Just for the sake of paranoia, I hope, I'm interested in hearing from Americans traveling in the UK whose bank cards did not work when trying to get cash from ATM machines. I haven't had problems in the past (in my case, a Bank of America card) but a New York Times article this week points out that an increasing number of ATM machines only accept chip & pin cards.
If worse comes to worse, can you use the card inside the bank to withdraw funds?
The article says that increasing number of merchants only accept chip & pin cards. All ATM machines are still able to read our magnetic strip cards.
My ATM cards have worked fine everywhere. Even if you encounter a machine that balks, trying a different one should work.
No problems yet!
In Ireland, my card kept being rejected by Ulster Bank ATMs, but not by others.
That's an issue with the ATM network your bank is affiliated with, not chip & pin.
J.C. you are in great luck with your BofA ATM card. I have a BofA ATM card and we just returned from 3 weeks in England 4 days ago. No problems. The good luck part is that BofA is a member of a Global Alliance with a few other banks in Europe where you can use each other's ATM without a fee. It's just like withdrawing from your own branch. Barclays Bank is the Global Alliance partner in England. We found Barclays branches everywhere. I just checked my account online and there were no fees for my cash withdrawls.
Don't worry about the chip & pin stuff. All hotels and places of business have these new Bluetooth devices that produce the credit card transaction. For chip & pin cards, they go in a certain slot on the device. For our magnetic strip cards, there is a swipe slot on the side of the device. Never a problem anywhere during our travels.
Good to know, all. I've never had a problem before, but wanted to check with recent travelers. Thanks.
