Debit card doesn't work

Is it visa or mastercard?

Try going into a bank with your debit card and see if they can help you.

It is Mastercard. I didn't consider going to a bank employee. Would they be able to help?

We had a similar situation happen to us, my husband and I, last Sept. when my husband’s debit card would not work. We had to wait till Monday to call our credit union. I thought they might not have updated our travel notification, but discovered the bank had frozen the card due to suspicious activity. Seems someone had tried, repeatedly to make purchases, in another Texas city while we were supposed to be out of the country. Our credit union did offer to unfreeze the card, but we decided not to since we had my card tied to another account to rely upon.

This is why it is always good to have a plan "B" to access cash. In any emergency cash is King. My Husband and I each have a debit card tied to the same account, then I have my back-up to the back-up debit card for a whole other bank. My debit card was frozen on my last trip a few days before we were to head back home. I received a call from my bank and called back to learn that they had frozen my card due to some legitimate transactions I had performed, but because there was even a suspicion and I did not want to deal with it on my vacation I told them to keep it frozen till I could get home to sort it out. My husband had his debit card (linked to the same account) so we were fine. When I got back home I discovered that several attempts for cash withdrawals were performed in Portugal, a place we had not visited. The couple we were with got the warning call from their bank while we were flying back home, in that short time $3K was taken from his account with cash withdrawals in Portugal. So maybe something is really up with your card, just because you have it on you does not mean it has not been compromised.

My local credit union has 24/7 phone support, so if this happened to me I'd be able to call them at any time. I wouldn't count on getting a quick reply to a message - really need to call them. If you can't get them on the phone, at least during their regular business hours, to solve a problem like this, time to find a new credit union.

I too have two different accounts with different credit unions in case one ATM card doesn't work. I also carry USD I can change in an emergency (at a poor exchange rate with fees, but it's a last resort, never-needed-it-before scenario, so I don't care about the fees). The only reason I could possible see to buy euros ahead of time would be if I had to pay in cash immediately upon arrival in Europe.

Have you tried requesting lower amounts? See this similar, recent thread: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/austria/card-invalid-at-atm-machine.

What is the error the ATMs are displaying? Just saying it doesn't work doesn't provide any guide to suggested solutions.

It might not work because you are requesting more in one transaction than those specific ATMs are set up to give out. Could be you are asking for more in Euros than what your card limit (in dollars) per day is. It could be that your bank didn't properly set up your travel plan. Did you talk to a person to set up travel? Or did you use your credit union's online service to do so?

And when messaging your credit union, are you taking into account the time zone difference? They might not be there 24 hours.

They did finally respond and said they could see no reason why it isn't working. I had tried lowering the amount requested to 100 euros in my last failed attempt. I will try one more time tomorrow. We don't have cell phones that work in Europe, so to call we would have to figure out an alternative way. I am definitely going to have an international calling option in place next time.

If you have a smart phone, you can call 800 numbers in the US for free using Skype (on WiFi if you have no mobile service). Next time, install Google Hangouts (and Hangouts Dialer if you have an Android) so you can make free calls home to the US while on WiFi even to US landlines (like your credit union's), not just to 800 numbers.

I bought a cheap cell phone in Italy 3 years ago. I have used the Italian SIM card and also changed the SIM cards for trips to Spain, Portugal and Austria. I have used the company enjoy.prepaid.com for years and I am a loyal customer. I still have 900 minutes left and that is after a trip to Spain, and my time here in Italy now. Because the company provides local numbers for each country it costs almost nothing. I put 20 euros on the Italian SIM and I still have 18.00 euros left. This is after daily calls to my husband in the US, daily calls to best girlfriend, other US calls. I have posted this information on this site before.. But I suppose people don't get it or just don't believe it.

Thanks to all of you☺ I do have my Tracfone android phone with me. I will download one of those apps.

If you have access to a landline, you can make collect calls to the US. Credit and debit cards have non-800 numbers on the back, which will accept collect calls.

I use AT&T USA Direct. From a landline, you dial a toll free number (different for each country). You get an English-speaking operator who can place a collect call.

If you're in Italy, the number to dial is 800- 172-444.

For other countries, here's the list (direct link to the PDF): https://www.att.com/media/att/2012/support/pdf/USADirectTravel-CompleteGuide.pdf

In my experience it is much better and more effective to call the credit card #directly rather than toll free number. Actually did need to call a US business yesterday for an issue and costs me nothing using the service I mentioned earlier. Plus I could do it from the privacy of my room... Just as if I was calling from my home in US.

Yes, your local bank or credit union branch does not operate the debit or credit cards. Use the emergency number. It's too late now, but next time consider opening a chequing account in a different bank, preferably on a different network, so you will two sets of credit and debit cards (and never carry all of them in the same wallet.)

Quite a few years ago, we had an experience close to that of the OP. Our card worked in Portugal; and as soon as we crossed the border into Spain, it stopped. A number of calls to Wells Fargo only gave us the information that they could see no reason for this problem. We were traveling with friends who, interestingly also had WF debit cards, and who had no problem. We relied on them to get cash for us in return for us paying their lodging and restaurant bills on our cc. Otherwise we would have had to use our cc for cash advances. After that, we have always carried debit cards on two different accounts and two different cc’s. We also had a similar experience once in Sweden. After working perfectly well in Denmark, our debit card was refused in Lund. We witnessed another American fail to get cash with his card from a different bank, so we decided to try inside. We explained the problem to the employee, who proceeded to use our card to get cash from the inside machine. She told us it was inexplicable, but sometimes happened.

Another backup option is to use your credit card at an ATM for a cash advance. Obviously that comes with a cost, but it can work in an emergency like yours. The caveat is that you must have or know your card's PIN.

At what point does it not work? Does the ATM recognize the card? Does it accept the pin number?

At the second bank I had entered my password on each attempt. It failed at the point where the money should have been dispersed. At the first bank it failed immediately. We had problems with WF card in Cancun 3 years ago when I attempted to use it for the first time 16 days into the trip. That transaction was denied. We always have a few options, so I went to plan b. I called WF when I got home to question it. The employee said I should have filed a travel plan. Then she said, Oh,you did! "

One thing could of been the network that the ATM was tied into. Happened to us in Quebec City. Turned out the ATM at the bank we tried to use was not associated with the network on our card; a learning experience. Took awhile to figure it out. Went to a different bank and made sure the ATM was associated with the network on our card and it worked like a charm. Definitely have two separate cards from two different financial institutions. Our ATM card from one instution is tied to three different networks. Issues are going to "pop up" when you travel, just be reasonably prepared and enjoy your trip.

mnannie, do you have your funds in more than one account at this credit union? European ATMs usually don't let you choose which account to take the money out of. It should try to use a default account - and if that is an account without sufficient funds, it may fail. That's why people often say, "Don't use an ATM card in Europe with a savings account." I do, but that's the ONLY account I have (not a checking account) with that bank.