbers only. The above posters seem to say they are letters only. I hope the keypads are numerical because our PIN has a zero in it. Can someone with recent experience please clarify? We leave in 22 days, so if I need to get a new PIN established I will have to act quickly!

We were in Italy in 2001, but I don't recall the layout of the ATMS, altho we did use them frequently. We may have had a different PIN then that did not contain a zero - can't recall.

Thanks, everyone, for your prompt response!

kayd

textrav, I do not recall ever seeing letters on an Italian ATM keypad. Numbers are the norm.
It is American ATMs, I think, that have letters (tho my bank does not).

textraveler

Thanks, kayd, for the quick response. In the meantime, I have looked up ATMs in my Rick Steves Venice book, and it states that they are numericalin Italy. That only makes sense, really. Don't banks only issue PINs that are numerical?

Textraveler

ellenem

Banks issue numerical pins, but you can have it changed to whatver you want. Some people might change it to a numerical sequence they remember as a word when using a US keypad.

J_Correa

textraveller - When people choose their PIN numbers, often times they choose them so that they spell out a word and then they remember the PIN by the word. The letters corrospond to the numbers on the keypad, but since they remember the PIN based on the letters, if a keypad doesn't have letters, they may be in trouble. It is just like with phone numbers - some companies' numbers spell something like 1-800-get-ajob or whatever it may be.

rayzen

thanks for the nfo on using the atm attached to the banks. i must admit i pay everything cash . i am going to practice at my bank. hope i will be o.k i am bringing euros with me. i will probably charge most of the trip. laeving in two weeks

alanRow

European ATM's only have numbers on them so if you've remembered your PIN as "snow" (for example) you are pretty much goosed unless you can visualise a US ATM keypad

Henry

alanRow,
You just need a phone.

Dukey

I would second Ira's advice about what to do if for any reason the ATM tells you that the transaction won't go through.

I've had this happen more than once in Italy and each time I took the card to a different machine and it worked perfectly.

I would advise you to avoid so-called "private" ATMs and use ones that are attached to a bank building if at all possible. However, I have yet to be in any village in Italy that didn't have an ATM and those were usually associated with some sort of bank.

As to the "daily limit" i would advise you to contact your card-issuer and ASK them what the daily limit is (you might want to consider asking them to raise it but that's obviously up to you) and remember that is the daily limit in DOLLARS, not Euro so figure in the exchange rate when withdrawing.