No ATM Card, how to get pounds?
 

My friend is leaving for London in a couple of weeks, and has been hacked and had to change all banking details. She did have one credit card that is safe, but will not have an ATM card available for cash. Any thoughts?

Thanks

Won't her bank give her another one? My bank gives me one right away if I lose my ATM card.

If your friend changed her bank account, can't she get an ATM card for her new account. Most of the other ways I can think of to get pounds are really inconvenient. She could take cash and get it changed in London or she could have her local bank issue her pounds. Both options would be expensive and would involve carrying around a large sum of cash - not a good idea. There is always the travelers check option but that is really inconvenient and often expensive. She should talk to her bank about options, including an ATM card. T

If she wants one to take with her believe me, the bank will "find a way" to make it happen.

While she's at it, I'd suggest she get another credit card too. I'd feel much better about being overseas with two credit cards instead of just one.

Not sure how long the trip is so how much money we're talking about... but she could go with cash. Get pounds from home bank ahead of time &/or change U.S. upon arrival. Not the most cost effective but cash still does work!

That said, certainly you could get another ATM card within a few weeks time from her old bank or a new one?

A bank worth having would get her an ATM card in a lot less than 2 weeks.

Unless she is living in a small town with only one bank, she should put her foot down and make them get her a card, or get another bank.

Keith

Are you and she just assuming she can't get an ATM card in time? It shouldn't take more than a few days. She should call her local branch mamager and find out how to expedite a new card (I once had a new acct and ATM card in hand less than 24 hours after having my wallet stollen)

One can still buy American Express--and other brands--travelers' checques. That was what we who were young in the 70s did before Mastercards and such were readily available to young people. As far as I know, that is still an option for taking money abroad.

Separate from that, she *should* be able to get a new debit card before 2 weeks is up.

socialworker,

Although travelers checks reduce the worry about theft, they are neither convenient or an inexpensive way of changing dollars to pounds.

Keith

HI--of course you are correct Keith. My understanding of the OP's query was that the friend was looking for a way to get cash on her trip, under the circumstance of there being no good way of doing so...

There's no good reason your friend's banks can't get her a new ATM and credit cards in a day or two. If they refuse - I would find another bank that's trying to co-operate.

(My AmEx card was used fraudulently and I had to cancel it. Since I was going on vacation that week they FedExed me a new card overnight - no charge.)

something about this doesn't make sense, she's not leaving for a couple of weeks and will not have an ATM card? Why not?
No one these days agrees to go for two weeks without access to cash even if they are staying home.
She can even open a new account at another bank and just put some money in it to cover her trip needs. She could always close this account later if she wishes.
If this is really a case of all-encompassing identity theft, someone else can open the account, and put her as a second name on the account, entitled to all privileges including an ATM card.

I'm not sure how it works exactly, but does anyone know if setting up a PayPal account would be a feasible alternative to solve the OP's problem?

I agree that there's no apparent reason why the friend won't have a new ATM card in time. But if she doesn't, this might be one of the few circumstance when it's worthwhile to invest in one of those prepaid debit cards that are offered by most cc companies.

Smudge, I have friends who use their PayPal debit card when they travel in the US. How would this work overseas? Is there a way to tell what the transaction fees would be? And can you draw cash out of an ATM from the PayPal account? Sorry about all the questions, but I would like to compare this with a "regular" debit card or credit card, it might be an option for us . . . Thanks!

Margie ... I'm not sure how PayPal works exactly. We were offered the option to use PayPal to make a deposit on a vacation rental in France, so I would expect it would work the same there as in the U.S. I think PayPal may be affiliated with eBay ... you might want to try googling it.

Thanks smudge, I have a PayPal account (but not their debit card) and wondered if there were any benefits to using it instead of a "regular" bank debit card. I think I'll go do a little research at PayPal.com !

I do agree that there is no reason she couldn't get a new ATM card in time for her trip, is it that she doesn't want one now?

She could always buy an AMEX or AAA Travelfunds card to use in ATMS..but the fees are preety high.

My bank Fed Ex'd me a replacement ATM with no charge and I had it the day after the local ATM "ate" it. If friend has a credit card, she could use that to get cash. Is it possible to prepay a credit card account so that cash withdrawals won't be charged the going rate? If not, if the money borrowed was repaid immediately upon return from vacation, it most likely would not be a major expense - comparable perhaps to whatever fee you would pay for pounds bought in the US or travelers checks.