Visa or Cash in italy??
 

Hi All,
This might be a silly questions but we have been saving money for our trip in a seperate account and were planning on just using visa the whole time (airmiles..) and then paying it off when we got home. IS this a good idea or is it better to take cash and pay with cash? Or half and half? Just not sure with exchange rates what is better.

Thanks in advance!

I think the ratio would be the same as anywhere else. Small purchases (an espresso, bottle of water, etc.) with cash (euros) and bigger ones with a credit card. How do you plan on getting "cash" - from an ATM?

Don't forget to tell whatever banks you might be accessing while there and your Visa company that you will be travelling (when and where) to another country

we would just bring some with us. Which is why I don't want to have to carry a lot. I figured it was a silly question but thanks for responding!

Do you mean Visa credit card or debit card, or what? You should pay for large purchases (hotels, e.g.) with a cc (preferably one that doesn't charge a hefty percentage for foreign transactions) and pay it off as soon as you get the bill. For everything else, you take cash out of an ATM machine with a debit card and pay with that. It doesn't have anything to do with the exchange rate, which you can't do anything about.

You don't need to bring euros with you (if you get them ahead of time in the USA you'll pay a boodle for them) - you just hit the ATM machine at the airport when you arrive.

NO NO NO NO NO. <b>You do not TAKE cash out of the U.S.</b> That is completely daft. You will be hammered on the exchange rates.

You need cash in another country, go to the ATM and use your debit card. If your debit card fees are too high, shovel that savings into a Cap One or credit union account where you'll pay 0-1% as a fee for currency exchange and no transaction fee (compare: Chase charges 3.5% plus $3 per transaction).

Check your Visa card agreement. Likelihood is you're paying 3% on purchases for currency conversion fees. That may be worth it for the miles.

The conventional wisdom is, the best exchange rate is obtained by using the ATM (debit card) to get cash while in Europe. Paying with a credit card is OK too -- in both cases you get the exchange rate the banks have negotiated for themselves.

However, depending on your bank, you want to watch out for extra charges like transaction fees and fees for converting currency. Consider changing banks to get a better deal in this regard.

Under no circumstances should you use your Visa credit card to withdraw money from an ATM -- it is considered a loan and they start charging interest from that moment.

Buying Euros in the US, or using an airport Bureau de Change, is generally viewed as a rip-off due to poor exchange rates, although the convenience cannot be denied, and there are occasional reports of good outcomes from internet agencies.

How much euros do you guys normally take out at one time from the ATM? I am trying to determine if i should take the max out per time or hit up the atm several times so i do not have too much cash on me.

Taking cash with you from the USA, in $ or € means paying more in either fee or by lousy rates. Use ATM in Italy using a debit card for lower fees and rates.

Cash vs. Visa in Italy? You don't always get to choose.

Moderate to highend restaurants: cash or visa
Low end, mom and pop tratteria: cash only
b&b, hotels: cash or visa. Might get cash discount
apartments: cash or visa. Some places are cash only, that means really a lot of cash.
Trains: cash or visa at window on newer vending machines. cash only on old vending machine.
Taxis: usually cash only
Museums: cash or visa. However, some prominent places take only cash e.g. Uffizi if you made reservation online but yet have paid for it.

I travel alone and would usually take out 40 euros at a time only so I wouldn't get a 50 note which would always happen to me if I got 50 or more.

Are ATMs readily available In Italy and France or just at banks/airports? I am afraid if i do not take enough out and need cash, it may be hard to find an atm.

Cash from ATMs -- take as much as you are comfortable carrying around, split it between the two of you, and each stash most of that in a deep location inside your clothing, keeping 20-50 in a pocket or purse for gelatos and souvenirs as you stroll among the pickpockets. Assess your funds on the last day and use excess eurocash (if you have any) to pay down part of the hotel bill, but keep some (50-100) as a starter fund for your next European holiday. Buon viaggio.

I like to keep about $200 in US twenties in my passport case as an emergency reserve, to exchange at a very unfavorable rate if it becomes necessary because of multiple-ATM failure (very rare, but why not be prepared?)

ATMs are all OVER the place in France and Italy. The nearest town to my house in the Dordogne has a population of about 2,000 and there are at least 7 ATMs there. I spent 6 weeks in a teensy Umbrian town a few years ago (population 75), and there were 3 ATMs. I usually take out 200-300 euro at a time.

awesome, thanks so much for all the info! Makes a lot of sense. And good to know we should take money out of the ATMS there vs here (canada). This is our first time travelling to europe. I appreciate it!

Personally, I try to always have enough cash an alternative to using a credit card. You can never know if, in some out of the way place, they either do not accept credit cards, or the machine has stopped working, or your card is declined for some unspecified reason.

I usually get €200 or so at a time. That's more than I would normally carry at home, but losing it would not be a catastrophe. Don't forget that euro coins can be quite valuable, and it easy to be carrying enough coins for a gelato or two.

Let your cc holder know where you are going in Europe and the
dates you'll be there plus get the phone # to call from Europe
in case you lose your card. I even notify my bank card carrier
so they tag my account.

Make sure your bank card is tied to Plus or Cirrus and your
PIN has 4 digits. Also, you will be using your chequing
account only (the system won't transfer funds from savings
to chequing).

You might want to bring aruond 50e from Canada as a starter
but it's really not necessary - ATMs (bankomats) are thick
on the ground.

We take 3 bank cards from the Cdn. banks we use - but then
we're uber-old. Getting money (and spending it) are really
no big deal at all...

>>>pinglee on Apr 10, 12 at 11:04am
How much euros do you guys normally take out at one time from the ATM? I am trying to determine if i should take the max out per time or hit up the atm several times so i do not have too much cash on me.<<<

Many machines I've encountered in Italy have a limit per transaction of about 250€ so I take that amount.

Griffy - Canadian cards aren't the same as US cards so you will need to check fees as most people responding on this thread are US. This chart on wiki shows the fees for many cards including Canadian cards (scroll down below the US chart). There are only ?? by the Canadian debit/atm cards.

http://www.flyerguide.com/wiki/index...reign_Exchange

Griffy, you should know that there is a charge for each withdrawal from an ATM. My Canadian bank charges $5 for each int'l withdrawal, as well as any local ATM charge, and the exchange rate.
This means that taking 40 euro at a time does not make sense. My bank suggested I change my chequing account into a full service account for the month I was in Italy. I paid about $30 for that, but it covered the ATM charges, and if you have more than $5000 in the account for the whole month, then it is free. That might be something to check with your bank.
Btw, if you are going to Puglia, Basilicata, Sicily, etc, in the south, you will find more places take cash only, and you should carry some small change, because they will tell you they have no change for your 20 euro bill or whatever you have.

NO NO NO NO! There is NOT (or does not need to be) a charge for ANY withdrawal from an ATM machine in Italy. NO Italian ATM, except possibly a "private" one (not associated with a bank), charges a withdrawal fee! If YOUR bank charges one, then you should change banks.

Thanks for the tip about the full service acct for a month. That seems like a good option!

Griffey:

I got nailed with $5 fees for each ATM transaction from RBC. I understand that it is similar for the remaining Big 4.

Griffy, I bank with Scotiabank and they are affiliated with diff't banks overseas. If you use an ATM at one of these affiliated banks you are not charged the $5.00 that Scotiabank would charge, and the European bank does not charge you to use their ATM.

The bank in Italy affiliated with Scotiabank is BNL-Gruppo BNP Paribas.

Perhaps your bank has something similar?

hmm I think I will call and ask. I bank with RBC so I am guessing it will be the same as what KMacK was charged. dang.

We pay nearly everything in cash. Most hotels will give a discount of 5% and sometime more for paying in cash. 5% adds up over a three or four week period. We generally withdrawn 500E at a time and sometimes as much as 750E. Always use an ATM attached to a bank during open hours. Those ATMs generally do not have a limit. On our last two trips of about 30 days each, we only used the credit card the last day or two because we were managing our Euro so that we would have a 100 or so left over for the next trip. Carry two debit cards tied to two different accounts.

<<< Also, you will be using your chequing
account only (the system won't transfer funds from savings
to chequing).>>>
Immimi, I wouldn't expect the system to transfer funds between the two accounts, but---are you saying that the ATM does not give me the option of CHOOSING which account to withdraw from? I MUST only withdraw from checking account? Guess I'd better go move my $$ into checking account before I leave. Griffy, my bank also charges an international ATM fee of 5USD, but my credit union gives me 4 transactions a month at no charge.

IN my fairly extensive experience, I have never encountered a European ATM machine that gave me a choice to withdraw frommy checking or savings account - it's always checking account.

I have made arrangements with my bank to have two checking accounts and if by chance one should get drawn down below what I needed, to have the debit card automatically go to the second checking account, but that was quite a number of years ago and I never needed it anyway, so I can't speak to whether that would have worked or not.

But no, don't count on getting money from your savings account from a European ATM machine.

Lots of responses. We have traveled to Europe several times and have used the ATM networks extensively. I always take a large amount (400 euros or so at a pop to avoid excessive fees) and always bring 300 or 400 euros back with me so I don't have to worry if the network were to be down upon arrival (that happened to us once in Paris -- got off the plane, went to get some euros and the network was down. From that point on, i always bring some with me (and with the falling $, I usually make out OK.) The point is that ATMs are ubiquitous in Europe.

That being said, I, as mentioned above, carry 20 euros in my pocket for snacks, etc., and the rest of my money is split between my wife and I in our money belts. That has worked for us for many years. I like to pay cash for as much as I can, so as to avoid the large credit card bills when we return -- and we have a Cap One card so as to avoid the currency charges.

>>>Immimi, I wouldn't expect the system to transfer funds between the two accounts, but---are you saying that the ATM does not give me the option of CHOOSING which account to withdraw from? I MUST only withdraw from checking account? <<<

That's right. The ATM will not give you a choice. Your card needs to be on checking account only. You need a 4 digit pin. If your card has the option of savings/checking, it's possible it won't work at all. I had no problem using my credit union ATM card that was tied to a savings account until two years ago. The bank upgraded or got new software and when I tried to use my card in Italy, it was rejected. Luckily, DD was home and this was a shared account (we only used it for travel). She was able to go to the credit union and have the card switched to a checking account only.

annettafly,

It is not necessary to move ALL you fund to the checking account before you leave if you:

1. have an internet device to transfer fund to your checking account before you need it.

or

2. program scheduled transfers to take place into your checking account during the trip.

Why bother? Because if my ATM card is lost or stolen, the amount at risk "should" be what is in my checking account at the time, provided that overdraft is disabled per requested. While you can "eventually" get back the stolen fund, it is better if least amount as possible left my account in the first place. If my ATM card is lost or stolen, I cancel all the remaining transfers into my checking account and redirect it to another checking account where I still have a backup ATM card.

Wow! More and more info. Greg, you bring up something new for me to consider---having too much in the checking account in case of theft, and notifying bank to disable overdraft. Appreciate all the help.

Griffy: Cap One, at least its credit card offer, is available to Mooseheads too. Dunno if there is a charge for foreign exchange transactions.

If RBC is hitting you at $5 per transaction (and it will be for transaction, not just withdrawal, so don't do extra balance inquiries), check out what % it takes on the exchange too. If none, then you can amortize the $5 charge by taking larger amounts of cash (200 Euro will be 265 CAD and the $5 transaction fee would be <2% on the whole process). The likelihood is, however, that RBC will take both a transaction fee and a percentage markup on the foreign exchange rate (aka the Interbank rate).

Yes, I just got the Cap One because it has no foreign exchange transaction fee---my other Visa & MC had 3%.
What Kybourbon says above scares me a little. All my ATM cards (banks and credit unions) give the option of deposit or withdrawal from either checking/savings. I get it that this option won't be be available in Italy---no prob. But none of them are "tied to" and ONLY to a checking acct. So now I'm worried that my cards might not work at all. Who's had recent experience to share?

So if your cards aren't "tied to" a spcific account, how do you know where the money is being withdrawn from? That seems pretty strange to me.

Every card has a primary account; in the USA it is usually a checking account although in some cases statement savings accounts can be the only account on a debit or ATM card. You don't get any choice on European ATM's. The money will come out of your primary account on the card.

...my credit union gives me 4 transactions a month at no charge.... My credit union is the same except it is six. BUT after that it is only $1 per withdraw. Second my month starts around the 15th as a month so often a three week trip is in two different monthly periods.

I can't imagine someone not keeping enough money in their checking account to cover pocket expenses whiile on a trip in Europe. I guess I know some real young people who do stuff like that, let their bank accounts be almost zero so they may bounce checks, but it isn't a good idea.

>>>So now I'm worried that my cards might not work at all. Who's had recent experience to share?<<<

That's why I take a card from a bank and a card from the credit union (CU has better rates). My credit union card was for a joint savings account only (not tied to a checking account) with my daughter that was used only for overseas travel (we only put money in there when traveling and kept $5 in there at other times to keep the account open). It was DD's main source for money while she was living in Spain for 6 months. We had used it for years without any problems until the software upgrade two years ago. The CU tried for several days to get it to work while I was still in Italy. No luck and finally switched it to my checking account only (not tied to any savings account).

My small local bank couldn't tell me what their fees were going to be (everyone was guessing). I tried it once last trip just to see and the fees were terrible. I only carry it as a back up.

griffy,

in case you've got lost in the welter of information set out above, here's a summary:

for everyday [and some larger transactions, possibly like an apartment rental] pay cash; get the cash out of an ATM with your DEBIT card, drawing about €200=250 each time.

for larger transactions [eg big meals or most hotel bills] pay with a credit card.

take a back-up of both sorts of card for emergencies.

Thanks! My husbands debit card is only a savings card (CIBC) while mine is only a checking account (RBC). I am sure b/w the two of us we will be ok as long as the ATM withdraws from your primary acct, regardless if its chequing or savings.