platzman

I came across an old Europe By Eurail guidebook from 1990 in my closet. It gives what was considered sound advice at the time:use traveler's checks.
So I began wondering. When did ATMs become ubiquitous and reliable in Europe?
I remember seeing them around in 1990, but I don't remember using them with the VISA/MasterCard logos until about '94.
As a history buff, I'm just curious what were the earliest years you remember using them?

P_M

I don't know exactly, but I do know that when I went to Germany in May 1992 it wasn't yet possible, at least as far as I knew. I was working in banking then, so I probably would have known if it could be done. I went to Europe again in 1995 and did use my ATM card that time. Also by then we were recommending to customers that they do the same. So I believe it was some time between 1992 and 1995.

Patrick

Hmm. Just looked at my journals. In 1995 is my first reference to getting money in Europe from an ATM, and I even wrote in about fortunately finding one right at the France/Italy border so we could lira to pay our toll. The year before I had remarked about the problems of getting TC's cashed various places. So for me it was defintely 1995 -- but then I'm usually behind times -- heck, I don't even use a cell phone!

Spygirl

That sounds right. I distinctly recall using the ATM machine in Paris in 1996, before that, no.

Surfergirl

In the early '80's, when I was living in London, I took a trip to Paris and was able to use my Barclaycard at the various Barclay Banks in Paris at the time.

ATMs were prevalent in Europe back then, but you could only use your card at the bank from which the atm card was issued.

In 1990, you could use the card at atms with the various logos (when the card was still not a debit card, just an atm bank card).

In 1995, shortly after the banks started converting atm cards to Visa debit cards, there were some banks that stopped accepting the pure atm cards and you could only get cash with the debit card.

AR

That's quite right, Surfergirl.
I first opened a bank account in the UK when I was 18 in 1985. I was given a cheque guarantee card which doubled as an ATM card. This was with Lloyds Bank who opened what all Brits now refer to as Cashpoints (it is still a Lloyds TSB trademark). These were only to be found at larger branches of the bank in question. Barclays and Lloys had a reciprocal agreement that customers could use each other's cashpoints - as did NatWest and Midland (now HSBC).
A surgergirl pointed out, being able to use Credit Cards to obtain money from ATM's in Europe happened later when ATM cards were changed into debit cards carrying the Visa logo (in the UK).

bo_jack

They definitely were available in Prague in summer 1995, but were not always reliable. By 1997 they were reliable enough in most of Europe that I thought nothing of leaving the US with no more than $100 cash or travelers checks.

lauralamb

1983 when I was a student in Scotland. I used a Royal Bank of Scotland cashline card. They didn't always work very well

Sylvia

According to Barclay's Bank


1959 First UK bank to order a computer.

1966 First UK credit card.

1967 First ATM in the world.

I vaguely remember that it would only let customers have £10 at a time,

ben_haines_london

I should have thought 1990 for western Europe, 1995 for Prague, Budapest, and provincial capitals elsewhere in central Europe, and 2000 for all countries that joined the union this May, with Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria. I think that they are still rare in small towns of Ukraine. I use them with Visa and MasterCard, but they take some US marks too. Amex and Diners are in decline, I think because they cost card-holders and traders too much. A shame, really: I remember when Amex was a Godsend for cash over the counter in the whole capitalist world in the sixties, and stood alone.

[email protected]

ira

Hi P,

It was October 13, 1998 at 3:15 PM.

platzman

Now I do remember my dad using a brand new Mastercard Debit card at ATMs in Paris, Florence and Rome in Novmember '94. And prior to that, I recall obtaining credit card cash advances from bank tellers with my VISA Citibank Card circa 1990-93.

Mucky

I had a Barclays cashpoint card in around 1979/80 having started working in 78. We had a small number of machines then, but they were not very reliable.

I found this information on the web:

"An ATM, or Automatic Teller Machine is more commonly known as a cash machine or hole-in-the-wall. The first cash dispenser was installed in London in 1967, followed by the first present-day style ATMs in 1974, and since then they have revolutionised the way we handle our money through their easy access to cash 24 hours a day rather than only during banking hours"

You can find the article at:

http://www.1stop-finance.co.uk/glossary/atm.html

Interesting thread.

Muck

sheila

I was given a money machine card before I left University in 1979.

OTOH, the first time I went to Crete, 6 years ago, I couldn't use them ,and the last (4 years ago) I could

PatrickLondon

I think the issue is not the availability of the machines, it's the inter-operability of different banks and banking systems across national borders. I remember the very first automatic Barclays system - prepunched cards that got you £10 - from when I was a student in 1967/68 (that was BEFORE the campaign about their links with South Africa, so let's not go back over all that, please). I was certainly using a UK card in ATMs in Spain in the early to mid-80s, but I think they would have been quick off the mark because of mass tourism. As I recall, it took a lot longer before the Netherlands and Germany had a lot of ATMs accepting foreign cards.

platzman

That's a good one Ira. But tell me, was that Daylight Savings Time or Standard Time?

clairobscur

I was regularily using ATMs in France as soon as I became financiarily independant from my parents, in 1984. My mother was using ATMs before that but I can't remember when exactly. ATMs could be found everywhere during the 80's, anyway.

clairobscur

By the way, I got my first debit card usable in any ATMs (rather than only in the branches of my own bank), a VISA card, in 1987, when I got my first long-term full time job. They were available before, but once again I wouldn't know since when.


I used an ATM in a foreign country for the first time in 1991 (in Portugal). I just didn't realize before that I could. For some reason, I believed my french card was only usable in France. I learned it the hard way, after my stuff (and money) was stolen.