ATM limits for cash withdrawls

Depends on your financial institution and the ATM owner.

You can ask your financial institution for a temporarily higher daily limit, but pulling 1900 EUR in a day would be pretty extreme. Several years ago I had a similar situation needing about 3000 EUR but could obtain that over 6 days at 500 EUR per day (back then a $700 USD limit).

You could see if the apartment manager would take the 1900 EUR over 4 days.

If you pulled from two different US financial institutions (e.g. a bank and a credit union for example), that would give you twice the daily capacity.

I don't know what bank you have, but with both our Cap One and our Schwab my wife and I each have our own card, so we can each pull to the daily limit of our bank. I believe our daily is $600 form CapOne and $1000 from Schwab, so we that combo would get you your 1900 Euro (which is currently about $2160 US). Don't worry about the machine's transaction limit, you can always go to multiple machines until you hit your won bank's daily limit. The machine's limit is independent of your bank.

To answer your other question, you need to ask him - but I would think he would be responsive to your paying to your limit the first day and the remainder the next day, especially as it looks like you are renting for 2 weeks or so. I just looked at their website and terms. Why not make a large enough deposit via Paypal that will cover what cash you can't get the first day? Since he is going to refund it on payment, I would think that would also work. Even if you don't have a Paypal account, you can do a transaction as a guest, and link it to a credit card. And since he won't put it through unless he is stiffed, he won't have to pay any fees.

Yes, do send email to Thierry on the subject. I am also renting from parisbestlodge this summer, and have the same problem. He has indicated to me a willingness to accept payment over the first few days. Exchange email with him, and I think you'll reach an accommodation.

I think the situation you're facing is the only time I'd buy euros in advance from the bank.

Alternatively, you could have several checking accounts, each with an ATM card and pull your daily limit from all of them to add up to what you need.

I'm at USAA. My daily limit is $600 (not euros) so I normally get about 350 euros when I stop at an ATM.

You used to be able to ask your bank to change your daily limit. Since it's a security feature (and your bank ultimately eats the fraud loss), few banks are willing to do that these days.

It's not unusual for ATM's to have a transaction limit, maybe 250 or 300 euros, that's set by the bank that owns them. If so, you can do more transactions, up to your bank's daily limit for your card.

When we are faced with this we just get the Euros before we go and with this size withdrawal have gotten pretty good rates from our bank -- certainly better than say transmission through paypal. I get the Euros and carry them in a money belt.

Prior to me going to Italy and France last October, I contacted my bank and asked them to raise my daily ATM withdrawal limit. I too had a few places that wanted cash as the payment upon checkout. My bank only asked me for my increased amount and for how long. Hopefully yours will be the same.

The OP's problem is not having cash on check out which is easy to obtain in country, but nearly 2000E on arrival. I don't like to depend on scampering around from ATM to ATM to accumulate that kind of cash on arrival. I also feel more secure about large amounts of cash in the money belt rather than getting it on the street and carrying it.

I use the credit union in NC and I can buy Euro, Pounds, etc. at the days exchange rate. I checked today, and I can buy 1 Eruo for $1.14. No fees, nada. I then put the cash in a money pouch against my body and travel. I take out small amounts for daily use and put the rest in a safe when I arrive at my lodgings.

atesmer,

Although you can ask your financial institutions to increase your daily withdrawal limit, the ATM's you use in Europe may impose their own limits. As you have to pay cash on arrival, that may mean having to arrange the cash before you leave home.

Is Paris your first stop, or will you be travelling elsewhere before that?

I also prefer to arrive with the cash in hand rather than run around to different ATMs AND different banks to get around the ATM owner's limit.

It is easy to view the issue as one of working hard to save pennies and overlooking the savings in Dollars. If the ATM works for you, then great, but do not overlook getting euros in the US as an option. I rationalize it from the standpoint that if I am renting an Apartment, I am getting a deal or benefit over getting a Hotel room. So sure, to get euros in the US may cost me ~5%, but the total spent is still much less than a comparable Hotel Room, where I could pay more for the ease of using a credit card (that many are still paying a 3% fee on anyway).