bellastarr

This may very well have already been posted here, but since I just found out about it, I am posting it.

I travel yearly in Italy and I normally go to the Citbank ATM in Florence to access my account directly and was thus able to buy my Euros without paying the extra fees normally charged elsewhere. Now I am leaving on SUnday, and just found out through an Expat site that Citibank has taken down all it's branches in Italy, and Banca Euromobiliare has merged existing international accounts into their system. So no more ATM fun for us Citbankers! Pooh! I'll take cash from this end, but what a drag.

vjpblovesitaly

Can't you just use any old ATM?

bellastarr

Sure you can, but I could get my money from the CB one without paying any fees in the past.

StCirq

What extra fees are you talking about? There are no fees for withdrawing money in any bank ATM anywhere in Italy.

Michael

Citibank will probably charge a fee. But it still will be lower than taking cash from the States.

Michel_Paris

Not sure why you would not use ATMs. IMHO anytme you need to stand in front of a teller, give them $US and get euros bac, you are paying more than having an "electronic" withdrawal.

Also, there are two costs when you are doing currency transactions. One is the "fee" the other is the exchange rate. In both cases the service provider can build in their profit. So...no fee does not mean no coast.

ira

Hi BS,

I fear that you have been misinformed.

The only fees on a bank-owned ATM transaction in Italy come from your own bank.

>I'll take cash from this end,...<

Very bad idea.

bellastarr

Sorry ira but no, not a bad idea at all. I have some hundreds of Euros saved over time from other trips.

Citibank didn't charge me fees when I used their ATM in Florence, but they will now for every time I use a non CItibank ATM. The expat sight where I read the information is quite correct, and I also spoke by phone to Banca Euromobiliare in Florence twice today, as well as to the International department at Citibank.

Unless you're a Citibank customer traveling in Italy I don't know why this should concern you. But in any case, believe whatever you wish. I didn't make it up, I researched it quite carefully before posting it here.

Henry

bellastar,
To help with your research call the worldwide exchange rate hotline at the bottom of this page https://web.da-us.citibank.com/cgi-b...seBVCookie=yes
the rate for today (1 Oct) is 1.4998
the interbank rate today is 1.4009 so that is about 7% markup.

According to this page https://web.da-us.citibank.com/cgi-b...Branding=Popup
the fee for non citi bank ATMs is 3%.

Henry

janisj

bellastarr: &quot;<i>Sorry ira but no, not a bad idea at all. I have some hundreds of Euros saved over time from other trips.</i>&quot;

I'm quite sure ira was not talking about &euro; you already have. The &quot;Very bad idea&quot; he meant was it is a very VERY bad idea to buy &euro; in the USA. If you already have a stash of cash -- then it'd be silly not to take it . . . . .

Kristina

Bellastar- I used to use my Citibank ATM card all over the world because there were branches everywhere. Then they started tacking on 3% every time (actually, they did this before, but they just hid it in the conversion rate). In addition, for every &quot;non-citibank ATM&quot; there is an extra charge on top of the 3%.

Now I use my Credit Union ATM card which charges me a flat rate of $1 per transaction on foreign ATMs, no matter the amount I withdraw. That's a much better deal than 3%!

bellastarr

Henry, thanks for your helpful links.

Janis, I agree that's probably what Ira meant by his comment. However he wrongly assumed that I would buy Euros in the United States, something i never claimed, I simply said I would bring cash. I keep a reserve of Euros on hand at home, and that's what my cash supply is.

Thanks for your suggestion Kristina- wish I belonged to your credit union!

bellastarr

BTW Henry, the Citibank WOrld Wallet (in your link) is already familiar, since I travel every year to Italy, and the markup is the reason I never buy currency through them, lol!