money for teen in Israel??

Robin, my ATM cards are also " plain" , in fact I never understood why a debit card that takes money from a bank account would need a visa or mc attachement on it.
I have used my card in Europe( but have not been to Israel) for years no problem.
The important thing is to have at least more then one logo on back, ie, Plus, Cirrus, Interact etc. so card can assess more then one way. Mine are both just Interact and Plus , but I have never had a problem. I would talk to my bank if it was me. , I would also make sure he takes a wee bit of cash just in case, he is old enough to have 100 bucks on him, he can exchange it there if he has trouble with card, or just bring it home if card works fine.

Kent, do you know where I could check? I tried to check the PLUS network ATMS and ended up at a Visa site. It's not 100% clear to me that ATMs that showed up on this list would work with a "plain" PLUS ATM card versus a VISA PLUS ATM card.

I have a AAA Visa and I just ordered him an authorized user card on it. They have a 3% fee on international transactions, but at least he will have a backup. If I pre-pay on that card so that I have a credit balance, does anyone know if that avoids having cash-advance fees and interest if he draws from an ATM using the credit card (an amount less than the credit balance)?

I will also send him with a little cash. He will be with other adults from our synagogue who will bail him out in a bind, but of course I'd rather it didn't come to that!

Robyn -

Go to Frommers.com to the Israel forum. A gentleman by the name of Doug Duckett is a wealth of information on Israel. There are a few others as well and you will get a much better response from them than from folks who mostly stick to Europe.

Shalom.

ATM cards linked only to savings accounts aren't likely to work. According to most of the commenters here, an ATM must be linked to a checking account. And paying your credit card so that there is a credit balance won't avoid cash advance fees. If you use a credit card in an ATM you will get a cash advance fee (and its corresponding higher interest rate).

The people I know who have been to Israel recently went as adults or with adults, and just used regular credit cards for most purchases, which is not an option for him. Most adults have multiple credit cards and an ATM/debit card, so they have multiple options if one goes wrong.

I did ask at the meeting for the teen trip, and they didn't have any useful information.

I'm going to go into the bank tomorrow and try to get him set up with a checking account and a debit/atm card for that, which should have a better chance of working than the regular atm card, it sounds like.

He'll have the credit card for backup, plus there will be people who can bail him out if necessary, and we can pay them back when they get home.

Thanks!

Robyn - I don't think the problem is that it doesn't have a Visa/MC logo, but that it is solely linked to a savings acct. I have seen many comments where people have had problems accessing money from their savings acct. and had to move the money to the checking acct. to access the money.