2 questions about exchange rate and ATM debit card

1. You won't get exactly what you read. Maybe a percent worse, but it's the best deal there is, period -- unless your bank is stiffing you with some kind of fee.

2. Your bank is full of beans. Tell them so.

Further to what Ed said, every bank has a rate at which it BUYS currency from you and a rate at which it SELLS currency to you -- the rate on Google is probably the interbank rate, which is between the buy and sell rates (the banks are in business, and their profit comes from the spread)
Looking back on my Italy trip in 2012, most of our ATM withdrawals were E400. Agree with Ed that the bank rep was ... let us charitably say, "misinformed"

1. Today's exchange rate is €1=$1.33 (or if you reverse it $1=€0.75).
   Your bank will probably give you less than the 75 eurocents to the dollar of the official rate, but close to it (maybe a couple of eurocents less to the dollar). However your bank might also charge you a 3% foreign exchange fee plus a $3 to $5 foreign ATM withdrawal fee per transaction.
   So the strategy is to make few large withdrawals rather than many small ones, because each withdrawal carries a fixed fee from your bank.
   So for every 150 euro you withdraw, you will pay $200 + some fees.

2. I have not used my American atm card in Italy for a while (I have an Italian bank account), but I withdrew in Copenhagen, DK and I had no problems withdrawing DKr for the equivalent of $300 and $400. If your bank allows you to w/d only $200 at the time, find another bank.

Thanks. I was thinking every transaction has atm fees, my bank here and the Italian bank. Also, my bank here has a foreign exchange fee of a little less then 3%. That could add up if I had to make many $200 euro withdrawals. $400 euros is a much better number.
Thanks so much.

What Ed said -- unless your bank puts a per-transaction fee on each withdrawal. Then it is to their benefit for you to make multiple withdrawals.

So far as I know, there are no limits on withdrawals from ATMs in Italy. I've withdrawn as much as €600 at a time with no problems. At $1.33 per euro, that's $798 today.

However, one of my credit unions limits ATM withdrawals per day to $400 (€300), no matter where I am. And they recently told me that using their card in Italy was problematic, but okay in Greece and Turkey.

Needless to say, I mostly use my ATM card from the other credit union that has a daily limit of $1500 (€1128), and had no such issues with using it in Italy.

Do not call. Go back to your bank in person and talk to a manager. Hopefully, they will know the right answer. And IMHO the right answer is not what you have been told.

BTW, your card should be branded Visa or Master Card.

Either way you're exchanging money. But buying euros from your bank here adds costs plus a tidy profit for them, which the $1.47 example reflects. Using an ATM in the euro zone will avoid those extra costs and charges, getting you the best rate we little guys can hope for. No reason to buy euros in the US. If you need some when you arrive in Europe, for a taxi or whatever, there will be ATMs at the airport. They may charge you a little more than banks in the cities, but less than your own bank will charge to provide them here. Your bank may also charge you a fee to use an ATM in Europe, generally a flat $3 or $5, but that will still be better than their charge for selling you euros over here.

Which is why your ATM withdrawals in Europe should be as big as you can make them. The limit (and $200 is a very low one) is set by your bank, not by anyone in Italy. See if you can get your bank to raise it to $500 or more. If they won't, and you have time before your trip, consider opening an account in another bank that won't rip you off quite as bad. I've read on this board that Capital One and Andrews Federal Credit Union are good alternatives, but I have no experience with them.

Some cash machines (ATM) in Italy DO have a limit of €200 per transaction. This applies to all withdrawals, not just ones for foreign cards. This is a limit in Euros, why would they have a limit in a foreign currency? they don't say so, but if you ask for more, it just says "transaction refused". This is peculiar to Italy, machines in other countries do not have such a low limits. You can get round this by doing two withdrawals, but then you pay whatever your bank charges for a foreign withdrawal twice.
Any limit imposed by your bank is independent of this.

The actual exchange rate varies from day-to-day. But the cash machine (ATM) rate is better than the rate for exchanging physical money, you just have to accept you will loose a few % to the bank when changing money.

Withdrawal limits may vary from place to place. Long ago in Spain the ATM from one bank allowed us to withdraw more Euros than an ATM from another bank. Three years ago in Ireland, we had a similar experience. We've just returned from a couple of weeks in Scotland and could withdraw 400 pounds (didn't try for more) at one time, which was way more than the Ireland ATMs allowed. The ATM should allow you to enter an "other" amount of your choosing -- put in a figure and see if it works. Reduce that amount until the machine accepts it, but it should be more than $200 in any event!

We routinely got 300Euro from Bancomats in Italy in 2012, which was more than our daily withdrawal limit at home. Didn't try a higher amount.

Any time you exchange money anywhere, someone is going to make money off your transaction. My bank charges a decent exchange rate, but imposes a flat $15 fee per transaction, buy or sell.

1. Exchange rates. Usually the Interbank rate plus a mark up. Mark up varies. See: http://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/money/cash-tips http://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/money/cash-machine-atm-tips http://www.oanda.com/currency/converter/

2 ATM Limits. Depends on both your financial institution and the ATM operator. My recollection is that the VCE Airport ATM maxed at 200€.

I bought Euro at Chase Bank this morning at $1.41 for each Euro. They added 8 cents fee to each Google rate of $1.33. Last year the fee was 5 cents.

What can I say, I like having Euro on me when I land.

Last Autumn in Italy the Google rate was around $1.39. I can say that everytime I used my DEBIT card at the ATM, i always got the $1.39 rate.

One Chase DEBIT card charged a $5 fee for every ATM use. But my other Chase DEBIT card charged No fee.

On the West coast of Italy I could withdraw up to 500 Euro in 24 hours, but on the East coast I could withdraw only up to 250 Euro in 24 hours.

And I tried all the ATMs at all the banks. My families in Italy say the ATMs treat them the same as us, so they don't know we're coming. Or do they?

The first time we went oversees I checked at our main bank on the charge for withdrawing euros oversees with our debit card. They charged 3% of each transaction. Since Rick's books have mentioned the flat rate is the best way to withdraw euros, I checked at our second bank. They only charged a $3 flat rate for each transaction. We signed up for their debit card on the spot and have used it ever since.

You can also have the withdrawal limit raised by calling the card company and making that request. However, as mentioned above, the bank in Italy (or where ever you travel) may have their own limit.

First, here's Rick's page of money tips (it was listed in Edgar's post above, but I wanted to make sure you saw it, as it's excellent). Read all the links, and you'll be an expert: http://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/money

Second, there are two limits: what you bank will allow per day, in dollars, and what a local ATM will allow, in local currency (in this case euros). When I was in Portugal in 2002, there was a nation-wide limit of €200 per ATM withdrawal (I've read that this has been changed). In Italy, I've encountered various limits at times, but not recently (on my trip to Sicily in April-May 2014, I withdrew €480 and €530 without difficulty). If you need more than the ATM's limit, and you're still under your bank's daily limit, you can make a second withdrawal (but this may incur extra fees - see below).

On the US bank side, my TD Bank allows $730 per day. Some posts here indicate that this is on the high side (in other words, other US banks have lower limits), so you do need to check. You can usually get your bank to raise their daily limit if you wish.

Third, there are no fees at bank ATM's in Italy. Your bank will most likely add fees. Sometimes it's a percentage of the transaction, sometimes it's a flat fee per transaction, and sometimes it's both (or neither). My Chase account charges $5 plus 3% per foreign withdrawal. My Smith Barney account charges $0 plus 2% per withdrawal. And my TD account charges $0 plus 0% per withdrawal. Guess which one I use? (Of course, I like having back up, but that's what the other accounts are; I would only use them if I couldn't access the TD account for some reason).

One last tip: the Italian ATM will not show dollars at all. It will simply ask you how many euros you want. So, find out your banks' daily withdrawal limit in dollars, and convert this to euros at XE: http://www.xe.com/. This way, when you arrive jet lagged and still thinking in dollars, you'll know how much to take out. I like to use amounts that end in 30 or 80 (like the €480 and €530 above), so that I am guaranteed at least one €10 and one €20 bill. If your first amount is rejected, try a smaller amount.

My Wells Fargo ATM linked to my checking account hits me up for 3% discount plus $5 per transaction. That's excessive and greedy.

I opened up an ATM at my credit union linked to my share account, and I received full price for my withdrawals for day to day spending money. They raised my daily withdrawal limit to $750 while I was in Europe.

For hotels, rental cars and large purchases, we use our Capital One Visa card. They're one of the few credit card companies that gives you the full exchange rate at the time of purchase.

Sounds as if your bank's trying to rip your head off on transaction fees if they maximize your withdrawals @ $200. There are other sources of funds transfer companies out there.