Visa Euro Debit Card in Paris

"Credit Union Visa Charge card"??? What are you attempting to accomplish? You want to make charges and buy things with your card??? or are you just interested in withdrawing money from an ATM? Whatever it is you want - forget about any stupid pre-loaded card. All of those silly travel cards are designed to eat your money before you even get a chance to withdraw it. Get a Capital One credit card, period! They charge no foreign transaction fees. To get cash from an ATM, open an account with a credit union that DOES provide ATM cards for foreign use. This is not a difficult thing to find because most banks and credit unions now provide these services. If you're credit union is not big enough to give you an ATM card that will work overseas - find a different credit union. There are thousands to choose from.

Visa Euro Debit Cards can be purchased at currency exchange desks at the airport and train stations...like Travelex. Be advised if you want to use them for the Velib bike rentals, you'll have to have enough cash loaded into the card to cover the deposit. I think the deposit is 100 euros. Every time you rent one of the bikes a hold of 100 euros is placed on the funds until you return the bike.

Thanks Michael that answers my question. Most U.S. credit cards are not compatible with the Velib system. Many do not have a computerized chip, therefore one cannot use them at self service locations which require this technology. May 2009 I could not pump gas at a closed gas station like my relative who live in Amsterdam because they have the "chip" in their card. I cannot use my cc at train station or store my luggage at Centraal Station in Amsterdam without it. A few stores in Paris denied two CC; went to ATM to get cash. Europe has had this technology for years. Arriving in Paris I would like to have
means to rent the bikes, then use it to buy train tickets at self-service kiosks.

Pab I hope to give you a civil answer. It looks to me like you may travel fairly regularly to Europe? Yes? I think what you are searching for is a good and valid point. I live here so it is easier for me than others, but what might be good is a French or even British bank account in which you keep €uros. I know that Citibank, for example, has banks in many European countries. I have a British pounds account, and also a US dollar account and €uro denominated accounts. They don't earn much, but what does these days? I have a chip and pin debit card for each and they work all over Europe. I carry the €uro one and use it, and have backup with another, and then British credit cards for emergencies. My €uro card is accepted wherever I go, filling stations, ATMs, motorways in France and Italy, and I bet it would work for Boris' Bikes in London and Velib in Paris. If you don't have chip and pin you can't use cards at unattended places like bike racks. I hope that you are successful.

Unfortunately, Nigel, it's hard for a non-resident American to open a European bank account with a debit card. I inquired of Citibank UK, and they said you have to live in the UK to have an account with them. I did get an account with CitiBank in Spain (each country's CitiBank seems to have different policies), but I don't think my debit card is a chip and pin. It seems to work fine as a VISA card, but I couldn't get it to work, for example, to buy a train ticket from a machine when I was in Amsterdam. I think some of those so-called "offshore" banks, such as Lloyds offshore operation, will give non-residents a debit card, but they seem to generally charge high fees or require you to maintain a substantial blance. My CitiBank account is free.

I've heard and read that American Express and Capitol One are the only two American ccs that have a chip. But not everybody has, or can get, an American Express card. And many people don't want another credit card because the amount of credit cards you have affects your credit rating. I'd still like to hear a good solution to being able to use the Velib bikes in Paris! The Visa Euro Debit Card sounds promising.

If the cards are only to be used for Velib, an occasional train ticket, or gas station fill ups on Sundays, then the pre-loaded card sounds like a good solution. Sometimes the yearly fees on a bank card from a French or other European bank are high enough to eliminate any advantage, even for those who travel back and forth regularly.

The reason American Express non-chipped cards work at the Velib machines is because AE is a sponsor of the the program. No other non-chipped cards work with Velib. Neither AE or Capital One cards issued in the US have the chip.

Thanks everyone.