We are going on a 43-day trip to Italy in the fall that includes back-to-back RS tours. We will be all over the country from big cities to out-of-the way small towns. We use a credit union for our checking account and will withdraw cash from it. The debit card that we use to withdraw money from the checking account is old-style, not a tapper. Our credit union does not use them yet. Will this work with Italian ATM machines?
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA ☔️
6841 posts
ATM machines in Europe are pretty much the same as at home. As long as your CU ATM/Debit card is branded as a "Visa" card, you should be fine.
Never rely on a single piece of plastic for a trip. Same rule applies to credit cards and ATM/debit cards.
Always have at least two separate, independent accounts (preferably from separate financial institutions) to draw from, in case one of them gets locked due to fraud concerns (notify your bank of your travel plans before yo go to reduce the risk of that happening). Minimum of 2 ATM/Debit cards, and 2 credit cards.
If you haven't used them in a while (or if they're brand new), "test" all cards before leaving to make sure they all work.
For ATM/Debit cards, make sure you know the PIN number by numeric digits (numbers, not the corresponding letters you sometimes see on domestic ATM keys -- in Europe, those letters usually aren't there, only numbers).
As for using ATMs, just use the same common sense you would use at home. Read what's on the screen before clicking "OK" and watch out for the scam of "Dynamic Currency Conversion" which is everywhere.
Posted by
OP
San Diego, CA
170 posts
David - It is a Mastercard debit card. Should that be ok?
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA ☔️
6841 posts
Very likely it'll be just fine. MasterCards are accepted virtually everywhere.
Bank ATM cards used to proudly display the icons of the networks they work with, printed on the back: eg "Plus", "Accel", others. "Plus" seemed to be the biggest player. You may see some of the same symbols displayed on or next to ATM terminals. Sadly, in recent years ATM cards have become more pretty but have dropped a lot of these details in favor of a nicer visual design.
If the card doesn't show you the networks, you can ask your CU what networks the card will work with. Unless your CU is unusually backward (a few might be), most likely it will be perfectly fine (the world is very well connected, financially, these days). That said, I'd never go anywhere without at least 2 credit cards and 2 ATM/debit cards, each pointing to a different financial institution. I like to have backups for anything important (and paying for things is important).
Posted by
Missouri, USA and Essex, UK.
1065 posts
I travel internationally quite a bit and this year I had problems with my credit union debit card at several ATMs across England. The card has a Master Card symbol but I could not get very far through the ATM system before it spat the card out. My daughter used her USAA debit card and had no problems. I would tell you to have a backup debit card from a more nationally known bank especially as you will be gone for a long time.
Margaret
Posted by
Eastern Iowa, USA
8171 posts
ATM machines will always require inserting the card, using either chip or mag strip. Sounds like you should be fine for with drawing cash.
However, I would urge you to look at your credit cards and determine if any are contactless. If so, and they have no Foreign Transaction Fee (FTF), you can use those nearly everywhere, and is the preferred method now.
As David said, always travel with backups, I travel with 3 credit cards and 2 ATM cards, nor counting the cards my wife carries that are on the same account, but different account numbers. The old, don't put all your eggs in one basket.