Capital One ATM card users (debit card)

I would be very cautious about trusting it as your primary account so close to the opening date of the account. Someone posted here a bit ago who had problems using such a card and were told that there was a hold on it because the account had been open less than 30 days. That might have changed now, but be very sure you check with them before you travel to make sure all is well. They are a great company, but they do have rules and you don't want surprises.

I also opened a Cap one MM account for the debit card. I leave in one week for Europe. I opened mine back in Feb just to be sure. As long as all the money you think you will need is in the account you are fine. It takes 10 days for your money to be usuable after you deposit it. That 10 day rule is in effect for the first 30 days your account is opened (which is why I opened mine a few months ago) After that any money you transfer in takes about 5 days to clear. But as long as you have put what you want in there already you are set to go. If you need to deposit any more while you are traveling you may still be in that 10 day waiting period. Also go to a local ATM and check your debit card to make sure it works (you may get charged a few dollars in fees but it is worth it to know there are no problems with it) Mine worked fine, my money is in the account and I am ready to go.

Make sure you call them before you go and tell them where you are traveling to. Make sure you have a non 800 # so you can call direct or collect if you have any issues.

Thanks for the input. Definitely wish I'd done this about a month ago but the light never went on 'til very recently...I think I can slip in under the wire however, if what the CS rep. told me was correct. He assured me there was sufficient time for the funds to be released and available before I fly out near the end of the month. He explained the 10-day hold on any funds I transfer into the account from linked accounts. I wasn't clear on how long the holds are on funds transferred after the 30 days. I'll call to verify all of this...and make sure they are aware of the european transactions. Hopefully they'll finish their account verification process by tomorrow so I can get the initial funds transfered and the 10-day hold can commence. I had hoped to add to this initial transfer while traveling and use this as my primary but may rethink that if it looks like the holds on the funds are prohibitive. Thanks for the head's up on that! Thanks again-

also-
I remembered reading a post about some problems with a CAP One card too....but couldn't locate it. Wasn't sure of the content but seemed to recall the experience wasn't good...can't remember what the problem was -- so thanks for mentioning that post.

Federal and state law limits the number of days hold they can place on your deposit, and requires them to inform you when the hold is placed. Normally they are talking business days rather than calendar days, ten seems a little long (but might be allowed in the 2009 banking bill out of Congress). I wouldn't worry about them taking the hold off when they say they do, the money will be available when they tell you it will. Normally it's automatic and has to be overridden to change. Often banks give you access to the first $1,000 of your deposit, you should check your deposit agreement to know for sure. Another concern (especially for a brand new account) is to make sure they know you plan to travel abroad and to expect foreign transactions - so they don't put a fraud hold on your account. It always makes sense to keep non-800 phone numbers handy for your debit and credit cards. If anything does go wrong, it won't get corrected without a call from you to the bank, toll free numbers don't work from overseas (then you will have to wait until the card is reset overnight).

I'm happy to hear you will be taking another debit card as back-up, as my husband and I have had problems in the past with a Cap. One debit card (with an account that had been established months prior). The card worked fine in Hungary, and then worked fine in Austria, and then - BAM - would not work in Czech Republic. We each had a debit card linked to the same account and neither card would work. We must have tried 10 different major banks, too, to see if one of them had the magic network. Finally, from a phone booth in the post office in Brno, Czech Republic, we called Cap. One to get to the bottom of things, a detour that took about an hour and a half (well, ok, first we had to educate ourselves on just how to make a collect call internationally). They had no idea what was going on, and said they couldn't even see the attempts that we were making to take out the funds. Bottom line was that they couldn't help us and were just as mystefied as we were. "It must just be a glitch," they said. Oh, ok. Thanks. The good news is we had back-up debit cards from different accounts, so it wasn't like we were stranded and penniless. But it sure irked me to pay the withdrawal fees from other banks when I knew we had a no-fee card!

Thanks Brad & Angela, and everyone-
CAP One assures me the funds will be available-but I'm only placing about a third of my funds with them...we'll see how it goes. If no problem are encountered, then I'll transfer more when I'm in Europe as I'll be there long enough for that to work out. (They tell me the 10 business day hold is only for this initial 30 days of "new account" status.) Apparently after that, any transfers I make from my linked accounts have three business day holds... And yes, I did tell them to notate the account to expect European transactions.