Gouging at the bankomats

Were these at Bank ATMs?

Airports ATM's can be rip offs. I used OTP Bank at the Octagon and had no commission, no fees.

There seems to be an increase every year in the number of ATMs charging fees, though the prevalence varies by country.

However, what you are describing sounds like dynamic currency conversion rather than an ATM fee. Did you agree to have the withdrawal amount recorded in dollars rather than the local currency? If you agreed to that, that gave the bank (or currency exchange company) the right to use its preferred exchange rate, which you can be sure provides it a very fat profit margin. Always choose to have the withdrawal amount recorded in the local currency.

Although things could have changed since May 2, 2018, when I used the ATM at the Budapest airport, at that time I was able to decline dynamic currency conversion and obtain forints with no fee or extra charge.

As for actual fees, all you can do, if faced with an ATM that announces it's about to charge you a fee, is cancel the transaction and try another ATM. It usually needs to be an ATM belonging to a different bank.

We were just in Budapest, staying near the Oktogon; we saw the 13% ripoff machines, but found several normal ATMs inside the Erste Bank on Terez very close to the Oktogon. So there are still fair deals to be found, though maybe not at the airport.

Please specify the type of Bankomat these were since they're not all the same. It would help folks know which to avoid.

The general rule is ATMs owned by banks use regular interbank exchange rates, unless they offer to do the conversion in your $$s, which you can always decline.. There may be a fee, but that is immediately seen upfront. Privately owned ATMs use any exchange rate they want. "Bancomat", if that is the name, may be an actual chain of private machines, similar to the ATMs you see in 7-11, which always additional fees. And should be avoided, just as "Euronet" should now also be avoided because of their own exchange rate.

Larry, most of the fee-charging ATMs I've encountered do not announce the fee until the end of the transaction--after you have keyed in your PIN and indicated how much money you want. Usually the dynamic currency conversion offer also precedes the fee announcement or appears on the same screen.

I am nearly certain the ATM I used at the Budapest airport in May 2018 was a Euronet machine. Thst's why I was so worried about it. But I declined DCC and there was no fee.

I just got back from Italy and used bank-owned ATMs and, as usual, paid no fee or commission to withdraw money from an ATM (except 1% in a case where I used my credit union ATM card, but this was expected). I actually did spot check the exchange rates a few times.

acraven, I have always seen the fee for use announced up front, or at least be listed before you approve the transaction, as is DCC. I believe--or at least I would like to believe -that it is a requirement that this be announced before completion of the transaction, with the option to stop the transaction (which may be worded so badly that you approve it instead). The only fee we have paid was at a Euronet in Munich last fall, my fault for not looking on arrival day, with our memory telling us Euronet was okay to use. Which it had been a few years earlier. My experience, I think most of the regulars here would say the same, is that European banks are still not charging a fee for use, with the exception now of Spanish and Italian banks. When we were in Spain, we simply used the ATMs of German banks, and there was no fee.

....unpleasant news to report. We always get currency at the airport. ..... There is a subset on this site that absolutely swears that the only to go is to get currency after you land at the first ATM. But you just highlighted why I always think it is smart to have a hundred euro (or whatever the local currency is) in your pocket on landing. If you are seeing reference to commissions then I would assume the ATM is operated by currency exchange company. Personally I have never used an ATM in airport just for the potential reason you indicated. And, as someone else, recently posted all the ATMs at the airport were out-of-order. If I have it in my pocket, one less thing to be on the worry list.

Admittedly, the very first time I encountered the DCC was in Vienna a few years back and I was surprised by it. At first it threw me since I didn't know it was with the message asking if I wanted to accept the exchange offered on the screen, basically as a matter of convenience. But why was the transaction making it convenient for me?

In the end after reading it over and over, I declined it, so... never fell for the DCC. Bottom line here...when I do see the DCC message now on the screen, I don't bother with it and just hit decline.

I hardly ever get currency at the airport, certainly not since the use of the Euro.

Yes, you always have an opportunity to cancel the transaction after the fee is disclosed, but I am seeing that "OK to proceed" screen after the PIN entry and amount input screens. To me that is not up front, and I hate wasting time like that. Some fees are amount-based so obviously could not be revealed at the beginning of the transaction; in other cases I suspect displaying the fee late in the process is intended to discourage the customer from cancelling and going to another ATM to start all over again. There's also the fact that putting the fee on the same, very cluttered, screen as the dynamic currency conversion info makes it quite easy to overlook the fee.

In the last four years fees have become more common. I've seen them at bank ATMs in Italy, Spain, the UK, Hungary, Czechia, Ukraine and Poland. I don't remember about most of the countries I visited in 2015, and it's possible France is still OK. Or I may have just forgotten seeing fees at French ATMs. Really, it has been so common on my recent trips that I hardly remember. I'm used to having to try several ATMs to find an acceptable one.

I'm also highly suspicious about two ATMs I encountered in Prague last year. Same bank, neither in the busy tourist zone. They waited until after I declined dynamic currency conversion to say that my transaction could not be processed.

The key here is BANK associated versus "other" ATMs. If it doesn't have the name of a credible real bank associated with it don't use it. It has nothing to do with dynamic currency or the country, it's just that those 'other' ATMS are privately owned and can make up what ever rate or fee they want. So just be careful and you'll be fine. Usually there is a 'real' (bank) owned ATM nearby but that is why I always bring home a couple hundred euro for the next trip so I'm not in a hurry to find one. For people for whom this is a first trip and don't have any euro you will still be OK if you just look around, cause even at airports there are bank owned ATMS.

Whoever owns the ATM/bankomat, has to pay rent on the space they're using at airports and other locations that they dont own, so its not surprising that they need to recover those costs.

Unfortunately, Isabel's experience has apparently been more limited than mine. Certainly the situation can vary by country, but taking Europe as a whole, it is absolutely not the case that everything will be fine if you just stick to bank-owned ATMs. Perhaps that was true in 2010, maybe even in 2014, but in May 2015 I walked away from a bank ATM in Rome that was going to charge me a fee. At this point many bank ATMs charge fees to folks with US ATM cards, and many bank ATMs offer the customer the "convenience" of a known but extremely poor exchange rate.

I am 100% confident of these facts because I have only used a non-bank ATM once in my life, but I've been threatened with fees dozens of times and been offered DCC dozens of times as well. All of those events occurred since May 2015 at bank-owned ATMs in Europe. I do not return to the same places every year so it's impossible for me to be sure, but it's my impression the percentage of money-grubbing bank ATMs has increased every year.

There are no shortcuts. You really do have to read every ATM screen to avoid wasting money.

If there are guidebooks still saying travelers should just look for a bank ATM and then not worry, they are out of date.

The key here is BANK associated versus "other" ATMs …

The key thing is whether the ATM offers access to Visa or Mastercard networks. If it doesn't then it is in effect selling currency at its own rate only. If it does then you can get currency at the network rate, minus whatever your bank charges and any fee from the ATM, although you may need to swerve DCC. For that matter many banks run DCC as an option - this is by no means limited to independent operators and incidentally is fairly commonly experienced by visitors to the USA, where banks and independents alike also gouge routinely with fixed usage fees. (Euronet is an American company.)

I had no issues in Hungary, although that was nearly 2 years ago. I used both banks and in at least one case an ATM (that's the name of the chain). I have a Capital One MM account without fees that almost invariably gives me rates within 1% of the current mid-market rate (when I compare at xe.com).

On trips this year in Barcelona (in March) and in Portugal (just got back yesterday), I ran into the DCC option which I knew to refuse. At all the cash points in Portugal, I had to decline the DCC twice every time I took cash (total of 8 in various places in the country). At one machine in the TI in Lisbon (I think it was the ATM network), near the end of the transaction, I was informed that I would be charged a €3.95 fee, so I cancelled it. The next day my hotel told me to avoid the ATM and use only the Multibanco machines, because the ATM network was notorious for the ease of copying card and PIN numbers.

I still choose and use bank-owned ATMs partly because a bank is a entity that you can more easily identify and contact if there should be a problem, especially if your card gets eaten. I'll admit I choose ATMs for convenience than trying to get the best deal. Takes too much valuable time. And I was charged fees by banks in Italy recently. I think it was a flat fee of 2.5 or 5 euro.

I'm seeing a lot more Euronet or similar exchange booths impersonating Bank ATM's. At Orly, there was a big sign that said ATM, below it was an exchange machine. I was at Dublin Terminal 2 in May. The first ATM you see is a Euronet, you have to search to find a Bank of Ireland ATM (but it's there). Downtown Dublin has a surprising amount of Euronet machines too.

Skip these machines and find an ATM owned by a bank.

I got back last night from 21 days in England and used an ATM at Heathrow that was connected to a banking company and was not charged any fees. I also use ATMs twice in other places in England again connected to banks and were not charged any fees. I have gone to Europe for 16 of the last 18 years and have never taken any European currency with me preferring to wait until I land at my final European destination to get the local currency from an ATM at the arrival airport and have always been able to find an ATM that was connected to a financial organization like a bank and have never have been charged a fee for using an ATM other than the 1% charged by my credit union that I prefer to use.

I believe BANKOMATS are not affiliated with any bank. When we were in Croatia in May - one of our group used a BANKOMAT once and warned everyone of the fee not realizes it was NOT a bank - we used all the other ATM related to actual banks and were not gouged by the fees

I have done a quick research for VISA debit cards for ATM cash withdrawal and Point of Sale (POS). For the card holder there are 3 potential fees. 1) Foreign transaction is a fee for use of an ATM that is not owned by the issuing bank of the card or entity. This could be applied to the card holder whether it is in the USA or Outside the USA. 2) Surcharge is a fee charged by the ATM owner (Bank or Private) to the cardholder. 3) On Us is a fee to cardholder as defined by issuing bank or entity.
ATM and Debit cards are financial businesses that have been involving. Thus, the PRIVATELY owned ATMs have increased. This sector is nearly equal with banks.
Charles Schwab VISA debit states they will only rebate fees for obtaining cash withdrawal. I think this means they will not rebate fees associated with POS. They also state there will be no fees for foreign exchange conversion. For example Euro to dollar.
The question is HOW TO OBTAIN THE BEST FOREIGN CONVERSION RATE?
1. Obtain a no fee Debit card with no foreign conversion fees.
2. Use ATM locator associated with VISA (Plus) or MasterCard.
3. Filter out ATMs that appear to be private.
4. Obtain cash in LOCAL CURRENCY only. Avoid DCC. Bank rates are generally quoted as the best rate.
5. Charge credit card (no fee and no foreign conversion fee) in local currency to decrease need for cash.
Some are using apps for current foreign exchange rate and a finder app for the ATM with the best rate for the day.