ATM bank charges

We have never encountered withdrawal fees in Spain --- BUT the most recent was last year. It could have changed last month so if that is what you are see, then I would assume there has been a recent change. I hope it is not a new fee since 5 euro is a health charge. But it could be.

Santander Bank absolutely was not charging ATM-withdrawal fees in Spain during my 2016 visit. I am sorry to hear that its policy has changed. That is not a good sign.

ATM fees are definitely proliferating. Every summer I have a harder time finding no-fee ATMs than the year before.

There are some ATM cards that promise to refund ATM fees charged at the point of withdrawal. My Capital One ATM card (not credit card!) is one of them, and I think my credit union may have the same policy. I have studiously avoided using ATMs that charge fees so those customer-friendly institutions don't incur unnecessary expenses. Therefore, I can't say how well those policies work in real life. I think fee-charging ATMs add the fee to your withdrawal amount (that's what it looks like on the screen), so I'm not sure how your bank back home knows that 5 euros of your 105-euro withdrawal was a fee. So I am not confident of recouping ATM fees.

I have a mileage credit card I prefer to use when I can, but I have generally not pulled it out for expenses under about 10 euros. If I have to pay ATM fees, I'll be charging everything I possibly can.

Thank you very much for the tip on Peoples Bank ATMs. I'm heading to Spain myself next month.

I had heard before our 2017 trip that Spanish-ownwed banks were charging fees for ATM withdrawals in Spain. We made it a point to make withdrawals from bank ATMs belonging to non-Spanish banks, e.g. I think we used Deutsche Bank, and there were no fee charges.

Our bank (USAA) covers withdrawal fees but only if they are identified as such. If they are wrapped in the withdrawal tough luck.

Our bank (USAA) covers withdrawal fees but only if they are identified as such. If they are wrapped in the withdrawal tough luck.

I think this goes for any of the cards that offer to refund fees. Fees are required to be disclosed up front and you are given the option to accept, or cancel and go elsewhere.

So far as "wrapped in the withdrawal" I believe what is being described is Direct Currency Conversion (DCC) where the ATM is offering to perform the transaction in "Dollars' and give you Euros, making the conversion at a rate of their choosing. This also is usually declared, either by asking if you want the transaction in Dollars or Home currency, or by simply stating what the cost in Dollars will be...leaving you to determine if it sounds fair. Both are DCC. An ATM will not know what it will cost you in Dollars unless they are making the conversion, typically the conversion is handled by the Network, the ATM is just dispensing Euros.

No, I don't mean DCC, which is also prevalent but can be avoided if the customer so chooses--though I ran into a couple of ATMs I suspected were displaying "Transaction cannot be completed" messages late in the game because I opted out of DCC. I think that was in Prague.

Some ATMs display the fee, if there is one, right up front. Others do so later--perhaps because the fee is partly or totally based on the amount being withdrawn, rather than a flat fee (just my speculation as to the reason). Those late-assessed fees typically appear on a screen that shows the customer-input withdrawal amount, the fee and the total to be charged, each on a separate line on the screen.

With the single exception of one tiny desperation-withdrawal in Ukraine, I've always canceled ATM transactions upon seeing a fee pop up on the screen. I don't remember what that one Ukrainian receipt showed, but I see an entry on my credit union statement that could have been a fee refund of $1.91. However, a sample size of one doesn't really tell us anything.

I'm sure some others have gotten stuck and had to pay ATM fees assessed by the operating bank (rather than their own banking institution). Were those fees itemized on your monthly statements, or were they rolled into the withdrawal amount?

I would agree that if the late display indicates the amount of the withdrawal requested in local currency, then a separate fee, then it likely is based on withdrawal amount, or a combination of flat fee plus withdrawal amount, but at least you are being informed of the fee and can cancel or decline.

The fee charged by the ATM operator is always identified as a separate amount in the request sent to the card issuer. Yes, it is added to the total amount of the withdrawal, it has to be or the ATM can't collect, and may not be shown as a separate line item on your statement. But there is a separate field in the request for the fee amount that the card issuer can see. Otherwise, the fee refunds offered by the card issuer would never work.

The fee charged by the ATM can either be a fixed €5 for example or a variable amount based on the amount you withdraw. This is true whether or not DCC is involved.

I won't go into the entire ATM transaction process because there are multiple options and when you are taught this in the banking industry it is an entire week of full day classes. But if anyone wants more details, message me and I will overwhelm you if that's what you want. :-)

Thank you for that very useful information, Mark. I'm still going to try very hard to avoid fee-charging ATMs, but it's good to know that if I cannot always do so (and it is getting harder), I have a chance of recouping the fees.

I can see that I'll probably soon need to alter my practice of making frequent small withdrawals. That would be very costly to my banking institutions if there was a fee attached to each withdrawal.

Edited to add: Aside from the security risk of having the excess cash, I do not like the large bills one frequently gets from ATMs on large withdrawals. A few banks give you the option of specifying what denominations you want, but most of the time there is no choice. I do not like trying to break large notes on small purchases, and I prefer to use my credit card (when permitted) for all non-trivial purchases.

It is unfortunate that European banks have caught on to the practice in the US of nearly every ATM charging the maximum amount allowed when we get cash. I have always been surprised they haven't done it everywhere so far.

EDIT: I am not of the belief that getting cash from an ATM must be at no cost to the person getting the cash. It is costly to maintain an ATM, keeping the money in it and having someone go by and check on it from time to time making sure all is working is a real expense. I have no problem with a reasonable fee. But on the other hand, if I can find an ATM that doesn't charge me, and a bank that will give me an ATM card and not charge me any fee as well, I am going to use that combination whenever possible. No point in throwing money away I don't have to.

Thank you all.

We did pull some money from Dueschbank. We checked our bank to see what we were charged. We got the current posted exchsnge rate for the 400 € withdrawal. Nothing else posted.

So My "lengthy" research would confirm that the Spanish banks we tried wanted 5€ for a 300€ withdrawal and the Germsn bank let us slide by free.

WITHDRAWER BEWARE

Wayne iNES

I’m glad you found a solution. Looking forward, the easiest way to deal with ATM fees is to have a card that refunds them. Spend some time comparing cards before your next trip.

It's too bad there's not a place on the web one can find up-to-date lists of banks not charging ATM fees in each country. If you Google you can sometimes find a comment here and a comment there, but nothing comprehensive. I'd love to have an information source I could check right before each trip.

In Spain the situation appears very fluid, so is hard to give firm advice as the situation changes too often. Also it can depend on what type of card you are using (MasterCard, Visa etc), and sometimes the issuer.

However, this might help on latest available info from elsewhere for non Spanish-issud cards:

Ones that seem to always charge: Sabadell, Herrero, Santander, Bankia, BBVA, Banco Popular & Caja Rural Granada
Ones that seem to charge MC: La Caixa, Banka March
Ones that don't seem to charge: Cajamar, Deutsche Bank, ING, Liberbank

Some of the info is based on user experience that is dated, so any updates from more recent personal experience welcome. Individual banks might have special arrangements - this is a list for one that doesn't.

.... ask your home bank which Spanish banks they recommend you use, if any, and for a list of charges...... I will guarantee you that if I asked that question of my bank -- and it is nation wide bank -- I would simply get a blank stare or if on the phone a very long silent pause. They haven't a clue. And beside it doesn't make any difference. There are two types of fees when using an ATM. The first fee is the fee charged by the owner of the ATM you are using. That is what we are discussion here. Historically the owners of ATMs through out Europe have not charge fees for using their ATMs. It was once suggested that there were banking regulations in the EU that prohibited the charging of use fees. That may still exist in some countries but appears to be changing in at least Spain or at least for Spanish based banks.

The second cluster of fees charge is whatever your card issuer, generally a bank, decides to charge. That is between you and your bank. Generalization is difficult.

In 2017 I found myself in a small but very touristy town in Cornwall (Mevagissey) that had not a single ATM. I managed to squeak by on the paltry amount of cash I had arrived with.

Not sure how they figured it out, but Schwab refunded all the bank-imposed ATM fees I paid in Italy.

Thanks, Laura. That's encouraging.

My personal experience with ATMs on several trips to Europe has been good using DeutscheBank ATMS in Germany, Italy, and Spain, and BNP Paribas ATMs in France with my Bank of America debit card, as they were 'partner' banks. Check with your bank in advance. Also research each foreign bank's policies and bank ATM locations at your destinations online before you go.

Bill,

Not disputing any of the historical information you provided. But in 50 trips to Europe, including the UK, since 2000, I have only been asked at an ATM if I wanted to pay a transaction fee by one in Barcelona. I declined and found another ATM where I was not charged anything by the ATM owner. So I have never paid any fee in Europe to get cash from an ATM.

You mentioned Monzo. I am not aware of a product like that in the US. What we have is various banks belonging to regional networks (regional is not very descriptive as most of the regional networks now have presence nation wide) where you are guaranteed no ATM fee for withdrawals. You can also get extra cash back when you make a purchase with your debit card at many grocery and other merchants for no fee. Otherwise, using an ATM other than one owned and operated by the card issuing bank will result in you getting charged a fee either by the ATM or your bank or both. Whether or not your card issuer refunds the fee is up to them. Most do not.

Curious about the £2.75 subsidy. Who pays that? Does this mean the rural ATMs will start charging that amount as a fee for withdrawals?

ATMs placed in fuel stations, grocery stores, bars, restaurants, and the like in the US that are not owned by that merchant pay a flat rent to the merchant. That plus they charge the maximum allowed by the card networks (currently $5) per transaction to the customer. Can make a considerable income from that.

US based banks, with the exception of Bank of America, have no agreements with any European banks to help avoid fees. And the BofA agreement isn't all that great because it only saves a small portion of the fees charged by BofA to their card holder. So, yes, asking someone at your bank here in the US which bank to use in Europe, or what the fee would be that the European bank will charge you at their ATM, if any, will be met be a blank stare. No US bank maintains that info. They should be able to tell you what they will charge you, their customer, for the foreign withdrawal, but that is about it.

Mark, you have been very fortunate in your selection of ATMs. Or perhaps you make large withdrawals and don't use too many different machines. In the last four years I've probably stood in front of around 50 ATMs that proposed to charge me a fee. Major offenders were in Barcelona (2016), Hungary (2018), Ukraine (2018) and Czechia (2018), but I think it happened in Poland last year, too. Plus at least once in Rome way back in 2015. Honestly, it has become so common that I don't remember where it happened.

Curious about the £2.75 subsidy. Who pays that? Does this mean the rural ATMs will start charging that amount as a fee for withdrawals?

It is paid by LINK, the network operator. This is specifically for free ATMs and is set above the normal fee level - and the £2.75 is a maximum figure. They have to be more than 1km away from the nearest other free ATM or qualify through being in a deprived area. The detail is here. ATMs always badger you to ask for a balance too, since this generates another extra interchange payment.

Usage of ATMs is on the decline across Europe in favour of cashless payment, although the rate of this differs. As this progresses the infrastructure cost of operating the whole cash distribution system largely remains the same.

For those with BofA cards check this link for partner banks that let you avoid some of the fees.

https://locators.bankofamerica.com/international.html?godesktop=true

It's complicated:
https://www.bbva.es/eng/general/finanzas-vistazo/tarjetas/comisiones-cajeros/index.jsp

The aforementioned Royal Decree 11/2015 was passed with the aim of
guaranteeing that payment services are provided responsibly,
transparently and generate trust between the parties. This law came
into force in October 2015 and introduced new features that regulate
the establishment and the charge of ATM fees.

The Issuing bank may or may not charge the card holder the fee paid to
the bank owning the ATM. If the bank decides to pass on the ATM fee to
the card owner, it can also decide to request a total or partial
payment, and establish different percentages of the fee according to
the bank in which the customer has withdrawn the money.

Hi,
We are in Ronda, Spain and the internet was down at a restaurant so our charge card did not work. Paying cash for the meals wiped out our cash reserves.

So we needed some cash, now. Unicaja Banco's internet was also down, but suggested it charge a 4% exchange rate fee. Close by was BBVA was the only other bank we found and it charged 6€ for 230€

Remember the bad old days, when you used traveler's checks and at your credit union they was no surcharge to get them? ATMs ran them out of business and now the screws are being tightened.

Wayne in Ronda

I agree with Mark that I have paid vanishingly few local ATM fixed charges in Western Europe in the last 35 years. I don't go to the U.K. as often. Even when I have paid Bank of America multiple fees, the local bank has not collected anything.

Wayne, if your had dollar-denominated traveler's checks, the bank where you cashed them and obtained local currency got to choose its own conversion rate (typically posted in the window), just as it did if you walked in with US currency.

I don't like the ATM fees, either, and have managed to pay a fee only once, but I suspect they're not higher than the hidden fees charged for cashing/converting travelers checks in the past.

.*..."Historically the owners of ATMs through out Europe have not charge fees for using their ATMs."
Not sure from where you're getting your information but that is not the case. ......*

It is true as far as I am concerned since it based complete on our experience. We have relied on debit cards for at least 15 of the past 20 years or more of travel in all of Europe. Never paid a single fee and we used random, bank-owned ATMs everywhere. Maybe someone was charging fees - not denying that - but we never saw it. I only post what I know from experience not what I read in guide books or on the internet.