Re: Do Savings Account ATM Cards Work in the U.K.?
On Thu, 09 Jun 2011 11:39:42 -0700, [email]jfeng@my-deja.com[/email] wrote:
[color=blue]
> On Jun 8, 2:08Â*pm, ksternbe...@yahoo.com wrote:[color=green]
>> someone told me that ATM cards
>> linked to savings accounts specifically don't work in the U.K.? Is this
>> true?[/color]
> That was certainly true for me. I had a Bank of America ATM card for my
> savings account. BofA advertises that Barclays are their partners in
> the UK. My ATM card did not work for me in any Barclays machine in the
> UK, and I was told that it was because it was not linked to a checking
> account. This was many years ago, so thingk may have changed, and I do
> not know that it was a problem limited to the UK. I have since gotten a
> BofA checking account, and all of my overseas ATM withdrawals have come
> out of that account.
>
> BTW, in my expereince, using a BofA ATM card at a BofA partner bank is
> the cheapest way to get money while abroad.[/color]
One would think so. But some card issuers don't charge a denoted fee of
$3 or so to use the card in Europe (even if they do at other banks' ATMs
in the USA), which is how it was for almost all cards when I first
starting using them in foreign countries in the mid-1990s. If there's no
such fee, then look carefully at the exchange rate. Back in the mid 1990s
the exchange rate used on my card transactions was the same as the bank
rate plus about 1%, as confirmed by [url]http://www.oanda.com[/url]. Since then most
institutions have also started jiggering the exchange rate to add up to
3% above and beyond the basic exchange rate, so look carefully at the
exchange rate you're receiving and check against OANDA. Despite having a
link between your US financial institution and the foreign one, you might
be better off with a card from someone who charges neither extra fee. I
understand Cap[ital One is one such.
--
Dave Hatunen, Tucson, Baja Arizona, out where the cacti grow
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