USING ATMS IN LONDON

Why not ask your own bank whether their ATM cards work in London ? (And ask which banks they're affiliated with -- I always check to see where my BofA card will be lower-fee.)

Basic Rule One: Disregard travel agents.

My US ATM card from a small credit union worked just fine in London ATMs and shops in August. Travel agents don't always know what is true - particularly if they have not traveled there.

Your card should work find in the ATMS, what is starting to happen more and more in Europe is that you have to swipe your card (by card I mean a card with a chip in it) to get inside a room that houses the ATM.

The vast majority of ATMs are on the exterior of buildings.

Time to switch to a travel agent who has a clue. Don't you wonder what other misinformation they are telling you?

My bank ATM card worked just fine in September. I have Googled ATM card in Europe and found absolutely no reference to a change and if there were such a change it would be all over the place. Why don't you ask your travel agent what his/her financial institution source is?

Ours works just fine in the U.K. My BofA debit card is usually my backup card as the transactions are quite expensive. However, in England, Barclay's is a member of the BofA Global Alliance and there is no charge when I use my BofA card in a Barclay's ATM.

We were just there and didn't cone across an ATM that didn't accept magnetic strips - not a problem at all. Has your agent been to England? Sounds like they're dispensing advice without really knowing...get another agent??

One thing that no one has mentioned though.
DCC.
London s the only place we've been so far where we have seen bank-owned ATMs try to trick you into spending the fee for dynamic currency conversion.
Pay close attention to the message that appears after you first enter your withdrawal amount.

Was just in London for a week, no issues with mag strip in ATMs. For other CC transactions, I did have a Citi issued Chip and Signature card, it did make transactions easier, most units used by restaurants though also had a mag strip reader, though not all units do. My wife did run into a situation where a young sales clerk was puzzled by the lack of a chip on her card...but another clerk knew how to run the card.

As for Ed's point, do be aware of Dynamic Currency Conversion in the London area including all ATMs at Heathrow. Basically the owner of the ATM is "generously" offering to do the currency conversion for you, saving you a conversion fee from Visa or Mastercard. You will get a screen asking you if you want them to do the conversion and they will quote you a rate. Problem is that while a pound cost ~$1.66 USD right now on the market, they were quoting in the range of ~$1.80+, or about a 10% hit. Simply decline the conversion, or they may have worded it "Proceed without Conversion", and you will only be subject to the network conversion and transaction fees (about 1%) plus what your bank may charge for a foriegn or ATM transaction.

Larry brought up the DCC.