Overseas ATM Charges - Help!

AlexSarah

My husband and I obtained a Caxton FX card a few years ago as a prepaid travel card to help us take money abroad. The beauty of it being that there were no withdrawal fees for ATMs so it acted like glorified travellers cheques.
Over the last 2 holidays, we have experienced the local cash machines wanting to charge us to withdraw cash. Not the card. This has ranged between €2-€5 a time. We aren’t sure where we stand with this. Such a shame as the card was working well for us. Maybe if we had gone into a bank and withdrawn there would be no fees?
Interested to hear people’s opinion and if anyone else is experiencing the same. Thanks

EveryWhere

I think you have forgotten to tell where and when.

elsien

I suspect the issue isn't the card but where you are using it.

There are some ATMs in this country that charge a fee - some of those abroad are no different.

AlexSarah

Greece or Spain

AlexSarah

I appreciate some card machines will charge but we haven’t drastically changed the way we holiday. A lot of the cash machines we use are outside banks i.e. not in the middle of nowhere where they might charge for the privilege of withdrawing cash.
Do you think going into a bank would avoid this?

Browntoa

Lanzarote used to be free , now almost everywhere the banks ATMs charge between €2 and €5 . The fee is set by the ATM caxtonfx charge nothing

soolin

Browntoa wrote: »

Lanzarote used to be free , now almost everywhere the banks ATMs charge between €2 and €5 . The fee is set by the ATM caxtonfx charge nothing

I use a Metro card and have started being charged by the ATM's in the Canary Islands, France and Spain. The fee varies and is clearly shown before going ahead. It does look like ATM's in certain places have bought in charges generally.

Doshwaster

It is becoming increasingly hard to find free ATMs in the tourist areas of Spain, Greece and other countries. Personally, €2 doesn't bother me too much but €5 is taking the proverbial. I was in Gran Canaria a few weeks ago and did an initial scout around my hotel for a free ATM and found one at the third attempt and just used that one all week.

On the other hand, Contactless is becoming more common so the need for cash is less. Contactless also seems to less susceptible to Dynamic Currency Conversion than PIN transactions as their is less opportunity for the vendor to fiddle with the terminal. I've seen some restaurants change the currency after the PIN was entered ("it's an automatic feature", "it's done for your convenience are typical excuses)

sazaccount

I've found while travelling that most ATM's will give you the option to carry on with a transaction when they tell you how much the fee is going to be.

I'm not too familiar with European ATM's but throughout Asia, Aus, NZ, US and Canada it give's you this option, if not then see if you can find the T&C's for the card they may now be charging for withdrawals. Most FX/travel cards I have looked at in the past I've found have a withdrawal fee.

Have a look at something like Stirling, Revoult (personal preference) or Mozo, however these are not excluded from ATM/bank itself charge.

AlexSarah

Thanks for the responses - feel more reassured that we don’t just have bad luck choosing ATMs and that this is a common problem for most nowadays.
I did wonder if it was because we chose the wrong option - the ATM often prompts to ask if it is a savings/checking account or credit card. I always choose savings account to avoid any further fees. Did try credit card when the ATMs started charging but they still whacked the fee on. They did ask though if we were ok with the fee before withdrawing.

EveryWhere

AlexSarah wrote: »

Thanks for the responses - feel more reassured that we don’t just have bad luck choosing ATMs and that this is a common problem for most nowadays.
I did wonder if it was because we chose the wrong option - the ATM often prompts to ask if it is a savings/checking account or credit card. I always choose savings account to avoid any further fees. Did try credit card when the ATMs started charging but they still whacked the fee on. They did ask though if we were ok with the fee before withdrawing.

It's actually specifically Greece and Spain. So you are getting caught twice. First you pay to change money in foreign currency, then you pay again at the ATM.
https://news.gtp.gr/2018/08/29/greek-banks-charge-foreign-card-users-extra-fee-atms/

Greeks are getting hit too; https://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2019/07/01/atm-extra-charge-greece-july-1/