Any Canadians out there who have used a Scotiabank ATM card in Italy? The website and the guy on the phone seem to think that there might 'not' be ATMs in Italy that are part of the network to which Scotiabank belongs.
And if there aren't, I'd need to pay $5 per transactions plus conversion fees.
If Scotiabank is not a good idea -- any suggestions for a better Canadian bank?
Thanks,
Pat
Pat....Scotiabank is the only Canadian bank that has overseas partner-banks where the transaction fee is waived at their ATMs. Those banks include Barclays of Britain, BNP Paribas of France, Deutsche Bank of Germany, Westpac Bank of Australia and New Zealand, and Bank of America. With some exceptions, these are for branches in their home countries only. Unfortunately, there is no Italian partner bank, so the international transaction fee will apply. However, it will to all other Canadian banks as well, so changing won't help you for Italy....but it will be of benefit in the future when you return to explore more of Europe! ;) Click here to go to the Scotiabank page that explains their alliances.
Hey Pat,
Norm gave the best answer there. Otherwise, I am afraid it is best to swallow the $5 transaction fee and be happy that you can get easy access to cash at a reasonable rate in Italy. Have a great trip!
We are RBC clients and had no problem getting moneies out. We needed to use the machine's with the interact symbol. We also got Euro's adhed of time and used our credit cards and cash for most of the things we purchased.
Hi Pat
My wife is a TD customer, and she can change her account for a month to one where she pays a slightly higher fee, but, the $5.00 transaction fee is waived. This may be something that Scotiabank may also do.
Teresa: When you said you had no problems getting money, does that mean you felt the fees were reasonable with RBC?
Just curious -- I think that I am going to stick with my Scotiabank account at this point.
Thanks to all for your replies!
Pat
Pat,
One other point to mention is that you might want to take a second ATM card on another account, just in case there are problems with your primary card. Also, your funds must be in a chequing account with a four-digit PIN. At least one credit card is a good idea too.
If your ScotiaBank card has logos on the back for Cirrus, Maestro or other "affiliates", it should work fine in Europe. You can minimize the transaction charges by making fewer but larger withdrawals. You might want to review your daily withdrawal limit with your Bank, keeping in mind this will have to include the foreign currency conversion amounts. Note also that European banks may impose a different daily limit than that of your home bank.
I use Credit Union ATM cards, and so far haven't had any problems (if C.U. cards are affiliated with Euro financial institutions, then I'm sure ScotiaBank will be as well).
Happy travels!
Ken,
I have never had a Italian bank impose a daily limit on my withdrawals. They have had a transaction limit but I have just done multiple transactions.
We went to Italy last September-my boyfriend used his Scotiabank card with no problems,and didn't mention any $5 fee.I used my Royal Bank debit card,and my Presidents Chiouce mastercard with no problems.There are ATM,'s all over the place,even in the small towns.BE CAREFUL when using an ATM-I always had my b/f watch my back,and vice versa,when we used one-there are pick pockets everywhere,especially in the bigger cities and train stations-they look like regular people,not always beggars.
