Capital One ATM Debit cards in France

I don't have a Capital One debit card, but I can see how the change they made would be a real inconvenience for a traveller. That would be very frustrating.

I saw similar problems with other tourists in the line trying to use their debit cards (of course I don't know their bank) eighteen months ago in Lyon. Their credit card worked fine. Always have a back-up with PIN.

Something odd: Capital One sent me a replacement debit card earlier this year. It arrived after I departed for Europe at the beginning of May, so I haven't used it anywhere yet. The new card displays the MasterCard logo. I'd have expected it to be branded as a DiscoverCard.

Was just in France for my 4th trip to France since 2021, and have used my CapOne debit with absolutely ZERO issues; however, this last trip was before I got the new Discover branded debit so am absolutely NOT happy about this.

I have a Capital One debit card currently on the MasterCard network. Earlier this week a received an email from Capital One:

Capital One is switching its debit card network, and a new card will be coming your way in the next few weeks.

Your card will come with a new card number, expiration date and 3‑digit security code (CVV), but your account number and PIN will stay the same to make the transition smoother.

Absolutely no mention that new card will be on the Discover Network.

jeanm, I received the same email, and scrolling down under “more details”, it does say that they are switching to the Discover network. We just returned from Italy, again using the 360 debit card with the MC logo with no problems. We use it just for ATMs in Europe and Mexico, so this is disappointing. Spequigney, thank you for posting.

oh and CapOne BOUGHT Discover, for those that don't know.

We had a lot of discussion about this change - see the link below. Fortunately, I saw this before leaving for my trip to Italy, so I brought my old debit card and didn’t update it before I left. I did receive a notice (besides some reminder emails to log on & update it) that the old card will be invalid sometime in December.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/recommendations-for-good-debit-card-that-will-be-widely-accepted

If you use the old MasterCard labeled debit card you will be fine. They just made the change, I received and enabled my new card a week before leaving for Paris. Wish I hadn't - big pain, but no longer since I found one that works for me.

This makes me very grumbly. I remember before when Capital One was ING and it was a novel thing not having charges abroad. It was a great card and progressively since it's become Capital One it's gone downhill. This one was a surprise. Never would I get a discover card but here I am with one.

My husband just received his new Capital One debit card and I am sure mine will show up shortly. I only use a debit card when I am out of the U.S. to get cash for my travels. The system that the new Capital One card apparently has very limited availability in Europe. We have our retirement funds in Fidelity and requested their debit card. It runs on one of the big networks (I believe Mastercard) and has no foreign transaction fees. I often read about folks using a Schwab debit card but we don't have accounts with them so hopefully the Fidelity card will work well.

Hey Sherry in AZ - It is really easy to get that Schwab account. They require you to have Schwab Investment Account, but you can have a zero balance (of course, you will need to put up with the occasional call from your nearest broker trying to get your investments over to therm. having the Investor Account allows you to ahve no-fee checking account, I believe the minimum balance is $1,000. This gets you their ATM card, no FTF and they refund ATM fees that are applied by where you use it. You can feed it by delectronic transfer from your other bank(s). And, if this is a joint account, you and joint owner each get a separate ATM card, each with its own daily withdrawal limit - really convenient if you need cash for a lodging in excess of your individual daily limit.

I wondered at the new emails I was getting from paypal. Something about "wide availability" and...

Sherry I’ve been using my Fidelity debit card for years. No fees …works everywhere

Brad

Yes the Schwab card is easy to get and easy to use, highly recommended.

However, usual proviso about NOT using a debit card when travelling since if it's hacked the money is immediately sucked out of your account, with a credit card it's their money not yours.

Per Bankrate:

consumers should keep in mind that credit card transactions are already “safe” in terms of their liability. The Fair Credit Billing Act (FCBA) sets a limit of $50 in total liability for fraudulent credit card transactions made with your card. On top of that, the majority of credit cards have zero-fraud liability policies that ensure you won’t pay a dime for purchases you didn’t make, as long as you dispute these charges within 60 days of the incident.

phred - right, debit card solely for obtaining necessary cash, not for making any purchases unless no way around it. Typo "loading" corrected to "lodging", which is pretty much the only cash I have needed the last 3 trips, still woking on leftover euro and GBP from some time ago.

BTW, I have yet to receive any notification regarding my CapOne debit card from my 360 account, the card (Mastercard branded) has an expiration date in mud 2029, and worked fine for a cash pull last month.

Here's the link in the Capital One email that made the announcement:
https://www.capitalone.com/help-center/checking-savings/traveling-with-debit-card/?sfmc_id=328184299

Here's the link in the Capital One email that made the announcement:
https://www.capitalone.com/help-center/checking-savings/traveling-with-debit-card/?sfmc_id=328184299

Bottom line: if one plans international travel, one should bank elsewhere than Capital One.

Posted by jeanm
Chicagoland
10/16/25 08:08 AM
1328 posts
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I have a Capital One debit card currently on the MasterCard network. Earlier this week a received an email from Capital One:

Capital One is switching its debit card network, and a new card will be coming your way in the next few weeks.

Your card will come with a new card number, expiration date and 3‑digit security code (CVV), but your account number and PIN will stay the same to make the transition smoother.

Absolutely no mention that new card will be on the Discover Network.

Jean- Call Capital One- I did- as I received the same email- and they told me YES, they are switching your Debit Card to Discover so it will NOT be able to be used in Europe as in many European Countries they don't accept Discover. You will receive a new debit card that does NOT have the visa or mastercard logo on it. But it will say Capital One and your pin number remains the same.

I got that email from Capital One two days ago. There was nothing about the new network in the email, but having been alerted to the change on this forum, I clicked on the box that said “View Details” at the bottom of the email. I doubt I wouldn’t have done this if I hadn’t been forewarned. (Thank you to those who posted about this!)

In the screen that comes up, if you scroll down a ways, you come to a section titled “Network Changes.” The second paragraph says that if you travel internationally, you can use your new card outside the US but “acceptance may be different than before.” Talk about incomplete, if not misleading, information. It took a lot of digging on their website to find more about this and they make it seem like there are ATMs on the Discover network everywhere. Why would they do this? They are going to end up with angry customers unable to get cash or having to go to great lengths to get cash due to this change.

I’ll be closing all my accounts.

Argh. Longtime Cap One 360 account holder specifically for international travel. Is there a given “brand” of ATM in France/Europe that is part of the Discover Network? Google tells me to look for the Bancomat logo.

This may help

https://cashlocator.discovernetwork.com/dn/cal/search

I'd take that lookup with a grain or two of salt, I opened it and it said the nearest was about 50 miles from me at a store which went broke and the chain closed in August 2023, two years ago and a bit

"Why would they do this?"

As usual in these situations, money.

They look like they are trying to bust up the de-facto monopoly of Visa/MasterCard networks, with their high fees.

I'd look for them to push to build/acquire a lot more Discover ATM locations to support that but they may be neglecting overseas (at least initially) vs in the US.

Original poster back - having just been in Paris I can tell you that La Banque Postale worked and the Capital One conversion rate was good, very close to what my $/Euro app said the rate was. There are likely others - the networks they support will be shown on/near the ATM. Also see a few posts above a link to the Discover network ATM finder.

Katheryne, that link is so helpful! I plugged in a few favorite towns in Italy just for fun and came up with about 50% availability….even little Pienza.
I’m still going to whine, though. We don’t need an ATM often, but it’s been so nice to find a nice, safe location…preferably connected to a bank.

Not sure if this is related but I am currently in France. I have been using my capital one card without problem until it was declined twice in a row yesterday; once in a taxi and once in a small museum. Amex went through in both cases. Capital one has worked fine after those two times. Both declines were with using my phone to tap

@CD, Was it a Capital One credit card or debit card?

Mine was a credit card, not a debit card. Sorry I didn’t read more carefully.

Received my new Capital One card Saturday and read the inserts while on the phone this morning to activate -- and decided not to so. Capital One has been so good for years that I've moved some serious cash there, but now I'm rethinking.

Before Capital One, I used a AAA Travel (prepaid debit) card -- limited loss if hacked or stolen. It seemed to work everywhere, but when it became more difficult to add money (I had to get cash out of an ATM and drive to Wal-Mart), I switched.

Before our last trip in September, I set up an account on Revolut and its card worked great in Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France. I can hold money in Euros with a good exchange rate, move it there easily, and limited loss if hacked or stolen.

Thanks so much for the heads up about this. I don't usually use much cash, but you never know when an emergency could arise and it's important to be able to access your cash.

Katheryne, thanks for that link! It seems there are quite a few ATMs in London that take Discover. (That's where my next trip will be)

Now that I'm looking at the ATMs, none of the ones I've looked at are at a bank. Most of them are in small stores.