I have a visa Buxx card for my teenager. Has anyone heard of this? I am thinking about having him use this as a debit card for his trip to southern germany with his german class in june. Any other suggestions? Any forseen problems?
p.s. when I was in germany a few years ago, only used my atm card and it was fine.
Posted by
Ottawa, Canada
4555 posts
From the Visa USA FAQ site....."Can teens use the Visa Buxx card at an ATM? If the financial institution offers it, and you request a PIN (personal identification number) for your teen at the time of application, the teen can use the Visa Buxx card to withdraw cash from Visa ATMs worldwide. Check with your financial institution to see if there is a fee for this service." Check http://tinyurl.com/2m95jj
Posted by
Puyallup, WA, USA
11 posts
The VISA BUXX cards are very convenient and do work like ATMs, though IMHO parents need to set guidelines ahead of time. You need to figure out how often the card will be topped up, if at all, and if for anything other than real emergencies. Hint: No money for ice cream is not an emergency. :-) Medical treatment is. Most of the student travel programs cover all costs except snacks & souvenirs. Find out exactly what is/isn't included. Anything they don't consume, they have to carry, which can be another issue. I traveled w/teens overseas as a teacher/leader during several summers and learned this: as much money as you give them.... they will SPEND IT ALL. If they have earned their spending cash themselves, it goes a lot slower.
Posted by
Frankfurt am Main, Germany
2779 posts
I would like to add that there are pretty high fees for credit card ATM withdrawls. Please keep in mind that with Bank of America debit card you can withdraw money free of any service charge at every Deutsche Bank ATM all across Germany. And there ist at least one ATM per one-mile radius all across the country.