PARIS ATMs

The problem might be limited to certain ATMs, try one in a different location (aligned with a different bank if possible.)

It might have been the time. I noticed you posted on Monday, some North American banks apparently shut their networks for an hour in the early hours of Sunday which can be day time in Europe.

It may be your bank has flagged use in Paris as "suspicious" - if your card won't work at another ATM call your bank and see if they've blocked your card.

The amex website only lists offices at the airports.

The AMEX office in Paris is at 11, rue Scribe which is near the Opera Garnier (not the new Opera House which is at the BAstille).

The phone is (33) 1 47 77 7000

This info comes from Google

Good Luck.

Did you contact your bank before you left and let them know you would ne out of your normal ATM usage area? If not, your card will be blocked for suspicious activity. I would call them ASAP, if you haven't already.

Thank you to everyone who responded so quickly. We are on our way to see if the Amex office is open -- for now. We also have no cell phone and there's no land line in the place we've rented for 10 days. My next set of questions is about cell phones. but must run off to the probably closed Amex.

Lil,

I also had problems using my primary ATM card in Paris (and other locations in France) a few weeks ago. I'm also using a (Canadian) Credit Union Debit/ATM card. I tried different Banks, different hours of the day, different ATM machines at the same bank (in case one machine was faulty), but the card just wouldn't work. Fortunately I had a "backup" card available and it worked just fine.

I always travel with a Cell Phone and spoke with my financial institution right away. They weren't too sure why I was having difficulty, but I followed up with them when I returned home. The problem appeared to originate in "the coding" between banks, a problem which was apparently corrected on June 10th. In any case, my primary card is working normally now.

When you return home, you might want to ask your Credit Union about a Global Payment MasterCard, which is a product available at some Credit Unions.

Good luck at the AmEx office!

Dear Everyone (see new question below)!!

Thanks for being so helpful. The first AMEX office we found on the internet and in the FODOR's was on Rue de Charron -- we went all the way down there and could not find an AMEX office. Can you believe it? We are so incompetent -- we had absolutely no problem in Florence last year, rented a cell phone, and got cash from ATMs.

We will try the other AMEX office mentioned above tomorrow.

NEW QUESTIONS: Has anyone had any luck going into a bank and trying to get a cash advance on a MASTERCARD? I don't have a password for the mastercard as I've never used it in an ATM to get cash?

My sister in Nelson BC offered to wire us cash -- has anyone ever done this? We recently tried to wire cash for a conference registration when the online system didn't work from North America. It took two weeks, so this doesn't sound worth trying, especially since we don't have a bank account -- but our landlady here is very nice and would have a bank account.

Lil....many Canada Post outlets offer the Moneygram money transfer service. You and your sister can visit their website and choose the location in Paris nearest to you. Once she sends off the money, all you need from her is the tracking number they'll give her....you go down to the outlet and show your passport and the number, and away you go! I'm told it takes about half an hour or so for the transaction to go through...it's send via secure server via the internet.

Thanks Norm -- this is very helpful. Ok, we have some options to explore. Thank you Rick Steeves for this website.

I was in Paris May 9 - 16, 2009 and used two different ATM debit cards with no problems. One from a bank and the other from a credit union. I do remember that we used an ATM at Post Offices most often, but not always. If you go ahead with a cash advance on a credit card, you should call the credit card phone number to find out what that will cost you while you are in Europe. LOTS good luck

Lil, you haven't yet responded to what I consider the most important issue, which is have you contacted your bank to let them know you're in Europe? Without doing this, the unpleasantness will continue.

When you contact them, you will also want to ask what partner banks exist in Paris. Most banks have partner banks in other countries allowing higher withdrawal limits and lower fees. Bank of America, for example, is partnered with BNP Paribas.

It's doubtful you will be able to immediately withdraw cash once you contact your bank. Usually they need a couple of days. Good luck.

Thanks Neil (and others) much has been learned in the last 24 hours. Amex was very uncooperative for starters, but my husband persisted and was able to get 300 Euros cash advance. Amex looked as his debit card and insisted that it could not be used overseas (which is rediculous because we definitely used it in Italy and England). I think this problem is idiosyncratic to France or maybe Paris. We will pay the cash advance off online immediately thus avoiding huge interest rates.

I am trying to contact my bank. No news yet from them. The info about wiring money through MONEYGRAM and Canada Post was helpful and a good fallback.

The lucky thing is that for the moment a cousin of mine is passing through Paris on Thursday and is able to loan us 1000 Euros. That should help for the time being for cash expenses. Large expenses will be on the credit cards. I will post here when I find out what my bank says. We'll be in Europe for 21 more days, heading to Spain on July 11.

The weird thing is that we belong to two different credit unions in two different cities -- so it's not just my debit card and my bank -- but as Ken said earlier seems to be characteristic of credit unions debit cards.

I'd like to know what's caused your problem. I use an ATM thru a credit union/Mastercard & have used it in Paris for years (also Italy & the Netherlands). I hope you'll let us know if you find out the reason why your card wasn't accepted.

I tried my bank card tonight at a Société Générale Bank and made a very modest request for 60 Euros and --- it worked!! I asked again, and it worked again.

My husband tried his bank card at the same bank and -- it didn't work.

My daughter spoke to my bank manager in Canada and emailed me her response: "I spoke to the branch manager, Susan. There are symbols on the back of the card. If there's a bank machine with any of those symbols it should work. But it may not."

and that's apparently the way things are in Paris -- it should work, but it may not.

-- so we should be okay for the rest of the trip.
Thanks Peter in Manchester, you were right. And everyone else was right as well.

Next time we won't work up until the last minute and we'll be prepared. This is the first time I've used one of these help lines and I feel backed up by a community of travellers.
-- Lil

this is a stab in the dark, but is your PIN 4 numbers or less and your husband's longer? I've read that some ATM's won't take a PIN longer than 4 digits; for example, at http://goeurope.about.com/cs/currency/a/atm_use_europe.htm

Lil...look on the back of the debit cars for the Plus or Cirrus network logos. Plus is run by Visa while Cirrus is run by Mastercard. You cards will only work in bank machines sporting the same logo. I've never had a problem in Paris with a Canadian bank debit card...you shouldn't either. I would assume even all Canadian credit unions belong to one or the other...it might just be bad luck in choices on your part.

I checked that very carefully at every ATM I went to. My card says PLUS on the back and the ATMs also said PLUS. Thanks anyway.