Be aware of ATM fees

So the amounts charged by some Spanish banks are about the same as those I was charged by both banks and stand alone ATMs in the United States, if my recent experience is typical,

Here is the contrarian view: the last way I want to spend my precious time in Europe is shopping ATM's to avoid or reduce a $4-6 fee! Fees are common. Increase your withdrawal limit before you leave the US. Use an ATM and withdraw as much as you can. Fewer withdrawals=lower total fees. And, as advised by the OP, never accept the dynamic currency conversion, eothrer at ATM's or when using a credit card.

You pass so many ATMs in city centers (unintentionally), that it doesn't hurt to take an extra minute out of your time to try a different ATM. The fees provide no value to the customer, so why not try to avoid them when it's not hard to do? Wasting a few minutes by shopping ATMs is not going to kill your whole's day itinerary or even make a dent in it (it may annoy your travel companion, but that's about it).

Barcelona seemed to have more than its share of fee-charging ATMs as of last year, but it wasn't that hard to try another ATM or two until you found a free one. Once you know a specific bank charges fees in a certain city, you just stop trying those ATMs. Policies can definitely vary from country to country; I don't know about city to city. Santander ATMs in England haven't charged fees so far.

Bankia is free of fees at least at the moment.

One way to eliminate the issue of ATM fees when traveling is to open an account with a firm that rebates those charges. Schwab Bank is one such firm and there's no foreign transaction fee.

So the ATM fees might amount to the cost of one lunch, but the trip is costing thousands. Best not to sweat it. Just enjoy your vacation.

As best as I can tell, it is the Spanish banks that are charging ATM fees. We used Deutsche Bank ATMs while we were there this spring, and there were no use fees (also true for Florence last fall). DB is not a Spanish bank but has a good presence, and its ATM locations can be found online.

One can make all the arguments about wasting vacation time looking for free ATMs, it's a small cost of vacation, and so on. But fees are also unnecessary profits to banks and essentially unfair (they are already making money while holding your money). You should not have to accept and support this business model if you do not like it.

You should not have to accept and support this business model if you
do not like it.

Exactly. And it's not as if every breathing minute of vacation time is meaningful and cannot be "wasted". Surely there is enough slack to go visit the restroom or the ATM more than once a day.

I didn't expect this much heated discussion from my post :-) I'll try to keep my eye on Bankia and DB ATMs.

I thought I withdrew enough cash for my trip but the apartment rental I used recently only accepts cash. That's why I needed to go to the Santander ATM, which was near the apartment :-(

Well Agnes, we can agree to disagree. On any given day I sort of know how much money I have. But I never know how much time I have left. The thought of comparison shopping ATM fees in real time on a trip that costs many thousands of dollars strikes me as one of the worst wastes of time I can imagine. If I'm worried I'll give up one trip to Starbucks and there is the $6.

An easily avoidable surcharge of 3-5€ per ATM withdrawal with a bonus of not needing to find a specific branded bank ATM works for me. Double bonus for me, a frugal person, as "free" lunches accumulate effortless and quickly.

Mahalo. Electronic shopping to get a better deal? I'm all in. Going from ATM to ATM and cancelling out transactions hoping for a better deal at the next one (which is what has been proposed in this thread)? I'd rather have a root canal.

You'd rather have a root canal than spend 5 minutes total at two ATMs, at most three, that you happen to be passing by (not even seeking out actively)?

Like John McEnroe says, you cannot be serious!

Yeah well, I'm in Europe maybe once a year so I treasure every minute. While you are waiting for that guy in front of you to finish at the ATM, and then you find instead of 6 Euro's this one is 4 (now what do you do? Keep going I guess to see if you can get 2 or zero at the next one?) look over at the cafe nearby. See that older couple enjoying a bottle of cava, stealing a kiss? That would be us. That's my idea of using my time wisely. To each his own.

" See that older couple enjoying a bottle of cava, stealing a kiss? That would be us."

Well, I'm sure it will be. But they are probably enjoying their drink more because they found that ATM that doesn't charge a fee and they used what they would have paid in fees to pay for the drink. :-)

High guys, please stop beating Alan! Everyone is free to make a value judgement. He choses not to spend time and mental energy on to these fees. That's his choice. I am hoping people like Alan can benefit from this post too. When the two banks are next to each other, they can choose the one that is known to assess lower fees.

I edited my post to include the information I've got so far. If I get more info, I will edit this post time to time. But please stop discussing finding cheaper fees is right or wrong. Thanks!

Thank you. Funny how discussions about money and how to spend it can bring out the emotions. My apologies if I offended anyone. Just so you know, at home I only use my banks ATM because it's free. But, I have had to use others on occasion in emergencies. But money, money. Money is only good for investing or buying. You buy things, experiences, time, like the bus vs cab example previously. But circumstances and emotions can change your thinking, as it does mine when I chose to not shop ATM fees on vacation. In business school they use this example: you are a rabid sports fan. Your team, the, one you live and die for all your life, finally makes it to the championship. You go to buy a decent ticket only to find it's $500. You have the money, but that seems very steep and you're not willing to spend that much. You know the game is blacked out at home so you'll need to watch it in a bar with a huge noisy crowd. You are bummed. The next day your cousin calls and tells you one of his clients gave him a ticket he can't use and offers to give it to you. Jump for joy! It's the same $500 ticket! You go to work the next day and you are telling a co worker the story. He says, coincidentally, he was just about to buy one of those tickets but he'd just as soon see you have the money if you'd sell your ticket for $500. What would you do? Think about it. When this is posed the large majority of people would not sell their ticket. But, think about that. The same ticket you were unwilling to pay $500 is now costing you $500 of foregone income. Isn't $500, well, $500? What is the difference? Most argue well, the ticket was free. No, it actually cost you $500 if you think through this example. Happy travels!

What would you do?

I would sell it in a nanosecond and not think twice.

I see your point but your valuation of your opportunity cost of 5 minutes of vacation time is a lot different than mine. It's not exactly like the sports example. For some people, saving a teeny bit (that adds up over many transactions) is not some rapid obsession like sports but simply a very easy, painless task that doesn't require much of a compromise. I only see it as an opportunity cost if I'm truly pressed for time.

OK Agnes. We are talking past each other so over and out!

Just to echo what Bruce said, by using a bank that rebates ATM fees (anywhere in the world), the whole thing gets much simpler. I, too, opened a Schwab account to get this peace of mind. As a bonus, we use this account solely for our travels and deposit spare money in there somewhat regularly - so we are fully funded for our next adventure!

I'm with Alan on this one... yes if you can research ahead of time and know what banks to look out for - great. (Thank you to Kuro and the other posters for providing that info!) But the last thing I want to do during a once in a lifetime trip is spend my time saving a few dollars. I have traveled with friends who do this and we end up spending hours finding the cheapest (insert ATM, restaurant, cab, momento, etc here) . At home that is different - I will shop around to save myself that ATM fee but when traveling - I am just not in that same frame of mind.

And that is why we travel... and why we have forums - to experience and enjoy our differences - whether it is culture, place or ATM fee opinions!

Cheers
Amy

In this case it is more whether it is worth crossing the street or not.

I can't think of any UK bank account that routinely rebates ATM fees. Maybe that is because they aren't applied in the UK except in the likes of convenience stores, pubs etc, and are nearly always less than £2. The USA is amongst the difficult places in the world for finding free ATMs these days so maybe there is a space in the market for that kind of account (I am aware there are various networks that are free for appropriate American accounts, but not in general to UK account holders)

Incidentally I do understand from elsewhere that Santander UK is rebating any Banco Santander fee on accounts where such withdrawals are advertised in the T&Cs as being FOC.

Thanks for this information. I spend time every summer in the same part of Spain. In the city center near where I stay, there are a bunch of different ATMs. If I can save money by crossing the street, I'm happy to do so. When I got home from Spain in July, I checked my bank account. There are several fees associated with each withdrawal. I went to the bank and they took some off after I complained. I also opened a Charles Schwab account for next year : )

Thanks for the post, Kuro! I'll be in Spain soon and appreciate your update to your post question to summarize the info below. Our bank doesn't charge us most of these fees, but I'll head to Bankia & Deutsche Bank, first, anyway.

We have an account that rebates fees as well.

The thing that really costs money is to do the transaction in dollars which I once did in Spain having not encountered it before. This means essentially twice converting the money with the huge losses each time. So reject the dynamic conversion and do the thing in Euros.

I have used machines run by BBVA, Santander and CaixaBank within the last year. Caixa was the only one that added a foreign exchange fee of its own on top of the fees charged by my own bank on all three withdrawals.

Thank you for the post. Not everyone is on a 1 week vacation, some are in Spain for longer periods of time so economizing is necessary. My son will be in Madrid for 7 weeks in a study abroad program so his frequency of withdrawals could be an issue. I appreciate the information in this series of posts.

Dear Agnes,
My Dad always "Owning a bank is like having a license to steal". It's the principle of the thing, they make enough money on your money, why let them steal more.

I'm with Jerry/Stelly -- we took our money and our businesses money out of a major US bank when then started charging us $5 to withdraw from foreign ATMs -- they already were cleaning up on the conversion fees. We got an account in a bank that rebates external fees and only charges the 1% built into the system for conversion rather than the 3 or 4% most US banks charge 'because they can'.

We have traveled extensively for decades and now that we are retired spend as much as 3 mos at a time traveling. Having credit cards that don't charge extra higher fees and a bank that doesn't hose us at the ATM adds up. Most Western European banks don't charge for their ATM withdrawals, but apparently some in Spain do. It is the country where I caught shops trying to do the dynamic conversion thing as well as seeing it on ATMs. I got caught on that once before I thought it through and realized it was doubling fees.

Just a FYI -- be on the lookout for ATM fees if you go to Italy. It was only one bank, but it kept being the one nearest to hand whenever I needed cash. (Thank goodness for Schwab!)

We are visiting Spain in a couple of weeks. We signed up for a checking account with Aspiration.com. They state that they will reimburse any ATM fees incurred anywhere in the world.

I'm glad to learn this posting is still seen by the community. I updated my summary.