Extra atm card?

I would open ( if you can) a separate account just for travel. Put only the money you want to use on vacation in it. If possible, open two accounts at different banks and get atm cards for both. This way you have two accounts to use if problems or if your account gets hacked. I do not have a Wells Fargo account so can not help with that. Sorry

I don't know why I didn't think of that. Thank you!

The comment regarding 2 ATM cards is usually referring to two differently numbered cards, either on the same account (usually issued one to you, then another to the joint account holder: ie: spouse) or cards from two different accounts.

I doubt a bank would issue a single individual two cards on the same account, and if they were duplicates, that would not solve the issue of having a back-up, since if the card does not work, it is usually a bank issue, the back-up would not work; and if you had a card stolen, both cards would be inactivated.

For my travel, I have an ATM card on my Credit union account, then a second account and card through Charles Schwab.

In your case, getting cash from your Wells Fargo account in Europe is on par with getting a Credit Card Cash Advance, worse if you consider that it is your money to begin with.

My advice would be to open a second account through a credit union, Charles Schwab, Capital One Bank or other organization that charges no transaction fee or out of network fee, and use that account for travel; using Wells Fargo for backup.

Or you could just use the one ATM card, but make sure you have your pin code for a cash advance on one of your credit cards. Obviously, this would just be in case of emergency, but it keeps you from having to open another bank account. You are unlikely to have a problem with your ATM card so all you really need is this emergency measure. Just what I do.

Thanks for the tips guys
I do have credit cards for backup. On my last trip to Europe I used my atm the entire time with no problems whatsoever and probably incurred about $30 in bank fees. That's not a big deal to me. I figured if I could get a second card, why not. Has anyone here had more issues with atms in Italy than say, France or UK (cards not working)? I've had zero problems in Europe this far.

I have 2 ATM cards from Wells Fargo. One is a regular ATM card and the other is a Travel ATM card. With the travel ATM card you open a separate account. You can put in as much money as you want into the account. The only catch is you have to maintain a minimum of $1500 in the account to avoid monthly charges. When I travel, I take the travel ATM card and only put in as much as I think I need. If the card is lost or compromised, no one can access my main account with it. Using the Wells Fargo mobile app, I can easily transfer money into the account. Since my wife has a travel ATM that accesses the same account but has a different number, should I have problems with my card, I could always use hers. Since you want two cards, you could take your regular ATM card and your travel ATM card.

I understand your concern with only having one card. I remember a couple of years ago, I withdrew some money at an ATM in Varenna on a weekend when the bank was closed. When the money came out, I took my time counting it and before I knew it the ATM sucked in my card. It took me about 5 minutes before I figured out how to get my card back out of the machine and that was only by sure luck because the instructions to get the card back were only in Italian. Moral of the story, take your card first, then count your money.

I like the travel card idea, Thanks!

I did what Joyce suggested and opened two accounts just for my European travel, one at Ally Bank and one at Capital One and funded each of them with a set amount of $$. So I had two debit cards to carry with me (of course carried in two different places) and if one got lost or stolen, the most that could be lost was limited. It worked very well for me.

It is just good practice to have two debit tied to two different accounts. We actually carry three (old engineer that likes back up and redundancy). I have never (knock on wood) had to go the back up card at anytime --- BUT there is always the next time.

PS If carrying a back up card, use both cards as soon as you arrive to just make sure that both cards are works.

You guys are awesome, thank you. I'm still learning the best ways to do things so all of these tips are very much appreciated!

Check with Wells Fargo and your credit card issuers to find out if they charge fees on foreign transactions or for ATM withdrawals or both. I had a WF credit card with chip and pin but never used it because of these fees. I believe they also charge 3% fee on withdrawals. Because of that, I carry a CapitalOne credit card and have a free CapitalOne checking account that doesn’t charge fx fees. Charles Schwab and numerous credit unions also offer fee free accounts.

Wells Fargo charges $5.00 per withdrawal. On my last trip I withdrew maybe 5 or 6 times or so and tried to take out the max I could withdraw per transaction. I guess I'm fine with that if it means avoiding the hassle of opening another account at a new bank. However, now I might just open a second account either at my bank or another establishment. The benefit of opening at my own bank would be the ability to quickly transfer funds between accounts via the bank's app on my phone.

Oh and yes, wells does charge a ridiculous 3% for debit transactions (not atm withdrawals). I never used my debit card to pay for anything, just cash.

Do check the fees on Ally Bank and Capital One. I don't remember there being fees, but that could have changed by now. They were easy to set up online and I have had no issues with either one.

Happy, double check on the ATM withdrawals. I believe they charge 3% on those as well.

Thanks Philip. The 3% is for using the debit card for a transaction (e.g, a direct purchase such as dinner at a restaurant). I've used the atm card at atm's in Europe before and it's $5. Yeah it's a total rip off, but it is what it is I guess. I double checked today to make sure it hasn't changed. It's not too bad if you just withdraw the max on each visit (and keep cash on your body!). After all the great advice I've received here I'm going to look into opening a second account somewhere.

People have answered the two cards from two accounts portion of your question. I’ll just add that i was traveling for work, and my husband and I had cards that were the same number. His was eaten by an ATM in our hometown while I was traveling, so it invalidated my card, also.

We bring two different ATM cards and occasionally have one that won’t work at a specific ATM in Europe but the other one does work.

Banks each have their own rules. Most will not issue 2 ATM/Debit cards on the same account unless is a joint account and 1 card is issued to each account holder. It is what it is.

While I agree that the charges you paid are probably insignificant when factored into the overall total cost of a single European vacation, it will add up over time and trips. I would rather spend the $30 on good wine to have with dinner or gelato for afternoon snacks (that's a lot of gelato!).

If you are going to go through the effort of opening a travel account, why not get one that won't cost you anything extra to keep? I use Capital One 360 which has no fees for anything. You open and maintain it on line and never have to visit an actual branch. There is no minimum balance requirement either to open an account or keep it open as long as you have at least a penny in it. And they pay 10 times the interest that Wells or Chase or BofA or any of those pay. So not only do I save a few dollars in fees, I earn a few pennies in interest as well. In over 15 yeas of traveling, my Capital One card has never not worked, nor have I have any negative experiences with them. This solves the issue of having a backup option to get money while traveling, one you may never need but is nice to have, and by being at a separate bank completely from your Wells account there is no chance that both might get shut down due to suspected fraud on one of them (it happens!).

Good luck with your travels.

Joyce said "...open two accounts at different banks and get atm cards for both. This way you have two accounts to use if problems...". Very good advice. We have accounts at two different banks as well as regular credit cards issued by two other banks. That way we have options in case of problems -- and they do occur. We've had one card (both atm and credit) not work while the other one did work. In every case it was a temporary technical glitch of some type but they worked fine an hour later. Oh, having enough cash on hand to pay for your meal or whatever is also a good idea -- we had all credit cards denied once because a satellite had a connection problem (or so we were told) and were able to pay in cash.