money in europe

Frances,
Using your credit card at an ATM is a cash advance. Talk to your bank about an ATM card or debit card. This will explain a little http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/cc/20050624b1.asp

Some places will take credit cards some want cash (euro).

Look at Autoeurope for a car rental.

almost all but a few banks in US seem to change the 3% (2% for the bank and 1% for Visa or MC whichever is on your debit card.) CCs at ATMs are usualy cash advance and expensive. Tale your debit atm card for ATM use only then sock it away in your money belt.

I'm preparing for an Italy visit in July and have just finished the car rental. AutoEurope is easily accessible, but I was worried about the many options they give you for insurance, In the end, I went to my local travel agent who booked Hertz for me for roughly the same price. I may have paid a little bit more, but I have the piece of mind knowing what I'm getting from a company with which I'm familiar.

Hi Frances,

I did plenty of research on this topic because I had the same concern. Here is what is best....contact Capital One and open up a money market account with as much as you think you'll need for your trip. They will send you an debit card which you can use in all the many machines thoughtout Italy to withdraw the maximum 250 euros (about $400) per day. They do not charge any fees for this. Also ask for their credit card for any bigger purchases...no added fee for this either. And the BIG plus is they will pay 3.50% interest on your money while it sits in your acct. I opened a acct. for myself and also another for my husband. This way we can withdraw up to 500 euros each day, if needed. If you have any other questions about this, please write me.

Good job Linda,

I find myself having to rediscover the best deal periodically. This sounds like a good choice.

Are you both signers on both accounts? Do you need a transfer agreement signed in advance to transfer funds? If one of you loses the card, you will be back to 250 euro but at least you can move money into the account with the card.

It's always a good idea to let your financial institution know you are going on vacation to Europe. Sometimes fraud detection software will detect abnormal activity and suspend your card until you contact them (then it can be 24 hours before it's back up).

Hi Brad, Yes, my husbands name is on my acct. and my name on his. I never thought about having to transfer funds though. I'll have to look into that...good idea! And yes, although they already have the information of when and how long we'll be in Italy (I told them when I opened the acct. and they documented it), I'm still going to call a couple days ahead of leaving to confirm it with them. Boy, there is SO MUCH to take care of when a person travels on their own...but I know, from past travels, it's worth it!

Last year even though I contacted the credit card company in advance, I had trouble paying for the motel in Germany. It took several phone calls from Germany to the 1-800 number to try and tell them I needed to pay the bill. I ended up going to the bank and getting a cash advance which cost me much more money in the long run. Now when I go to Europe, I get my euros in advance, and take the credit card only for that emergency. Hope this helps

As far as what Dennis wrote about contacting them in case of problems, make sure you get the international number (number calling from out of the country). An 800 # will not help you calling from Italy. I had them look it up and give it to me.

I agree to get a Debit Card rather than a credit card and be getting cash advances - VERY expensive way to pay for things. I have a credit union debt card which draws out of my checking account and does NOT mark up ATM withdrawls over what Visa charges. You need to notify your card issuers about your travel plans: dates and places. Be sure to have a written list and ask them to repeat them to you as one of our three card companies left off one of our countries and we were refused ATM use in that country. Thank goodness for the backup.

I agree about checking local Credit Unions for ATM cards, mine only charges an International Transaction fee of about 1% and a Currency Conversion fee of about $.50 a transaction. On a recent trip all of my withdrawals were only 1% above the posted (using Oanda.com as my source) interbank exchange rate. Unfortunately, my Credit Union has a strict $320/Day limit on withdrawals, so about 200 Euro was my limit. This could be helped by opening an account with a different Credit Union and having two sources of cash.

These are all good ideas but I am wondering about taking stocking up on euros in a money belt etc. What is the best source of converting dollars to euros in the US?

Patricia, the place I was told about is travelex.com.
The site has a converter which you fill in the amount of US dollars you want to spend and it converts it to Euros. Then it tells you what it will cost you to buy those Euros which you can do right then and there by credit card or debit card. It does charge $13.00 for next day delivery straight to your home. Their prices seem the best and people on RS site have bragged about it so I guess it's where to go to get Euro here in the states.

We still always get Euros here, through the bank before we go. Give your bank 3 weeks to order them.

We tend to stay in the off the beaten path places where ATMs are not reliable. We don't even use them here!

Some US banks have relationships with European banks. For instance, Bank of America has a relationship with Deutsche Bank. Because we have a BOA debit card, last year we were able to use their ATM machines all over Germany and there were NO fees at all. Just like using your own ATM at home. Not sure if other banks do the same thing or not.

For credit card purchases, I use my Credit Union-issued credit cards. They charge a lower fee than the big bank cards.

From what I have seen, whether you have to pay a fee or inflated exchange rate, Euros in the US will cost you 5-7% above the rate you see posted versus 1-2% you get from an ATM. Even most credit cards get you a better rate.