Changing money

You will always get the best exchange rate by using ATM's in the countries you're visiting. ATM's are everywhere in Spain and France. Don't bring dollars to a bank. The only charges you'll have are those levied by your own bank. Use a ATM/debit card at an ATM, not a credit card. If you use a credit card, you'll be charged for a "cash advance." Debit cards with a Visa/Mastercard logo will work at any European ATM. In Spain, if the ATM asks if you want your transaction in dollars or euros, always select euros. (ATM's in France usually don't do this.) Finally, let your card issuer(s) know you're going to Europe so your cards don't get blocked when they see a foreign transaction.

At one percent from your bank is a great deal. Other than zero you cannot do better. Don't be greedy. In all of our travels I have never seen an ATM that gave you a choice of dollars or Euro. If buy Euro in US you will pay a 5 to 10% mark up.

"In all of our travels I have never seen an ATM that gave you a choice of dollars or Euro." So far this practice appears limited to ATM's in Spain. Here's one web reference: http://gospain.about.com/od/moneymattersinspain/qt/ATMs_in_Spain.htm

If you can't / don't have a debit card you can use, overpaying on your credit card is another route. My wife did this when she went over to Europe. She would add chunks of money via internet banking, then just draw from it. Since you are drawing from a balance there is no cash advance fees on it. Double check with your bank about this one, but would be another option for you.

My statement is still accurate. I believe you post what you know from experience and not what you think you knew from reading the internet. And that is my experience. Been to Madrid four times, southern Spain just last year, a number of ports in Spain, in all that time with probably a dozen uses of ATMs I have never seen the choices that Mr. Corrigan describes in his article. I simply don't know how reliable About.com is since it is just a host site for articles. I have read some other articles on About.com that I question the accuracy based on my experience. And, beside, what would be the point of dispersing dollars in Spain? The only dual currency ATM I have ever encountered was in Ireland and it was choice of English or Irish pounds.

The practice is known at DCC, which stands for "dynamic currency conversion." The Spanish ATM's - and it's only some ATM's - that do this don't dispense dollars. They ask you if you want your home account to be charged in euros or dollars. The difference is that if you choose dollars, the Spanish bank will determine the exchange rate; if you choose euros, your card issuer will determine the exchange rate. The latter choice is invariably better for the consumer. Here's another web reference, giving some actual travelers' experiences: http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/dynamic-conversion-atm-spain.cfm

Thanks for the clarification on the ATM giving a choice of dollars or Euros. I would have thought from the earlier post that the ATM gave you a choice of what kind of currency it was going to give you.

To add to Tom's explaination, when using credit cards, some merchants will ask if you want the charge in dollars or Euros. ALWAYS choose Euros or the local currency. As Tom noted, the conversion rate you'll get is very poor.

What Tom said. We just returned from Spain, and we did encounter at least one ATM there that gave us a choice of being charged in $$ or euros. We chose euros. Also, almost every time we made a purchase or paid a hotel or restaurant bill with our Visa card, they asked if we wanted to be charged in $$ or euros. No automatic DCC, thank goodness. Again, we chose euros. Our credit card is one with no FTF.

My last trip to Switzerland two years ago, all the ATMs gave me the option of USD or CHF. I chose CHF:) These weren't "private" ATMs, but rather from "mainstream" local banks. Haven't had it happen in any other country in Europe since then.

Yeah it happened to me in Spain on our last trip. Always chose Euros of course and got a better rate because of this. This was again at major banks such as BBVA, so this was no private ATM.

Overseas we use our American Express Platinum for charges as they don't charge that stupid fee (Capital One does the same). For the cash exchange, we use a AAA Visa TravelMoney card. You "load" it up with cash prior to going out of the country and then we can either use it for pulling cash out of the ATM or as a credit card. If you use it at the ATM they only charge a flat fee of a couple bucks. Just a matter of planning your cash withdrawals so you minimize the number of times you pull cash out (and thereby minimize the number of fees you have). I'm pretty sure you need to be a AAA member to get one, but I think you can get a card at any AAA office.

The last time I checked on the AAA prepay card, the total fees ran between 8 and 10% -- hardly a deal.

I was in France in April and used my credit union ATM card to get euros. The only fee we paid was 1% per transaction, no machine fee, and the exchange rate was always better than the money changers at the airport. If you can, avoid using a credit card as the fees are more than using an ATM/debit card.

In France, the ATM's are everywhere and easy to use. Push the English option, and it is exactly the same as our machines. 300 euro per day limit.

In France, the ATM's are everywhere and easy to use. Push the English option, and it is exactly the same as our machines. 300 euro per day limit.

i don't know if you have time to open an account with charles schwab bank. they don't charge andy fees, and they re-imburse the ATM fees charged by the ATM banks. we've used it in asia, europe and the US, there are no charges.