Debit Card for Ireland and England?

Do you mean the American Express Bluebird card? If so, some machines overseas might accept it but I doubt it will have the coverage that Visa and MasterCard have. You can use those two at 99.9% of any ATM you stumble across, AE not so much.

American Express in the UK is a member of LINK, so one of their cards should work in practically all ATMs there, presuming the card has been activated for that purpose.

Not familiar with Bluebird. There is a Blue sky card that is a credit card. The big issue is what network does the card use. VISA and MasterCard use the Cirrus and Plus networks which are more common in the Europe and elsewhere. Are you sure it is a debit card tied to a bank account? Just because the bank offers the card it does automatically make it a debit card. There is a big difference so make sure you understand the diffference.

Yes, first it would be nice to know what card they are offering. AMEX offers dozens of cards, with probably more options and differences in fees than any other company. I know my Delta AMEX that I have, if I use it for cash, will be done as a cash advance, they may not charge a conversion fee, but hit me with other fees. They also offer prepaid cards that can be used at ATMs, like a debit card, not sure what other fees, in addition to conversion fees those might entail.

As for traditional debit cards (for comparison) there are usually encountered three sources of fees. First is anything your bank would charge for just using an ATM or an international ATM. My Credit Union for example just charges me a monthly fee use ATM use, a few dollars for the month, regardless of where the ATM is, no impact if I use one of their ATMs. Second is what the network charges to do the conversion from Euros to Dollars. The network associated with my Visa debit card uses Shazam, which is asociated with other networks, which in the end charges me about 1% above the Interbank exchange rate at the moment (or maybe start of business, times of day...don't know exactly), then finally, the ATM you use may charge you a fee for the priviledge, which, in Europe, I usually do not see one. In the end, if I get 100 euros out, and the IEC is $1.35 that day, it costs me just under $137 USD.

The short of it is, if they say "no conversion fee" but hit you with a hefty transaction fee, you are probably worse off. Same thing as an exchange bureau that says "no fees" but gives you a terrible exchange rate. What you really want to know is: If I get 100 euro in Ireland today, how many Dollars am I out. Then compare the same question among options, looking for the cheapest one. Do not worry about how they split the fees or what they call them, just what the bottom line is.

Visa and MasterCard are the most accepted cards throughout Europe. They are connected to the Cirrus or Plus system you will see on ATMs. Its also the best option for POS. Point of Sale transactions-purchases made in a store. If you would like to use your AMEX at a POS that shouldn't be a problem. However, I would ask more questions about the AMEX card you were offered through your bank. Is it a Debit card or a credit card? If its a debit card, connected to your checking account with no fees that sounds good. But if its a credit card with no withdrawals fees than they probably would treat that transaction as a cash advance and then that would have fees. Double check those points with your bank. Bottom line is that everyone involved wants and needs to make money somehow off the withdrawal.

You might find just as good a deal with a local credit union debit card linked to a checking account. My main account is at a small local credit union here in central Illinois. They charge absolutely nothing for me to use my debit card in Europe - no additional ATM fee, no additional conversion fee. I usually use cash from an ATM while traveling. For larger purchases I might use a credit card (Amex is not as widely accepted), but I would never get cash from an ATM with a credit card. As was mentioned earlier, that is a cash advance, and would immediately begin accruing interest, probably at a higher than normal rate.

If you intend to use a credit card for cash machine withdrawals, remember that credit cards consider cash withdrawals to be be loans, and interest (usually a lot of interest) beings to accrue immediately. Perhaps yours is different, but I would check it out. A debit card is a better option.