Hello to all, we are new members to S.T. and one of our questions is about ATM's and how much you are allowed to take from your account each week.Someone I know just returned from France and there,atleast,they were only allowed 500euros per week. We have been to Italy many times and have never had a problem, but things change and we are wondering if this is one of those changing things. Can anybody answer this for us? We leave Oct. 10th. Thank you and we look forward to many travel adventures with everyone. Wendy and Rob
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Posts: 2898 | Location: Monterey Peninsula, California, USA | Registered: 07 September 2003
I'd like to add some questions re ATMS here. Money is so darn bothery. I have been calling credit cards & my bank, & have determined that I have really bad plastic for Italy. My discoveries:
My bank, although it's a major one, does not have ATMs in Europe. They will charge 1.50 for me to use someone else's machine on their networks (Star, Plus) on top of whatever the someone else charges. And there's a 500 Euro a week limit, phooey.
American Express charges the greater of 3% of purchase or $5.00 per charge made in Euros. Cash advance interest rate from ATM is usurious.
Citicard Mastercard charges the greater of 2% of purchase or $5.00 per charge made in Euros. Cash advances from ATMs charge 3% on top of which they start compounding interest daily at 19.9%. Usury.
Can anyone recommend a brand name of better plastic to use in ATMs in Italy? This is making me sick, it's so much more expensive than just a few years ago, and for what?
Are there Star & Plus machines around?
My landlords all seem to want their balances in cash upon arrival, and I just don't want to carry it all around at once, so I'd be very happy to hear any advice on this issue. I'll open a new checking account if I have to.
Sigh, Trish
Posts: 589 | Location: Port Allen, LA, USA | Registered: 10 August 2003
At note of caution on ATM use in Italy: if you have a glitch at an ATM and do not receive your cash make careful note. When you get home you may find the cash withdrawn from your account as if you had received it. This has happened in Europe numerous times to others on this web site and happened to us in Italy in June. Just this weeks we received the final resolution from our bank.
Posts: 156 | Location: Cool, CA | Registered: 17 February 2003
Trish, Yes, there are star and plus machines everywhere. And maybe it would be helpful to open a second account in a bank that can accomodate you while you travel. My banks both allow 400 euros per day, not per week, (never heard of that before). There ARE more user friendly banks around. And p.s. I have always had good luck with the "atm dance", and have no ugly stories to share....(thank you, thank you, thank.... Ciao, Cheryl
Thanks, Cheryl. Your ATM dance has calmed my fears so much. I called my bank again and this time they gave me the maximum ATM withdrawl figure of 400/day. So, figuring the third time's a charm, I called again and got 400/day again. I don't know what possessed the first fella to tell me 500/week. But I shall take your advice anyway and get my husband to get an ATM card for his checking account. He's one of those luddites. I'll tell him he can just cut it up when we get home. Also carrying US$ traveler's checks as back up. I know everyone says, no need, no need, but I don't mind standing in line at American Express since I'm collecting mail & getting train tickets there anyway. Meanwhile, I just found about 100 bucks worth of leftover lire. I suppose I could decorate a hat with it at this point. Moving on to the next items on Pauline's checklist . . . Trish
Posts: 589 | Location: Port Allen, LA, USA | Registered: 10 August 2003
If this does not work. Go Google search Visa.com and select Visa Atm locator.
Also my financial institution allows a total of $1000. CDN per day in the local equivalent of two withdrawals of $500. CDN. Which works out to two withdrawals of 300. Euros per day, there is a fee of 2.50$ CDN per withdrawal.
Thank you everybody for your input. I'll check with our banks and make sure we have daily not weekly, access. I will also have a bit of a back up with travelers cheques, can't hurt.And we have a bit of euros from last fall. We always report to our card companies about our itinerary, but hadn't thought about our ATM accounts before. Thanks for that one.
Thanks all
Wendy and Rob
Posts: 2898 | Location: Monterey Peninsula, California, USA | Registered: 07 September 2003
Take lire as bank of italy will exchange but I believe at a lower than official rate(the rate when lire and euros were both ok).Does anyone know how long they are going to do this,and do they take the really old lire of say 20 years ago?RR
Posts: 6378 | Location: Culver City, CA, USA | Registered: 08 November 2002
quote:bank of italy will exchange but I believe at a lower than official rate(the rate when lire and euros were both ok).Does anyone know how long they are going to do this,
According to THIS site, the Bank of Italy will continue to convert lire to euros until 1 March 2012.
Posts: 13676 | Location: The Beautiful San Francisco Bay Area | Registered: 06 August 2001
Another hint for Trish. Don't panic when an ATM spits your card out giving some message like no available funds, or card denied-contact your institution--or some other weird thing. As long as you know your card is good and that you have money in the account, just go to another machine and it will probably be OK. In Naples, we had to go to 4 different machines before finding one that gave us money. Just make sure that you don't try the same machine 3 times in a row or it will probably eat your card. We have never gone to Italy without running into recalcitrant machines at least once. The first time we did panic but soon learned.
www.janeandken.com Reports and Photos for Italy, Spain, Tanzania, Peru, China
Posts: 4021 | Location: San Diego, CA | Registered: 26 June 2001
quote:Originally posted by Trishmael: Meanwhile, I just found about 100 bucks worth of leftover lire. I suppose I could decorate a hat with it at this point.Trish
Trish, I went into such mourning when the Euro replaced the Lira! On my last trip before that sad day, I brought home one of each denomination up to 100,000L and one of each coin. I have them carefully stored in a hermetically sealed mayo jar. Someday I'm going to have them artistically framed.
Deborah Horn
In a previous life I was an Umbrian sunflower farmer. I'd like to do a past life regression and stay there. ----------------------------------- www.petsburg.com
Posts: 4751 | Location: St. Louis, MO | Registered: 04 September 2001
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Wendy & Rob: Hello to all, we are new members to S.T. and one of our questions is about ATM's and how much you are allowed to take from your account each week.
Just returned from Italy & can add some light on the ATM issue. The amount YOUR bank allows you to withdraw per day has absolutely no coralation to what the Italian ATM's will let you do. Many of them will only allow 200 to 250 Euros per day. However, after trying many machines in Rome, Florence & Tuscany (surprisingly, Venice seemed to be exempt from this problem) I discovered that Deutche Bank will let you take out whatever your own bank allowed. The one in Rome allowed me to take out what woiuld be $2000 at one time. So, if you happen upon a Deutsch Bank ATM, remember the location in case you need it.
Posts: 12 | Location: Randolph, NJ USA | Registered: 22 August 2003
Thank you Marsha and everyone else who have participated on this thread. I have contacted our different banks and some have said whatever you can take out daily here you can take out there, one has said my available amount was more than I really need for my usual daily requirements and so I am feeling fine. I had my bank send Euros so we have that also. We will definately keep our eye out for the Deutsch Banks branches. Thank you for that bit of information. I thank whoever suggested that we let our ATM company know about our travels, we always have for our credit cards, but had not thought about the ATM. A BIG thank you for that. Two weeks and counting. Grazie e ciao Wendy and Rob
Posts: 2898 | Location: Monterey Peninsula, California, USA | Registered: 07 September 2003
quote:Originally posted by MarshaG: Just returned from Italy & can add some light on the ATM issue. The amount YOUR bank allows you to withdraw per day has absolutely no coralation to what the Italian ATM's will let you do. Many of them will only allow 200 to 250 Euros per day
Just back too. Seconded: no correlation between home bank withdrawal allowance and what an Italian ATM will allow. EUR250 is the most common daily limit in Italy so one can use this figure instead of just trying or guessing.
Re charges: it cost me CAD2.50 per withdrawal (EUR1.50), which seems reasonable to me.
Posts: 5678 | Location: Toronto | Registered: 26 May 2002
I had a different experience in Rome two weeks ago. I made two withdrawals within 24 hours, after the first it told me I still had 600 euro available to withdraw (my limit at home is $1000 by arrangement with the bank), then I made another 240 euro withdrawal. Random results? I don't know. Also, for those frustrated with getting 50-euro notes, which are hard to change into something smaller, if you choose an oddball amount which will force them to give you 20's & 10's, according to an Italian friend, it helps this problem. He was correct.
Posts: 2054 | Location: Suburban Philadelphia | Registered: 08 July 2002
We have a large limit with our bank in the USA, but our little ATM machine here in Montefollonico only allows 200 euro per withdrawal - we just make several withdrawals one right after the other, no problem.
quote: frustrated with getting 50-euro notes, which are hard to change into something smaller
Most all stores, shops, even cafes readily take 50 euro notes. Italy is still a very big "cash society" - while credit cards are being used more, cash is still king. We, on the other hand, find it strange when in the USA that only $20 bills are accepted.
RR is correct. I just got back the other day. my limit is a mere 250 euro per day, no closer together than 24 hours. that's kind of tight considering how high things are now that our money is sliding in value.
Posts: 108 | Location: Redding, California, USA | Registered: 15 July 2003
Topic Closed
Ciao, Cheryl
