rayandsuemorgan

I need help. Will leave for Italy in 2 weeks and I just read in Fodor's Italy 2004 (Page 56 Smart Travel Tips) that the required number of digits for the ATM's in Italy is five. Is this true?

isabel

Regarding the number of digits in your PIN. I think it depends on your bank at home. When I first went to Europe several years ago I was told that it HAD to have 4 digits, that five would not work. So I went to my bank since my PIN has 5 digits. My bank told me they no longer issue four digit PINs but that in Europe I could just enter the first four digits of my PIN. I went to another branch of the bank cause that sounded odd to me and I wanted to be sure. Same answer. Still unsure I opened another account at a different bank that would issue a 4 digit PIN and deposited $500 so I would have back up. Well in Europe I tried the "first four digits" of my five digit PIN and it did NOT work. However, when I entered the whole five digits it DID. This has happened in several different countries over the past four years. (The ATM with the other bank with the four digit PIN always works too). So now I happily have two ATMs , one with 4 digits and one with 5, and most of the time they both work. More importantly, if one were lost or stollen I would have the other one to continue with my trip. And BTW, one of my banks charges $5 for each withdrawal and the other only charges $1, so again, that depends on your home bank, not on the ATM you are using in Europe.

The other "moral" to this thread is not to believe everything you read. I'm not saying ProudMom is lying or anything, I'm sure that was her experience, but if someone were to just read her post, and not the many that followed, they would be seriously misled.

Gunny

I took traveler's checks and credit cards to England/Ireland last year. My husband and I tended to share meals and our cost was below the minimum they would accept on a credit card. I finally figured out that my ATM card was the best thing. I had no fees. I would take a little cash to change when I got to a country and then use my ATM card to get cash as needed. Kathie

scumpy

ProudMom, I came over here to read this thread because you wrote in another thread that you were blasted in this one. I think you are being a bit too sensitive. The fact is, you forgot to bring your ATM card and had a rough time by visiting some places that did not accept credit cards.

So, some people here learned from your experience, and that is the point of these forums. Thanks for posting.

I make it a point, like some others here, to make sure to bring TWO ATM cards with a couple thousand dollars in each account, just in case.

(((ProudMom)))

nytraveler

I'm a little confused. Are you complaining that with your credit card you got a bad rate - 75 euros for $100? Or that the overall exchange rate - whether for cash, credit card, ATM or anything is bad?

Also, have been to Venice 6 times and have found only a very few places that did not take some type of credi card - typically even if a less expensive place did not take AmEx it would take Visa.

And have never found any hotel that did not take all credit cards - although I assume that there are B&Bs or private hotels that don;t - but naturally anyone would check when booking them.

l_jackson95814

I was in Venice the end of April and never had a problem, but my hotel only took cash as payment, but I knew that ahead of time. I also opened a second bank account so that I would be able to get cash if one of the cards was lost or demagnatized.

Make sure to alert your bank that you will be traveling so that they do not put a hold on your account for unusual use. Also note that if you are using an ATM/Visa card, that the fraud section of your bank does not always know that you are traveling. If your Visa stops working, but the card works as an ATM, then you need to check your home voicemail to see if Visa has contacted you. When I got home there was a call for each of my ATM Visa cards. Fortunately, they did not put a hold on my cards, but they informed me of the disconnect in information sharing in the institution.

Egg

My goodness, Gunny. You must be the first person in history to dine cheaply in England and Ireland. What did you eat, one meat ball? I hope they gave you bread with it ;-)

Sylvia

I second taking two cards. If one bank's ATM is playing up, it's a good insurance to have a back-up.

Patrick

Sorry, ProudMom, but your comment that ATMS are very expensive simply shows you didn't do it right. Perhaps if you found that to be true, you were "borrowing" money on your credit card rather than withdrawing from your personal checking account. I've heard of some US banks charging as much as $5 or so for each withdrawal, but if you're taking out 200 or 300€ at a time, even that's no big deal either. Again, it is a FACT that no European bank charges anything for using an ATM; if you incur charges at all they are from your own bank at home. My Bank of America charges nothing for withdrawing from numerous partner banks, and if you use a non-partner bank, they charge only $1.50. In Italy they have no partner banks, but that still doesn't stop me. Two days ago I got money in Naples, Italy by going to the BA partner bank Deutsche Bank (yes, they're all over Italy). Sure enough, I just checked my account on the internet and the withdrawal already shows in my account, with no fee, and an exchange rate of 1.223.

dmlove

The only problem I had with ATMSs in Venice was my own inability to divide liras by the exchange rate, so I ended up taking out (true story) $500 when I meant to take out $50 (so I ended up with oodles of cash that I didn't even want to be carrying around!)

Patrick

Too funny, dmlove, but I've almost had the opposite problem. At home to get $300, you enter 30000, since it requires the two places after the decimal, but in Europe it seems that you only need to enter the whole amount, in other words 300 to get 300€. At first I was angered when it said I had exceeded my limit when I quickly hit 3 and then four zeros, till I realized I was asking for 3,000 €. Gasp! Glad it didn't spit them out!

Surfergirl

Patrick, good to hear from you. What are the other partners for B of A? Thanks for the tip on Deutschebank.

Patrick

In the UK, it's Barclay's (these can sometimes be found in other countries as well). In France, it's BNP, which are found in just about any town in France. Sorry, don't remember the others for other countries, but you can call BA and they will tell you the partner banks without a service charge.