Searching these boards archives it seems like 250-Euros was the max per ATM withdrawals on the Italian bank ATMs, even if you have higher limit put in place with your bank. It seemed some found places up to 350-Euros. Wondered if anyone has found this to be true in 2011? (I understand if you needed more that same day you go to a second ATM down the block, but that is a lot fees? Especially if you want to pay cash for hotels) thanks!
Posted by
Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23343 posts
Our experience as recent as last year found that ATMs in heavy tourist, especially on weekends, had a 250E limit. But a ATM attached to a bank during open hours during the week was at least 500 because that is what I took out. We have no fees so we can hit the ATM as often as we like.
Posted by
OP
Thousand Oaks, CA, USA
8 posts
Thank you both. Yes we have one ATM with $5 fee and one with a 2% fee. For a family of 4 staying a month, it sounds like it can add up. Sounds like you both have better ATM /Bank deals. I have not seen anything in the 1% range or no fees at all. We shopped around and then thought the $5 was good and had not heard anything about the limits on Italy machines until this week.
Posted by
Eastern Iowa, USA
7580 posts
No experience in 2011, but even in years past, this was a hit or miss experience, not all ATMs imposed a limit. Of course my daily limit was not much more than that, so typically 200 or 250 euros is what I took out. As for fees, all of mine are percentage type fees (totalling just under 1%), so multiple transactions are not an issue. Even if it was a few dollars as a set fee, your loss on two transactions for 500 euro (~$700) versus one would be a very minor impact. My advice would be not to worry about it in the event multiple transactions are required.
Posted by
Hood River, Oregon, USA
63 posts
We returned from Italy three weeks ago and routinely withdrew 500 Euros with our no fee Schwab One ATM cards. Both my wife and I had ATM cards with and we were both able to get that 500 Euro amount the same time at the same ATM. Our only limitation was the maximum daily withdrawal amount allowed by the Charles Schwab Bank. Maybe only two times during the trip were we limited to 250 Euros. We just did a second withdrawal in that case.
Posted by
Chicago
2876 posts
Some Italian banks have lower limits on the amount of cash you can withdraw from some of their ATM's. This is done simply so that the ATM doesn't run out of cash in mid-day. As Frank says, you'll mainly see this in heavily touristed areas.
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA
7737 posts
And as is often noted on here, Capital One also has money market accounts you can set up that don't charge any fees. In fact, they actually pay you interest. That's what we use.
Posted by
OP
Thousand Oaks, CA, USA
8 posts
Thanks All. One for the discount Brokers again. Merrill not so great - 2%. We did get the Capital One for the credit card. Did not know you could use it for some type of debit account. Did not see that. It has been odd that to get some of the hotel discounts you need to pay cash and that is a lot of cash on top of the normal eating out, etc. Especially for longer trips. Great to hear about the 500 euro limits. Thanks all again.