Does anyone know if there is a Bank affiliated Bancomat/ATM in LHR Terminal 5 ? Will be arriving from USA and taking Elizabeth Line from there to London Liverpool Station and then beyond to Norwich and want to avoid Travelex and Euronet high fee machines.
Thanks!
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Always have cash, assume there will be no ATMs or they aren't working or there's a long line.
Most of the ATM's are not bank affiliated.
If you have a credit card, you won't need cash for your journey. In fact, you probably won't need much cash at all. Just make sure your cards are contactless or set up Google Pay/Apple Pay on your phone.
I spend 2-3 months/year in the UK and the only times I use cash are to get a haircut and for some cabs in Scotland.
If you want cash prior to arriving, I'd suggest going to a local AAA or even your bank and getting nor more than 100 GBP to get you started.
There aren't any. All cash machines at Heathrow T5 are Travelex. There is however a NatWest machine in the concourse of the main line Liverpool Street Station as well as a branch just outside.
And you won’t need much cash. I am into year 4 of never having touched any cash at all.
Agreed. I'm one of those people who always likes to have cash as a backup, and the same £80 has been going backwards and forwards with me in eight trips to the UK over the last couple of years without being spent. You certainly won't need cash for the Elizabeth Line - just tap your contactless credit card.
It's not that you can't spend cash in the UK, but you will get some strange looks :)
In the big picture, even if you just use the Travelex machine and pay a couple GBP for the convenience, you will have your cash, and it would be less trouble and cheaper than getting GBP in the US.
But agree with others, you will need little cash, nice to have some in pocket, but you can easily get into town, to your hotel and settled, before you run into a need for cash, if at all for the duration of your trip. Last couple trips there, the only cash we needed was for laundry and parking.
I will use the NatWest Bancomat at the Liverpool Station to get a few pounds. I always worry about getting a taxi driver telling me cash only or his machine is broken. It is why I use Uber whenever I can even just to call a taxi.
I will use the NatWest Bancomat at the Liverpool Station to get a few pounds.
I know this isn’t the main point of the thread, but please note that it is not “the Liverpool station.” It’s called Liverpool Street. We don’t drop the word “Street” or “Road” in the UK, and it sounds very weird to British ears - and of course it’s open to confusion!
Are Sainsbury Bancomats good to use?
They are fine, no extra fee, just watch that you make your withdrawal in GBP. Also since they are outside,c heck for a skimmer, as you would for any ATM.
check for a skimmer, as you would for any ATM.
Would you? I can't say I have ever consciously checked for a skimmer. Is it still done?
I used the cash machine (ATM) at Liverpool Street Station last week. There's several in row. While I was using it, they were filming for "The Piano", a Channel 4 show discovering new piano-playing talent on pianos in the country's railway stations. If you see a tall bald Scottish guy with glasses like Eric Morecambe in the background in the episode from Liverpool Street, that's me.
"check for a skimmer, as you would for any ATM.
Would you?"
Yes!--always if not inside a bank. Two weeks after back from Paris-Netherlands trip Schwab notified me of a questionable withdrawal on my ATM card. From Mexico, they knew I wasn't there as Schwab still asks you to input the old-fashioned travel alerts. I had used card once only, at a Paribus ATM, but on the street, and I thought I had checked for a skimmer. In retrospect, I think 2 weeks is too short a time for them to make a card and sell it, and I think it may have come from my one use in Portugal last fall, where I may not have checked the machine in Sintra on my jet-lagged arrival, also an outdoor machine. You always need to check on a machine you are not used to. Even with the card being chipped, the forged card is still going tone some kind of disruption to deal with.
Hmmm... I don't think the risk is very significant in the UK. Maybe it goes on and I haven't heard about it.
The fact that your fraud occurred in Mexico would completely circumstantially suggest that it originated in the US. Perfectly possible it happened in Portugal though.
No harm in being careful, bur skimming devices on ATMs are highly unlikely in the UK.
I agree regarding skimmers. Although banks issue warnings, I have never heard of anyone affected by a skimmer. Sainsbury’s machines are fine, their food isn’t bad either.
Skimmers are primarily a US thing, almost unheard of in the UK and Europe. Why? The data is "skimmed" off the magnetic strip of the card, you cannot "skim" a chip or contactless signal. Further, standard security features in European transactions, such as requiring either contactless, PIN, or 3DS (for online)...so even if a thief collected account data, it is unable to be used. Many cards are even eliminating the magnetic strip, even some US cards have finally announced dropping the strip. They can get rid of the embossed letters as well, just bulk in my wallet. (ATM cards largely have eliminated the emboss). For that matter, many ATMs in Europe are now becoming contactless, just Tap and start your transaction.
Two weeks after back from Paris-Netherlands trip Schwab notified me of a questionable withdrawal on my ATM card. From Mexico, they knew I wasn't there as Schwab still asks you to input the old-fashioned travel alerts.
I hate to inform you, but your card likely was not "skimmed" at an ATM, that just is not how they get your info. Schwab also does not require travel notifications, (have had a card for a couple decades, long ago stopped doing that, for all my cards) and that likely paid no role in detecting fraud. Most likely was the algorithms used in detecting fraud and the lack of card security measures detected. Not sure if that gives you comfort or just makes the worry worse.
Am I correct that the UK word for ATMs is Cashpoint? If so, it can avoid some confusion. I saw such signage and other US travelers were confused with the unfamiliar term.
Yes, Cash Point or Cash Dispenser is a more common term
Cashpoint is a trademark owned and still used by Lloyds Bank for their ATMs. It did spread out beyond its customers but I think "cash machine" possibly is/was used a bit more. "Hole in the wall" was also popular at one time and Barclays even adopted it as its official name for a while.
Sorry Paul, but when you say "I hate to inform you, but your card likely was not 'skimmed' at an ATM, that just is not how they get your info. Schwab also does not require travel notifications, (have had a card for a couple decades, long ago stopped doing that, for all my cards) and that likely paid no role in detecting fraud. Most likely was the algorithms used in detecting fraud and the lack of card security measures detected. Not sure if that gives you comfort or just makes the worry worse" I have to disagree with you.
The card in question had been used exactly and ONLY TWICE since it was issued, at the two aforementioned ATMs. Never used on line, never used POS. It is never even in my wallet except when abroad, residing safely in my desk drawer. So there would appear to be no way the number could have been picked up if not skimmed unless it was done by someone working inside Schwab. And, while Schwab does not require travel alerts, at least in as much as I have never tested this by using the card abroad without giving an alert, this is right up there on their call-tree, and on their online access. And in this case, certainly saved me significant later hassles.
I have a had a card compromised that I never used and never activated. I recently had a card compromised that had never been in contact with any scan device. Actual use of a card is not needed to have your card compromised. They get your number and try to make transactions. I highly doubt your card was skimmed. This is why your bank contacts you, their algorithms spot activity to use the card in non-typical ways, usually they do not even bother with a physical card, they try online and manual transactions where there are no protections.
But certainly, if it makes one feel better to yank and poke at ATMs, and go to whatever precautions one think makes one feel better, do so. Just do not make absolute "one must do this" statements.
I will be happy to not make "one must not do this statements" as long as people will not make all-encompassing statements that what happened could not have happened. If the numbers were somehow randomly generated to produce my card's number the odds that it also randomly generated my name, expiration date, and security code are infinitesimally small. Note to mention the chip. Unless someone in the banking industry can come forward and state otherwise, this stuff must be either picked up at a usage or is done illegally by an employee of the bank.
We like to have local currency in hand when landing. Yes, it will cost a little bit more to get some from your local bank, but the extra cost is nothing compared to the total cost of the trip. And it eliminates the stress of finding an ATM, hoping it works (they do malfuncition at times), and doing it while jet lagged on strange ground. Regardless, check with you bank to see if you need a travel advisory note placed on your account and credit cards. So don't, but some still do.
