On previous trips I've used my credit union's mag stripe only ATM card to get cash from ATMs. Never had a problem. Last time was France in 2015.
We're going back to France this September. I'd like to make sure these cards still work. If anyone has used mag stripe only cards successfully or not please let me know. I have a chipped debit card from my bank that I can use but I'd prefer to have a backup card.
As recent as six months ago we had no problem with a mag debit card. Things are slowly changing but I am sure you will be OK.
My ATM card has no chip, either, and I used it in Slovenia, Italy, and France last May without issue.
My ATM card also does not have a chip - just the mag strip, and it worked just fine yesterday in Rome.
In countries where all ATMs have been chipped for 10+ years you may encounter the odd one where the magnetic stripe reader is defective but hasn't been repaired as few use it. If so, move to another one.
As recently as last May my mag stripe-only ATM card worked fine everywhere in France, as it always has.
Will work in most ATMs. Most stores have a machine which enables swipes aswell so you should be fine
Visa and MasterCard have made it mandatory that every bank operated ATM world wide will continue to accept mag stripe Debit cards through the end of 2020. These are the cards with the Visa or MasterCard emblem on them.
If you have an ATM only card without the emblem, your chances are 50/50 depending on what networks are listed on the back of the cad (Plus or Maestro are good).
Thanks very much everyone! I'll always have the chipped bank debit card as a backup.
Hi - We're just back two weeks from Belgium/The Netherlands. Our ATM cards (mag stripe only) did NOT work. We've used them in previous years all over Western Europe with no trouble. We did try different banks, and they all said the same thing: ATMs must have chips/pins.
I am going to disagree with that last post. We just returned in April from our own 2 week trip - Belgium, Netherlands, France, UK. We have two sets of cards, the ones from CapOne are for ATM use only and not chipped, they never will be as with this account it is ATM only, not debit (and this has been discussed with CapOne)
In any event, there was no problem repeatedly using this mag-strip card in the above countries at ATM machines. Note that we always use a bank ATM, which has included Euronet (no extra fees there nor improper exchange rate)
