Prepaid debit cards in Europe.....

Why not just open an account at a credit union and deposit your vacation money and use the debit card associated with the account?

Er i am with sam, why complicate it?

Open an account with Charles Schwab Bank. No ATM fees, ever. Simply withdraw funds as you need them. You can open an account and get your debit card in less than two weeks. Max withdrawal will vary depending on the bank in Europe, but never less than €250 per person per day, and often we can take out €500.

I bank at a small bank a few hours away, where I used to live, and they don't offer prepaid cards. Where I live currently, they insist that I open an account, which I will not due. So...given the situation and without passing judgement, what might be my best option?

Where I live currently, they insist that I open an account, which I will not due.

Without passing judgement, the first 3 answers are still your best options.

Check out the "Money" section of "Travel Tips" on this website -- Rick Steves' suggestions on how to use ATM'S in Europe which includes his advice to avoid expensive pre-paid debit cards. Does your old bank not have a regular (not prepaid) debit card?

To use the search function, look for a square with lines on the upper left corner of your phone screen and type in "prepaid debit card "
By the way, I used a Schwab card for a number of trips with no problems.

"without passing judgement"

What do you mean by that? People who know be say that I am one of the most analytic, objective people they have ever met.

I am not passing judgement; this is pure fact. I have looked carefully at many prepaid cards over the last 15 years, and except for one, from Key Bank years ago, they have all been a bad, bad deal. There is usually a cost to buy them, then a bigger exchange rate discount to load them then most ATM cards give you.

There are no "good options" when it comes to prepaid cards, only bad, very bad, and extremely bad. Open an account and get an ATM card.

Actually, while it's true that most prepaid debit cards are scammy and expensive, there are exceptions. "Bluebird" (by American Express) works fairly well, depending on your destination (I used it in extensively in Japan it worked out great, super convenient with very low costs). Maximum load is $5000/month ($2500/day). No fees for withdrawing cash if you can find "MoneyPass" ATMs (that's the hardest bit - costs $2.50 per withdrawal at non-MoneyPass ATMs). Decent exchange rate. It does take a little time to get one, so if you decide to do it, get right on it. Cheers.

We've take multiple groups of students to Europe over the years, and there are always SOME parents who insist on forcing the prepaid debit card thing on their kids against our advice and experience. 99% of the kids have no problem withdrawing money because they have ATM cards . Guess what kind of cards the other 1% are carry??? Yep - those stupid prepaid debit cards.

No Judgment from anybody, but yes, why complicate the issue?

Is there some reason why you can't simply use your ATM/debit card from the bank you use? Some people set up a special travel account at their normal bank or credit union, save money there for their trips and get a card that draws only from that account.

I don't do that, but I have accounts at 2 credit unions, one in Seattle and one here in Tucson. It's much easier to use the local one for most of my banking. The Seattle one has become my default travel account largely because the credit card rate is much lower and because the limit on ATM withdrawals is much higher. The local account is my backup in case something odd happens while I'm traveling.

On the many trips I have taken to Europe (20 at last count, 11 of those Rick Steves group tours), I have never seen anyone who had a Pre Paid card use it successfully to get cash out of a machine. The most memorable was a couple who bought Travelex pre paid cards and had around $5,000 loaded to them and the ATMs simply refused to accept them contrary to the promised in the Travelex documentation. Even the Travelex shops would not allow them to get cash off the cards! Since they brought nothing else, we had to fund their expenses on the tour. On the other hand, those that have a bank issued debit card with the Visa or MasterCard logo on it for the most part (as long as they have informed their bank of their travel plan) have had success.

So, to answer the original question, No, I don't know of any pre paid debit card that fits that profile.

I'm not usually one to think opening new accounts is worth the hassle for a 2 week vacation. But in your case it may make a lot of sense. I assume from your question that your bank doesn't make it easy to use an ATM in Europe. If that is the case, your best option is to open something like the Schwab account. I believe it can all be done online so you don't need to deal with a brick and mortar bank/credit union.

As you can see from other responses, pre-paid cards come with high fees/expenses and challenges to actually using them.

If you insist on pre-paid debit card even though it's a lousy deal then I would suggest you only get one/s with VISA or MC logo so that hopefully withdrawing at ATM's in Europe won't be a hassle. If they only allow $1000/month, then get more than one. I don't think there's any limit on how many different debit cards you can have since you're loading the $$ on them ahead of time. Having multiple cards would just be one more thing to worry about while you travel.

Not sure what your reason is for not opening an account, I'm sure you have one. But, if possible, it's the best solution. I opened online debit accounts at both Ally bank and Capital One and funded them both before I left. It was easy to do by phone or internet and the accounts are not tied to any other bank accounts. I got two of them just to be safe, not putting all my eggs into one basket. Never had any problems withdrawing the cash from either one in 7 different countries.

I don't think it matters where your bank is physically located. All that matters is that they can issue a debit/ATM card with the Cirrus or Plus symbol on the back which can be used in any ATM in the world. My bank is a credit union in CA (where I used to live). I live in Virginia now. I use the ATM card at home and everywhere I go...on foreign travels I get charged a 1% fee per withdrawal amount with no other fees. That's a good deal.

I would heed the advice of the others on this forum - prepaid debit cards are not competitive, and there are no barriers (except a bit of time) to getting an ATM card linked to a checking account that doesn't charge extortionate fees. I've had my credit union account for over 20 years now with no changes at all, and it has worked well on all my trips. The only downside is that credit unions don't have "live" 24-hour service like banks, but then again, I've never needed it.

I agree with Lee and others that the prepaid debit card is generally a poor deal. The fees, some hidden, will run in the range of 10% if not more. Then there is the whole question of acceptability. Prepaid cards are considered to be gift cards and fall outside of the banking rules about disclosure, etc. You do not have the normal theft, fraud protected provided to debit and credit cards. Of all the cards I have looked at the most reasonable (at that time) was the prepaid card from Walmart but it does a bunch of fees. Just read the fine print and if you are comfortable with losing maybe a hundred dollars for every thousand that you load, go for it.

You asked for advice and got it. It is your privilege to blow off the advice of very seasoned travelers, just don't come back and complain later.

Thank you all so much for your replies. I think what I will do, as some of you have suggested, is just maybe start a separate account and use the debit card associated with that account. I would just like some sort of separation between my normal account and funds used for travel. Thanks again!

That's a good choice and easy enough to do. You got some suggestions of banks, CU's etc to use for this purpose if you don't feel a different account in your home bank is 'separate' enough.

There is no separation when you have two accounts at the same bank. It is highly likely that you signed a cross collateralization agreement when you opened the accounts. That is automatic unless you deleted it.

Open an account online with Capital One 360 (or as others suggested Schwab). You can do the whole thing online without having to physically go to any bank or branch. You get a great Master Card-logo ATM card that's accepted everywhere (and I know from personal experience that Cap One charges no foreign transaction fees). This separate account at a separate bank puts your "regular" account behind a firewall.

I don't travel anywhere -- even in the US for that matter -- using my "home" debit card. All travel cash withdrawals go on the Cap One debit card and I've never had a problem anywhere with its use.