Capital One 360 ATM card and Allpoint ATM's

According to much information posted online, both here and elsewhere, the card will work fine at any ATM machine hat has a Mastercard logo or is connected to any network that uses one of these networks. "Allpoint" is not a European thing. Why not doublecheck with CapOne customer service, ask for foreign travel when in their voice menu, I believe every time I have reported foreign travel they have always told me about the "no fee"?

Or consider getting a Schwab card, which had none of these issues.

I have used the Capital one 360 card all through Italy (had some fees but I didn't care). I now have the Schwab one since it has no fees but I bring both cards with me.

Don't bother with Allpoint.

I used the CapitalOne360 at FCO airport (Poste Italiane) and on the street at banks in Rome, Florence, and Venice, each time with no fees and excellent exchange rates, 0% to 0.15%. commission built into the rate. This is one thing to not worry about, and unlike say Germany, there are bank ATMs every few paces and they are outdoors.

I doubt there is an advantage with Schwab over CapitalOne360 in Italy as long as you stick to bank ATMs.

The benefit to using Allpoint ATMs when available to you in the US is you do not get charged a fee by the ATM. Most ATMs in the US like to charge users fees so this can add up to a large savings if Capital One is your primary bank and you get cash a lot. Since ATMs charging fees to you is very rare in most of Europe, it is nothing to worry about.

I have used Capital One Debit cards in Europe for over 10 years on all of my trips at many different bank operated ATMs. I have always gotten charge the current interbank rate for the currency I got (the Google rate if you want to check) and never been charged any fee at all by Capital One.

Just remember to use a bank operated ATM as the ones you find in shops and restaurants are not bank owned and can have fairly high fees. Also, always refuse to be charged in your home currency (known as Dynamic Currency Conversion) as the operator of the ATM gets to set the rate for the exchange and it is never in your favor.

Thank you for your replies! One more question - is it fairly obvious which are "bank operated" ATM's?

Very, they will have the name of a bank on the machine.

Kathy, I always look for an ATM mounted in the wall of a bank building or inside a bank building. They are all over the place. There may well be a bank sign on the ATM itself, but I confess I've never looked for that.

Just be sure you don't inadvertently stick a credit card in an ATM. That would result in a very costly cash advance.

Thanks to everyone for the information. I know that this issue has been discussed a lot, but I appreciate you for taking time to help me nail down the details!

Kathy

Just confirming what others are saying. . . I have the Capt. One 360 account and have used it throughout Europe (Italy, only one transaction) with no fees. For charge card purposes, I used the Capt. One credit card and am not charged fees. It also pays 1.5% in rewards which is nice.

The ATMs at airports and post offices that say Poste Italiane on them are also bank ATMs.

If you're paranoid about using ATMs in Italy, the absolute safest ATMs to use are the ones that are physically attached to a bank branch, esp. if you use them during banking hours. If for some odd reason the machine eats your card, you can probably get it back right away. Also, these are the machines that are less likely to have a card reader/skimmer attached. (FWIW, the Italian word for an ATM is "bancomat".)

Happy travels.