My wife and I leave tomorrow for a month in GB. We know what our daily limit from our bank is, but I'm curious if anyone knows if there is a standard on how much can be taken out of ATMs at once in GB. My father-in-law says that when they were in Italy in March it was 200 euro at a time, but we're not sure about limits in Britain.
Thanks,
The daily limit you have for the US is normally the same in Europe (give or take a few $). You're father in law probably has a $300 daily limit (Euro = approximantely $1.50 during March). You can expect the daily limit for Great Britain to be approximately the US daily withdrawal amount expressed in GBP (or at the current rate, approximately 150 GBP to $300). Occassionally, you will find banks that place lower limits on cash dispersals and ATM machines not situated in Banks often limit your total withdrawal to less than you could otherwise get based on your US withdrawal limit.
It is the last part that I'm curious about. I know that even here in the US, my daily limit is $500 but the ATM has a dispersal limit of $200 at a time. So is it just "occasional" that the dispersal limit is less or is it more universal? Obviously with a $500 daily limit from the bank, we'll only be getting 250 GBP at a time, so it may not matter too much. but we want to be able to pull out as much as possible so as to minimized exchange fees.
Thanks.
It has been sometimes reported here that the ATM a traveler is using in Europe allows only a lower amount than the traveler's "US limit. No one here has come up with a way to predict it, it seems as if you never know until you're using a particular ATM machine there. Some people choose to have a Plan B, such as 2nd ATM card linked to a separate checking account. Others don't feel they need it.
Cary, I don't understand...if you have a $500 limit, why would the ATM limit be $200? Have you ever withdrawn $500 from any ATM in the US? If not, then you may not have a $500 cash withdrawal limit, it may be a $500 debit limit. We had the same concerns you did, and even though my wife and I have several ATM cards for a combination of 3 seperate checking accounts, we increased our daily withdrawal limits to $500 this last year for each of our cards due to the changes in dollar value...and we consciously withdrew enough cash each day to pay for most hotels in cash and pocket savings between 5 and 10%.
I agree with Kent...you can't normally predict which ATM will deny you the full withdrawal amount...however, I found from personal experience that the Big Banks (as opposed to small local or regional Banks) normally would allow the full withdrawal...and I found that more often than not, the ATMs at non-bank sites would not allow the full withdrawal allowed by your bank.
Cary, it depends also on your bank. Remember to call them and ask the limit verification.
Everyone is probably saying the same thing but in indirect ways. There are two limits --- one set by your bank and another limit set by the dispensing ATM. In heavy tourist area and especially on weekends, the dispensing ATM will be set rather low because they do not what the ATM drained of cash in the first few hours. Unless your bank charges a transaction fee on top of a currency conversion fee, then it will not make any difference if you have small multi withdraws -- UNLESS, of course, your bank puts a limit on the total number of withdraws in a 24 hour period. As someone posted earlier, ATMs attached to banks appear to have higher limits probably because it is easier to refill than the stand alone unit. We always make a point of getting our cash from ATMS attached to banks during open hours during the week.
Dave,
This is all information that I have gathered in preparation for my upcoming trip. According to the BOA website..."Use your ATM card or Check Card within our Global ATM Alliance in the countries shown with no fees". Barclays is listed as the bank to use in the UK.
Hope this helps.
You may also want to check and see if your bank has a relationship with a bank in the UK. For instance, Bank of America has a relationship with Barclays so that you would not incur ATM fees at their bank. So check with your bank and see, couldnt hurt to check.
Terry Anne, I know of the Barclay's and Bank of America alliance, but isn't there still a 1% international withdrawal fee if you use your BoA card at any non-BoA non-US ATM? I just opened a checking account online at BoA for our trip this fall to try to save on fees and would like to know from other people if in fact there are NO fees or the 1% withdrawal fee.
This business about ATM usage fees also gets confusing. In the US it is common for the owner of the ATM to charge a fee for using that ATM if you are not a customer of that bank or credit union. In ten years plus of hundreds of ATM usages in Europe I have NEVER encountered a fee for using the ATM. A long time ago I thought I read that it was illegal in Europe to charge an ATM usage fee. In our experience the only fees charged are charged by the card issuer -- generally your bank and a one percent or less of a fee for using the network -- Plus, Cirus.
Bank of America customer service told me this last week: If I withdraw from a Barclay's or other bank in the alliance, I still have a 1% conversion fee (because I'm changing dollars to pounds) however the $5 transaction fee is waived. If I use an ATM outside of the network, it's both fees: 1% plus $5 on each transaction. BoA is the best deal I've found! The banks in their network have locations all over London and Paris.
