We are leaving for Italy in 2 weeks. It has been a year in the planning.(5 best friends leaving husbands at home) I will have lots to share when I get back. But one last question before we leave. Since the Euro has gone up so much...but coming down a little in recent weeks, I am not sure how much to exchange before we go. A year ago I was planning on using my credit card for most hotels, tours, etc. but it to keep our budget intact it will be less expensive to pay in Euro and avoid the 10% VAT tax and in some cases, the hotels will only accept Euro's. I can use a local bank to order Euros before we leave with a minimum fee of about $7 for any amount we need. The catch is the exchange rate I have been looking at over the last month on the Internet does not exactly match up with the rate the bank will require us to pay. The online rate is 1.46 and the bank is 1.55. Not much except that are 5 of us and it all adds up. Does anyone know if the rate is usually less at the FCO airport ATM? We will have cab fare, hotel for 2 days and some tours to pay for in the first 2 days we are in Rome. We will go to an ATM on our way to Florence. Any ideas will be appreciated.The fee for our ATM cash advance is 0 to $5 per transaction. ***By the way...I was able to book a 2 hour Vatican guided tour thru the Vatican site via Email. The cost is E29.50 per person and includes the ticket and two hour guided tour plus separate line to get your ticket and go right in. The trick is to email one month prior...note - not one month exactly to the date you want but the month before your trip. Our tour is for September 19. I emailed at exactly 12:01am August 1 Italy time. I got a response within 24 hours. I will let you know how the tour was when I get back. Ciao to all, Susan
Susan, as you might imagine, there were numerous discussions on this topic. Just do a Search on "exchange dollars for euros" and you will have the evidence of the wide-spread opinions on this topic. To make it easier for you, here is a sample of such previous discussions.
In my opinion, it makes sense to arrive at your destination with a reasonable quantity of Euro (a couple of hundred?) so that you will not have to worry from the beginning about small necessities and expenses.
I think it is almost unanimous that for travellers to Italy the best rates are at ATMs. You will be able to withdraw what you need daily, as you need.
Another useful search you could do is "Italy ATMs".
Susan....as Doru has mentioned..and her advice is always spot on..this topic has been discussed in detail on this site... But to put my 2 cents worth in..my advice is to request from your bank a higher daily withdrawal amount to be only for the day of arrival in Italy...do not exchange US dollars at airports whatever you do.. Personally I do not like to take a lot of cash with me because you never know what may happen along the way. So, my suggestion is to increase your daily ATM withdrawal amount for the day of arrival and take the maximum out. I would use either the ATM at the baggage claim area at FCO which I do sometimes, or wait until I get into Rome and use an ATM at a bank. After the first day then your regular daily amount you can withdraw will take effect and you would be safer for fraud that way. Have a wonderful trip. Richard
my suggestion is to increase your daily ATM withdrawal amount for the day of arrival and take the maximum out.
You may find, however, that the European ATM will not allow you to withdraw the maximum amount at one time that your own bank would permit. Often there is a cap on a single withdrawal amount -- for example, 250 euro. You may have to go to more than one ATM if you need more than that on one day.
I have also found that the message on the ATM, if this happens, can be confusing, and lead you to believe that your card is not working, rather than that you have attempted to withdraw over the limit.
However, it can also happen that your card won't work in one ATM, but works perfectly well at the one just up the street.
Roz...you made some excellent points...and yes all of these things have happened to me. So I guess the lesson learned is ask what next if plan A doesn't work. All this info is so valuable to someone traveling overseas and in a situation where "now what"? Have a great trip. Richard
I would also inform your bank or credit card company that you will be traveling in Italy so they will allow you to do what you must do....and like everyone so far on this thread we find the best rates at the ATM's
I have made multiple withdrawals from the same ATM when I needed a lot of Euros to pay for something in cash when we could not use a credit card.
Usually, there's a cap of €250 per withdrawal but every now and then, I come across an ATM that will allow me to withdraw €500 or more at a time. Most ATMs in Italy/Europe allows you to make a language selection.
BTW, my wife and I always request a receipt and keeps track by date of our respective ATM withdraws. Before we moved to Italy, on one trip, my wife had an experience with a malfunctioning ATM. Her USA checking account was debited for 2 withdrawals but she had a receipt from the ATM that reflecting just 1 withdrawal. After we returned and she noted the discrepancy on the following months bank statement, she showed our local USA bank all her withdrawal receipts and a log of our withdrawals from all the ATMs we used on that trip. The bank credited her account for the correct amount.
We don't know if this has happened to anyone else but by keeping the withdrawal receipts and maintaining a log of withdrawals, we had proof to show our local bank in the States.
If possible we use the bankomat at the postal bank because they charge no fees and we always get our $500 (€340 today)a day limit. Some italian banks only allow a €250 at a time withdrawal. Bring just enough cash for a couple days. Doru is right. The excahange rate "in" Italy is much better.
the lesson learned is ask what next if plan A doesn't work
I think if possible it's a good idea to have more than one ATM card. If traveling with another person, you should each have your own card. And make sure you enable your credit card for ATM withdrawal, just in case of emergency. You don't want to use it that way unless you have no choice, as it will cost you a lot in fees, but that would be better than being stuck with no cash.
Also, don't use the same PIN for your credit card as for your ATM card. Apart from security reasons, someone I know did that, and then once without thinking put the credit card into the ATM slot. Since the PINs were the same, he got the money, but then had to pay a hefty interest fee at the end of the month.
Thank you for all the good information. We will purchase enough Euros before we leave to pay for our taxi, some sightseeing and food for the first couple of days. We will also seek out the ATM's at the post office. Finding out that the rate in Italy is much better than here made that decision much easier. I look forward to sharing our experience with all the slowtalk travelers. Ciao to everyone
Try AAA.com under financial products. Order foreign currency. Althought the exchange rate is about 9 cents more than what xe-rates say (1.46 to 1.55) there is no service charge (at least for aaa members) and free next day shipping if ordered before 3pm ET. Be aware that you can use your debit card on the site for free but if you use a credit card it's viewed as a cash advance. It's the cheapest way I've found to get Euros before you go. By the way I asked by bank (Washington Mutual) for a higher daily limit on ATM withdrawls and they said it wasn't possible. Don't know if they were just not trying or what but that's what they told me.
I went to my bank, Wells Fargo and was able to get a decent rate of 1.492834. The bank charged me 6.50 for any amount of Euros that I wanted. I also asked to have my limit raised to 500.00 daily and they said yes. I will use my ATM to get better rates when I get to Rome. Still is a shocker when you give x amount of US dollars and you get a lot less Euros back. But I will be splitting costs with 4 other people so it is still a bargin!
walkingformiles, Actually the rate at bankomats is usually so close to the interbank rate that you can't tell the difference. The problem occurs when additional fees are added on. Mastercard/Visa add 1% and most banks pass this on to the customer. It now appears that most banks tack on a fee of 1 or 2% in addition to the out of network fee. To see how this works see http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/cc/20050624b1.asp?bank=wellsfargo#chart you will notice that Wells Fargo adds 2%. So while the rate is good your bank still gouges you.
Absolutely agree that the best way to go is to use ATMs in Italy BUT unless things have changed over the last few months, you have to make sure your PIN number is only 4 digits. As someone already mentioned, you should let your bank know you will be using your card overseas; I would also suggest taking two debit cards from different banks if available just in case there is a problem with one. Last, I found the AAA rate, or at least their $100 euro trip paks exchange rate to be extremely unfavorable and would never use them again. I actually found the airport exchange rates to be ok (I think it was a Travelex) and used them to exchange about $150 once I arrived in Italy.
Posts: 35 | Location: Los Angeles, CA | Registered: 21 May 2007
Just today at our bank we went to pick up our euros for our upcoming trip and after determining the rate they used and "fees" charged we cancelled our order.
The bank added .07 cents per euro to exchange plus added a fee of 30.00 each for our orders (2)! We asked the vice-president to look at the exchange rate online while sitting in her office. She did so and agreed it was a bit "too" much (an expat herself, and understands) but was unable to do anything about it! We consider it outrageous "gouging" and left without our euros. (FYI, charges exceeded $1000. for our purchase of Euros!) We will wait until arrival in Italy to exchange. We have Euros in hand from previous travel, so aren't without "initial monies" for first few days.
Bart and Art, please, can you (or someone else) explain:
What is a postal bank?? Are they numerous throughout Italy?? Do they operate on special hours/days?
My sincere thanks for any additional information offered!
Carouselgirl
Posts: 61 | Location: Georgia, USA | Registered: 10 May 2008
What is a postal bank?? Are they numerous throughout Italy?? Do they operate on special hours/days?
The Italian Post Office (PO) operates a small scale and limited banking operation. You can pay bills, various taxes and traffic violations, make deposits/withdrawals in Euros, etc.
They are in most Post Offices throughout Italy
They are open the same time as the Post Office. Monday - Saturday. The 2 POs in our town are usually open from 8:30 AM ? until 1:00 PM. The hours may differ by region and size of the facility.
Postal Banks in larger cities are open all day, usually until 6:30. We've found that we can always get the full equivalent of our US$500 at the Postal Banks, where some other bancomats will only give us €250 at a time (You can do more than one withdrawal at the same ATM UP TO your daily limit). We've also found that the Postal Bank bancomats seem to give us the best exchange rate.
There are bankomats in all large airports, so unless you need a large chunk of cash on the day of arrival, there's really no need to pay exhorbitant fees in the states to buy euro in advance.
We do not have an account with the Italian postal bank. We have paid bills, parking tickets and used their bancomat (ATM). We have had visitors and guests use the bancomat.
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