Chase card - Banca March charge €5.50 cash withdrawal

SuzeQStan

Just tried to withdraw cash on my Chase debit card at Banca March in Lanzarote and instead of being fee free like it was when we came last October,it advised a €5.50 fee per withdrawal 

so we went to a Santander and
withdrew fee free from there on a Santander debit card instead.  Have checked just now on app and we got €100 for £85 which is pretty much spot on for todays rate.

one less reason to use Chase - I don’t use them anymore anyway in Uk and now won’t bother overseas as have a Barclay rewards card.

heatherw_01

The fee will have been the ATM fee. Not Chase.

You can still have ATM fees even using a fee free card.

la531983

SuzeQStan said:

Just tried to withdraw cash on my Chase debit card at Banca March in Lanzarote and instead of being fee free like it was when we came last October,it advised a €5.50 fee per withdrawal 

so we went to a Santander and
withdrew fee free from there on a Santander debit card instead.  Have checked just now on app and we got €100 for £85 which is pretty much spot on for todays rate.

one less reason to use Chase - I don’t use them anymore anyway in Uk and now won’t bother overseas as have a Barclay rewards card.

Chase wont be setting the rate. The Spanish bank will be .

daveyjp

I used an ATM in Ireland last week with a fee free debit card, when it stated there would be a €4.95 charge I cancelled the transaction.

SuzeQStan

@heatherw_01 - yes am aware of that - hence the title ‘Banca March charging €5.50 for Chase cash withdrawal. Far as I’m aware Banca March was the last atm that was fee free for chase cards over here.

strawb_shortcake

Banca March was free last year in Tenerife too, I think it's fairly recent change. From what I've read so far it's only Santander cards at Santander ATM's you can withdraw fee free. Other ATM's charge between 5-7€

Doshwaster

Banca March are no longer free. I've just got back from Tenerife where it was €5.50 last week. I was unable to find a free one and some other banks were up to €7

The lesson is just to take out as much as you need with a single withdrawal and use card/mobile payments as much as possible.  There were still a few cash only bars and restaurants but far fewer than on previous visits.

If you are a regular visitor to Spain then it might be worth getting a Santander account.

NoodleDoodleMan

SuzeQStan said:

@heatherw_01 - yes am aware of that - hence the title ‘Banca March charging €5.50 for Chase cash withdrawal. Far as I’m aware Banca March was the last atm that was fee free for chase cards over here.

Banca March starting to impose an ATM fee was flagged up for information on forums a few months ago - and confirmed very recently.

Chase are totally blameless - the same will apply to all "user friendly" UK debit cards presented at a BM hole in the wall.

I believe Unicaja may still be fee free, however their network footprint may not be too widespread ?

Yes, Santander is the best deal in Spain for a Santander UK debit card - as long as they have a conveniently located branch with a fully branded Banco Santander ATM.

Conversely BS is about the worst deal there if you use a "normal" British debit card - last I heard it was €6 per transaction !!!

SuzeQStan

Thanks @strawb_shortcake - am grateful we had the option to use Santander debit card.

 It was a bit strange though that it asked if we wanted to ‘secure the rate of exchange’ and offered an exchange rate of 92p per euro instead of the 85p per euro that we got. I declined that.  

It also asked if we wanted to do the transaction as a credit card or a debit card which I found strange as my card is a debit card. Surely it shouldn’t ask if you want to withdraw as a credit card which demonstrates poor money management.

SuzeQStan

NoodleDoodleMan said:

Banca March starting to impose an ATM fee was flagged up for information on forums a few months ago - and confirmed very recently.

Chase are totally blameless - the same will apply to all "user friendly" UK debit cards presented at a BM hole in the wall.

I believe Unicaja may still be fee free, however their network footprint may not be too widespread ?

Yes, Santander is the best deal in Spain for a Santander UK debit card - as long as they have a conveniently located branch with a fully branded Banco Santander ATM.

Conversely BS is about the worst deal there if you use a "normal" British debit card - last I heard it was €6 per transaction !!!

Of course appreciate Chase / other cards aren’t to ‘blame’ but Chase perks are now completely decimated for me. 

Poor savings rate -unless you get offered a short term 6 month bump in rate which I’ve had this week - 4.8% for 6 months - but not bothering as it’s still not competitive and a faff after the 6 months.

 Cash back now relegated to grocery/domestic travel costs (jumping through a £1500 deposit hoop each month)

& now my last reason for using Chase is gone - there’s nowhere for me to withdraw cash without a fee overseas. (Other countries are available but this is where we go)

using Barclay rewards card fee free for purchases overseas with at least a smidge of cashback this trip

skycatcher

Shame. That was the only "free" one i could find in playa blanca.... Luckily, most use contactless when there.