Hello. I plan to get at least 200 euros when I'm in Milan from an ATM. My bank, Chase, reimburses me for foreign ATM fees so I have a lot of freedom in terms of which bank to get money from. We're staying down near the Duomo. I'm sure there are banks everywhere. I just want to make sure I know what the reliable ones are. I saw this list on another website: Unicredit, Intesa Sanpaolo, BPM, BNL BMP, Credit Agricole.
Do you recommend any additions or subtractions? Thanks!
Any bank that has a physical presence and an ATM outside should be fine. It is the standalone ATM's that you want to avoid.
Google maps will show the locations. Many in the Duomo area you mention, plus Banco Cesare Ponti Sede di Milano. There is also a Euronet and that is the one to stay away from.
If asking for the location of a ATM, as for a Bancomat and look for the word Bancomat at any bank and you will be fine. Bancomat is the internet banking system used by all major banks in Italy - I have never had any problems using them.
There are also often ATM’s (marked Postamat) at local post offices (look for yellow signs that say (Poste Italiane or “PI”), either on the outside of the building, near the entrance door, or just inside the vestibule. Honest, easy, and reliable.
From now on, though, I will particularly avoid Credit Agricole. It’s a French bank that also sponsored a pro cycling team that competed in the Tour de France and other races for many years, so I was familiar with the bank name and logo. I figured it was a respectable institution. In France two years ago, needing some cash, my husband and I went up to a Credit Agricole ATM, and started the transaction. At one point, the screen displayed a question that seemed to effectively be, “Do you want the money?”, with a “Yes” button and a “No.” Obviously we wanted the transaction to proceed, because getting the money was why we were there in the first place. The question should’ve been, “Do you want us to rip you off?”
You may be aware of DCC - Dynamic Cuttency Conversion. It’s usually where a credit card scanner gives you the option of having your transaction converted using the bank’s bad conversion rate, rather than the standard (better) rate. We’ve seen this mostly when paying at a restaurant or store, but it can happen at an ATM, too. Often DCC can be recognized by a machine offering to calculating your transaction in your home currency (U.S. dollars for us) rather than the local currency (euros in Italy), but accepting the dollars rather than euros comes with an inflated price for the “convenience.” None of that is explained by the machine, but at least being given two currency bases makes it obvious. We got this offer at an ATM for a different bank in South Africa on a previous trip, and were given the simple choice to turn down that inflated offer, and to stick with the going rate that our bank would use with their normal processing of our foreign transaction, a better rate. Well, that Credit Agricole ATM in France made no mention of a “special” rate, or the option to proceed with the “regular” rate, but basically just asked “proceed?” As it turned out, by hitting “Yes,” we got stuck with their bad conversion rate, which cost us an extra $30. Receiving a bad exchange rate is worse than any foreign transaction fees. Hitting “No” would’ve still dispensed euro cash as it turns out, but at the international exchange rate for the day, not a rate set by Credit Agricole. And no other ATM in France, Italy, et. al., had ever tried that trick on us without fully disclosing that they were giving us the option of picking their conversation rate or the “regular” (better) rate. I now see Credit Agricole as using a dishonest, not-transparent process with its ATM’s, and advise everyone to avoid them.
