ATM Receipts

It varies from bank to bank and country to country. Here in the UK you are almost always asked; sometimes in Switzerland, Germany, France, Italy you are asked but mostly you either get one or you don't. I always take a note of what I've done.

Most times you are in a different country from your home one the receipt will not show your balance.

I first used a European ATM in Stuttgart, Germany, in Sept 2000. I didn't get a receipt and noticed there wasn't even a slot to dispense one. Since then I've been back to Germany 7 times, used ATM for every trip, and never received a receipt. It was a little unnerving at first, but I've gotten used to it.

Every withdrawal I make, except for possibly the last, is for the maximum, which my bank enforces, so it would be hard for anyone to claim they gave me more than they did.

Have you ever not received a receipt from an ATM in the USA? I know I have. Probably the paper was out.

Not odd at all, I don't get receipts at ATMs here in New York.

it is very common in Europe NOT to get receipts at the ATMs. I know it is odd for Americans, but it is the way it is set up here. The banks have seperate machines for printing out your account information, and also we are becoming more and more a paperless society, and online banking is the rule of the thumb here. Even my 90 year old neighbor does online banking, which I think is pretty darn cool!

Thanks, Nigel. I was hoping a receipt would show the German bank's fees, since I didn't completely understand the posted policy (written in German), and I'm not quite sure how much I ended up paying in fees. Oh, well, flexibility is the key to happy traveling, so I'll just make a note and figure it out for myself when I check in with my bank.

Thanks to everyone for your help!

In general, I don't think banks in the EU charge you a withdrawal fee. At least, I have never seen one on my account. If there are fees, mostly likely they will be from your bank, for using another bank's ATM, and/or the "currency conversion fee," which is usually one to three percent, depending on your bank.

I have never seen an ATM in Europe that did not provide an English option. They may exist. The receipt if issued will only show the total Euro withdrawn. As previous stated there are no fees IF using a regular bank. All fees are added by your card issuer after the fact. I have read reports that there are private ATMs masquerading as regular ATMs that do charge high user fees. Which is one of the reason I always try use an ATM attached to the wall of the bank.

"I have read reports that there are private ATMs masquerading as regular ATMs that do charge high user fees."

We have those here, too -- like those ATMs you see installed at convenience stores, operated by companies such as Swipe ATM. I have never, ever even considered trying one of them, as I don't need cash that much, and my bank has plenty of ATMs.

The ATM I used was in the lobby of my aunt's bank, and was designated for international transactions.

As far as I was able to tell, I was being charged a 1% fee on my transaction, with 6.50 Euro minimum (this is in addition to my home bank's fees). What I wasn't sure about was whether an additional 2 Euro fee applied to my transaction. This information was posted in German.

It is probably worth noting that I'm not in a typical tourist area. I'm staying a small town that doesn't see a lot of native English speakers, and there is virtually no signage in English.

I was able to get instructions on the screen in English, but it didn't give me a summary of the fees.

I visited several other banks in town to try to compare fees. Others had a 2% fee, with around a 5 Euro minimum.

I'll eventually be able to check my bank online to see exactly what I was charged. If I'm mistaken about the German bank's fees, I'll post it here.

Thank you, James.

Sparkasse was one of the banks I looked at. Unfortunately, my German isn't great, but as far as I understood it, they were charging a 2% fee, with a 5 Euro minimum.