Lately banks in our area are having a field day with all the ATM charges. $2-$3 per transaction on this side for non affiliates and with the exchange rate not in the US favor, I can see costs mounting for our next trip to Italy. ATM withdrawls vary depending on what city your in (150-300 Euro). Can anyone walk into an Italian bank and get as fair conversion transaction on the US dollar? What is the conventional wisdom these days? I really don't care to carry lots of cash.
Crisco, welcome to SlowTrav. I suggest you check out this thread in our Frequently Asked Question forum: Cash, ATMs, Credit Cards. Also you may want to check out this topic in our Everything About Travel Forum, One More ATM Fee Question which was started earlier today.
Lastly, using the Find button and doing a search on ATM for 2007 alone will come up with a few dozen previous discussions.
Crisco, we just returned from Italy and used our debit/atm cards to receive Euros after reading the Slowtravel boards. Not only was this a safer and more convenient way to exchange our dollars for euros, it apparently will usually give you the best conversion rate. After looking at my bank's fees and the atm fees in Italy, it was usually around $8 - $10 per withdrawal (our bank had a limit of $500/day for withdrawals), and we received around 250.00 euros for every $350.00 dollars. On the other hand, we converted dollars into euros at the airport (BAD BAD IDEA) and received less than 40 euros for $80 dollars. If you do choose to use the atm/debit card, make sure you contact and advise your bank of your travel to Italy; if not, they can put a hold on your account making your funds inaccessible without lengthy phone calls to the bank.
If you really have to change dollars into euros without using an ATM card, at least try to change money at a real bank (bring your passport, be ready for a short queue), but avoid little money changer windows in tourist areas that have extortionate rates.
Read the extensive ST discussions on ATMs, as all the info you need is here. Bank charges, which varying widely, and can be adjusted according to your bank and the type of account you have. ATMs are still the most advantageous way to obtain cash here.
After looking at my bank's fees and the atm fees in Italy, it was usually around $8 - $10 per withdrawal (our bank had a limit of $500/day for withdrawals), and we received around 250.00 euros for every $350.00 dollars.
Were the fees broken down so that you know that the Italian bank charged an ATM fee? The reason I ask is that I've never been charged an ATM fee by any Italian bank, nor has anybody I know, and I'd thought it was illegal for them to do so. Has this changed?
As has already been posted, home bank fees and exchange rates vary among banks and types of accounts. Because my normal home bank charges a whopping 5$ per transaction fee and tacks 2% onto the exchange rate (in addition to the 1% charged by the ATM network operator; namely Visa), I opened up a checking account at a different bank to use specifically for transactions abroad. It charges no ATM transaction fees, and no exchange rate surcharge beyond the 1% levied by the ATM network.
As has been mentioned, there are a number of threads here with more specific information.
Posts: 691 | Location: San Francisco Bay Area | Registered: 28 June 2006
If you are on the east coast,there are a number of zero fee banks including PNC Bank. You need to keep a certain balance in checking for a month and all fees are waived. They also do not charge an "exchange" fee. You get what ever the going rate is, which right now is approaching obscene.
Posts: 589 | Location: Pittsburgh, PA U.S.A. | Registered: 16 December 2005
There's this wiki on different banks' fees. I use NetBank, which has no physical branches and no ATM fees. They do ask that you regularly use their bill payment service or else they charge fees.
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