ATM Fees with Credit Union Debit Card?

If you use bank ATMs rather than private ones, there will be no fee whatsoever.

I have a credit union accunt here in Virginia and used my VISA debit card extensively in Europe. My CU did not charge any fees. On the other hand, my wife's "dear" Wachovia charged either 3 or 5% per transaction.

Reinforcing what Tim said, I always use bank ATMs in Europe, and I have never been charged a fee by the European bank. All of the charges have been from my banks in the US. I doubt that your credit union converts US$ to Euro and goes around paying the European banks whose ATMs you used. This function is performed by the "Network" (Visa, MC, Cirrus, Plus, et al), and they get 1% for the "cross border transaction and foreign currency exchange". A few US banks and credit unions absorb the 1% fee as a service to their customers, most pass it on to you. So, when the bank says they don't charge any fees, that might be correct, they don't charge any fees, but you could still get charged the 1% Network fee.

Our experience, with the two different credit unions my husband and I belong to, is that as long as we used an ATM in the Cirrus network (equivalent to Star in the US I believe) we were not charged any fees. This was true in England and France at least.

Sorry, should have noted that Star/Cirrus was the network for our cards--not that you can use that network with any card! In other words, we stayed "in network".

Star and Cirrus are not the same network. There are independent networks with Star being a North American network and not available in Europe. Cirrus is owned by VISA and Plus is Mastercard. Star network is being pushed by a lot of credit unions.

"Cirrus is owned by VISA and Plus is Mastercard." That's backwards. VISA owns Plus. But it doesn't really matter much. It's all THE Network, and I see both accepted everywhere.

European ATMs don't charge fees. If you see fees, they are coming from YOUR bank. I have cards from two credit unions. One passes on the 1% currency conversion fee that VISA charges, and the other charges absolutely nothing. It's not like at home where you get charged a fee when using a different bank's ATM.

Thanks everyone! That's one less thing to worry about. So the only fee should be a 1% Dollar-to-Euro Conversion fee as long as I use a bank atm and not a private one. Did I get that right?

Did your credit union say the 1% would be charged? If so, then yes, you got it right.

My take is a bit different based on my experience. I too have a credit union card and for many years was charged no fee. Several years ago, fees appeared. a currency conversion fee and an international transaction fee. The rate was at about 1%, but in the end, the total cost of my transaction did not go up. Basically my credit union only had started showing the fees passed on by Visa that I had been paying anyway. I suspect you will see what I had previously no fees shown, but your cost will be about 1% above interbank rate. In the end you will not notice the fee anyway because of the favorable exchange rate. As for ATM fees over there, yes, they exist, but are still rare. If you see them, move to another ATM. Another thing to watch for is the offer to do your transaction in US Dollars, sometimes the option will be "Home Currency" or "Local/Native Currency" or sometimes just "euros/Pounds". Always choose local currency, otherwise the povider will convert the currency at their rate (3-5% higher) rather than at Interbank. You do save the 1% fees fom Visa in this case, but hadly a bargain.

Paul, Years ago the currency exchange fee charged by Visa/MasterCard was embeded in the exchange rate so you never saw it. There was a court case that caused a settlement with the networks that agreed to itemize the fees. Now everyone in the United States sees the itemized fees. Emily,
The 'network' charges the financial institution (your credit union) a fee to convert the currency so if your credit union says no fee then you should not be charged anything.

My credit union charged me a 1% foreign transaction fee and nothing else. I only used bank ATMs, and none of them charged any fees to use their ATMs.