ATM charges at LHR

I have not ever gotten pounds out of an ATM at Heathrow. This is what I would do if I needed to:

Watch for a bank-owned ATM on the way to baggage claim and in the outer lobby. If no luck, I'd try a Travelex (or other) ATM and ask for a very modest amount of money (which may reduce the total fee, or not). I'd watch the screen carefully; extra fees to be charged by the ATM will be disclosed. If they were just too large to tolerate and I could pay for my transportation into town with a credit card, I'd wait until I got into the city to get money. Otherwise, it's only one withdrawal, and I'd accept the fee as background noise.

There have been some reports of non-bank ATMs at airports not charging fees. It would not shock me if some of them don't charge explicit fees, but make their money when clueless tourists choose to have their withdrawals recorded in dollars (or euros) rather than pounds. That can generate more money than a 5-pound fee.

I assume you know that your own bank may hit you with fees when you use an ATM in Europe. Assume that is the case unless you have verified that it does not charge such fees. If your bank is one of the annoying fee-chargers, it may not be smart to make a small withdrawal at the airport (as I have suggested above) and turn around and make another withdrawal soon in the city, because you'll be enriching your bank twice. It all depends on the size of the fees on both ends of the transaction, and those fees might be flat fees or percentage-based fees, or a combination of the two.

The exchange rate IS NOT set when you get money out of the ATM. The exchange is done by your card company (Visa, Mastercard etc.) and is the same whichever ATM you use. The exchange occurs some time after you have withdrawn the money. What you have to watch for is:

1) ATM's which have withdrawal charges (fees). These are the non-bank machines about which you have been warned. You should be told about this, in which case use a different machine.

2) DCC. This is when the machine offers to charge you in your own currency. This can happen at an ATM or with a credit card payment. Always say no, the charge must be the same amount as you got out of the machine, in the same currency. If you let the machine do the exchange, it will be at a worse rate than Visa/Mastercard would give you.

What did you decided to do regarding transport from LHR to your accommodation in Camberwell?

I ask because you might need pounds for the journey (unless you can use a CC) so budget in the TravelEx fee, withdraw money and head off to your accommodation. Freshen up and head back out to explore your neighborhood.

Use the TravelEx for the convenience and to put your mind at ease. Who wants to be anxious when they arrive in London?
It's how I rationale my Heathrow Express expenditure on my trips to London. For me who always stays near Paddington Station it's convenient and a practical expense. I do book FAR in advance to take advantage of the cheaper fares.

Near Paddington there is HSBC Bank ATM across from the Pride of Paddington Pub. It's where I get my pounds.

Travel to your accommodation then head out to the closest Bank ATM. Secure more funds for your money belt and off you go.
Get your Oyster card, have a coffee, take in the sights, sounds and smells of London as you walk off the inevitable jet lag.
Suspect you'll fly direct from SFO. I fly from LAX overnight and always hit the ground running when I arrive around noon time.

Lastly, Easiest way to locate the Bank ATM's is to use the Google Maps satellite street view option. Put in the address of your accommodation, zoom in and check out your neighborhood.

Locate the ATM's, Markets, Pubs, etc.

Something I always do when I travel so I know what is close by.

GO BEARS!

Some points to consider:

1. There are no ATMs operated by a bank on the property of Heathrow Airport Ltd
2. Over 50% of the ATMs in the UK are not operated by banks.
3. It is rare for any ATM in a public place to have any charge directly imposed on the user. The places more likely to charge are within bars and within shops, but not all of these do. This is different from the USA, where a significant percentage of ATMs have a direct charge.
4. Almost any ATM (bank or independent) might use DCC, ie try and set their own exchange rate. Bank-operated ones do not provide an automatic way of avoiding these. Always reject DCC.
5. There have been reports on here of people using Travelex ATMs at Heathrow with no fixed fee and no attempt to foist DCC. So although this could change, until there are reports to the contrary there is no need to be especially wary of these. Just ordinarily wary, see 4.

If you use the Travelex ATMs located by themselves, you should not be charged a fee or any type of exchange rate markup. They are everywhere.

Avoid the Travelex ATMs right next to the currency exchange booths. These are different machines. How can you tell if you pick the wrong one? I will display a message something like "Our offer today for GBP is ..." and does not provide any other option. Just cancel and walk away.

If you are still worried, just get a smaller amount, maybe £100, to get you to your hotel and then find a Bank ATM near there to get the bulk of your cash as needed. Any fee you will get stuck with should be insignificant in the grand scheme of things.

Marco just beat me to it.

What he said - in each case....

Right, Kay.... now that's that one solved. What's the next one?

BTW - our answers now could be out of date when your trip comes up. Check for any updates a month or so before your actual trip...

thanks to all for your detailed and clear help. I will indeed check again a couple months before I leave.

The obsession against non bank operated ATMs (not forex machines) may have some validity in some country (I have no knowledge of any, but don't wish to discount the possibility) but isn't relevant for the UK or anywhere where the ATM is using the Visa or MC network.

The number of ATMs as a side issue is on the decline in the UK both because of a general drop off in use of them, but also because of a reduction of the inter-bank charge behind them. (Independent ATMs for example strongly push the option to get a balance, which may or may not work for non-UK cards, simply because this gets them an extra fee.)

Claudia, I think we will take 1 of the mini cabs which were suggested. I understand we can also get to our flat by taking one train, one bus and walking (which is considerably better than the 3 trains, 2 buses walking which I had previously found) but I've not yet been able to pin this down. In any case, my husband is going to be much happier if we take one car that rather than using various modes of transportation and walking. In truth, I'm sure I will be happier as well. it looks like the mini cabs cost several pounds less if one pays by cash. That said, I'm not sure how one would pre-book a cab if one is bringing cash. I thought I would wait until 2 or 3 months before departure (2019) and check again. I will report back.

Can't recall how many times I have repeated this post.

I did a trial at a Travelex ATM in Heathrow, and when I checked my bank records, the exchange rate was correct and the same as I was charged later that day at (IIRC) a Nat West ATM. There was also no DCC attempt. Although that may have been because of my card, I noticed on our recently completed trip to Germany and Prague that DCC was offered on withdrawals using our CapOne card, which is an ATM card only and has no chip, while from the same machine DCC was not offered when we used our Schwab card, which is a debit card and IS chipped (and the screen also went directly to Engish!)

I will only side with what Marco and Larry have said. At Heathrow, from what I have observed, all ATM's are operated by Travelex. However, initially while the machines were more overtly offering DCC, the last couple times for me, they did not even offer, and I have been there every 1-2 years over four trips, and I check my money rates every trip.

For London at least:
- If they ask whether you want to do the transaction in "home" currency or "Dollars"; then reject it, do the transaction in Local or Pounds, otherwise move on.
- If an ATM makes you an "offer" ie: XXX Pounds will cost you $$$$ Dollars; that is DCC, decline it. An ATM operator does not know the exchange rate, they can only quote it if they set it.
- There are ATM's that charge a fee in London, you will be notified of a fee, so decline the transaction and move on. Lots of ATM's in London advertise "No Fee".

again, thank you all for your well-thought-out replies. I think I will get GBP at an ATM machine at Heathrow, declining their offer for home currency or US dollars. Upon rethinking my options I do have one debit card that reimburses me for any ATM charges. I would imagine that would be the one to use! Until I run out of money in that account, of course. So again many many thanks to all of you.