ATM Use

Rick Steves doesn't actually respond to Helpline questions. The answers here are by volunteers from the traveling public, like yourself. The currency exchange services you referenced are not connected to a bank; they are for-profit currency exchange retailers that add a mark-up and sometimes additional fees to the 'Interbank' ATM exchange rate. You will see them in airports and around areas where there are many tourists. You should be able to use your ATM card from your U.S. commercial bank, such as CHASE, BofA, Wells Fargo, etc. Some people use their ATM card from their credit union, provided it's linked to a checking (not savings)* account. Always notify the bank before you travel so their fraud protection mechanism doesn't block your card when it sees an international transaction outside your normal spending pattern. Banks typically charge a small fee on each withdrawal, so it's good to withdraw the maximum daily allowance (typically €250) at a time, and carry your cash and other valuables (credit cards, passport, train tickets, etc.) in a moneybelt worn under your clothing. *European ATMs don't offer 'withdraw from savings' as an option, the way many U.S. bank ATMs do. I had a problem with that once.

Steve, any bank ATM is just fine. They are everywhere. Travelex, Euronet and Forex are not really banks. They are organizations that provide a currency exchange service. The fees are higher with these ATMSs. Also, the conversion rate is not that great either.

It's also a good policy to carry 2 ATM's from two different checking accounts. In case one card becomes defective or if the Fraud Vigilantes at your bank decide to block it for whatever reason (if they see unusual number of withdrawals). CHASE blocked and canceled mine and my wife's (same account) a few years back because we both withdrew twice on the same day in Florence. If you travel with someone else who has a separate bank account, then you don't need to have two. You'll just cover each other in case one of the two in the party becomes cardless.

You can use both a credit card and a debit card to access cash from an ATM machine in Europe. If you use a credit card, it will be treated as a "cash advance" with resulting fees and charges. If you use a debit card tied to a checking account, you will only incur whatever fees the debit card issuer charges - much less than any "cash advances". We take two debit cards from different financial institutions just in case something goes wrong with either one of them. We always try to use an ATM attached to a bank that is open just incase the machine eats our card allowing us to go inside and seek help. This has never happened in the last 10 years. Only once was one of our debit cards cancelled and that was by Chase and after discovering their reason after returning to the US we promptly cancelled our Chase accounts and withdrew our money from their bank. Their reason was that we had not included the country of Ireland in the list we gave them before we left for Europe. We only went to Ireland that year and my wife gave them that information before we left. However, we now have the person at the financial institution that we are notifying repeat the countries to us and then get their name and phone number. My card is from a local credit union that only charges 1% fee for foreign transactions. My wife's card is from US Bank. Happy travels

I just read recently that Visa's 'Zero Liability' policy "does not apply to ATM transactions." It's in the tiny fine print at the bottom of one of their webpages. And keep in mind that the bank's fraud-protection mechanism is there to protect your money. Mistakes can happen, but if your card should get blocked, you have the number on the back of the card to call COLLECT to straighten it out quickly. I always photocopy the front and back of all my cards and carry the photocopy in my moneybelt, so I have those numbers immediately available if needed.

And keep in mind that the bank's fraud-protection mechanism is there to protect your money. Actually, the card issuer is protecting THEIR money. Card issuers are legally responsible for covering the cost of fraudulant activity, above $50 and if you report the fraud as soon as you know about it. So the reason banks and credit card companies are so quick to lock cards anymore is that they would rather inconvenience their customers than pay out fraud losses.