Accessing Your Cash Abroad

[Derek Uzzell]

spospe - 2010-08-25 10:02 PM

 

Derek Uzzell

 

I should have said that we normally use a Nationwide card to withdraw from our Flex account. Our usual sum as stated before is €350 (sometimes a bit less) as this corresponds to the daily limit of £300 for this card.

 

Most ATM's will allow you to specify a particular figure instead of their pre-defined amounts. When the exchange rate has been particularly poor, we have had to progressively reduce the figure asked for, until the machine relented and gave us the dosh.

 

We have had an ATM swallow a card once (in Denmark) when my wife used the wrong PIN. In trepidation we went into the bank and the nice lady behind the counter opened the machine and handed us the card with a smile :-)

 

I understand what you are saying (and what "Part Time" was saying a few postings back), but the £300-per-day limit doesn't seem to apply when cash is withdrawn from a foreign ATM (or, to be strictly accurate, the £300-per-day limit didn't apply on the several occasions in the past when I've made successive cash withdrawals from the same foreign ATM that added together would have greatly exceeded the £300-per-day limit once currency conversion would have taken place).

[Derek Uzzell]

Just out of interest I've looked back through our Nationwide FlexAccount statements to check what amounts of cash 'per day' we had withdrawn while abroad.

 

On 21 June 2008, from a "La Poste" ATM in Ancenis, we withdrew two successive tranches of €300 each. Each withdrawal, after currency conversion had been applied, caused our FlexAccount to be debited by £237.45, a total of £474.90.

 

On 2 April 2010 we withdrew €300 from a "La Poste" ATM at Loudun and €300 from a Societe Generale ATM at Le Blanc. Each withdrawal, after currency conversion had been applied, caused our FlexAccount to be debited by £266.43, a total of £532.86.

 

The Nationwide literature I have indicates that a £300-per-day withdrawal restriction only rigidly applies to Nationwide ATMs. It goes on to say:

 

"At other cash machines, both in the UK and overseas, you can withdraw cash (limits vary according to organisation)."

 

Surprisingly, when I checked our FlexAccount statements, I discovered a withdrawal of €310 on 7 September 2007 from a E Leclerc ATM at Le Blanc.

 

I think my memory failed me when I posted initially. On 2nd thoughts, when our cards were rejected by one French ATM when we tried to withdraw a substantial sum in cash, I believe we just selected the maximum predefined amount (€300) and didn't then make a follow-up withdrawal to obtain the extra. As I suggested previously, this didn't necessarily mean that particular ATM had a €300 cash withdrawal limit. However, all ATMs will have some per-transaction limit for cash withdrawals and, in 'our' ATM's case, this must have been less than our original large request and equal to or greater than €300. As far as I'm aware ATMs don't provide advance warning of their per-transaction cash withdrawal limit, so I don't know how you discover this except by trial and error. Spospe's ability to reliably withdraw a sum of €350 suggests that the limit may, on average, be €50 above the maximum predefined limit, but that's pure guesswork. Despite my faulty memory, the details I've given earlier in this posting show that we have been able to successfully make multiple substantial withdrawals in one day when we wanted a large-ish sum of euros.

 

If you think about what's happening when you use a FlexAccount VISA debit-card in foreign ATMs, it should be apparent that the '£300 per-day' limit imposed by Nationwide is very unlikely to apply.

 

Imagine being at the front of a queue of 'foreign' people eager to get their hands on some cash from the ATM you are about to use. You insert your FlexAccount debit-card, key in your PIN and request €250. Now imagine the complexity involved if that request had to be checked then and there with Nationwide's records to confirm that, after the appropriate currency conversion has been done (and, from November 1, after charges have also been applied) your €250 request won't a) push your account into the red, or b) contravene any £300 per-day withdrawal limit. How long do you think that would take? A lot longer than the people in the queue behind you are going to tolerate!

 

No, what happens is that, provided that the ATM can satisfactorily validate your debit-card and PIN, and you don't request more than the AT'M's per-transaction cash withdrawal limit, the ATM will process your withdrawal, issue you your cash and send a 'charge' of €250 to Nationwide. Details of the withdrawal will eventually appear on your FlexAccount statement showing the €250, the exchange-rate applied to it, any charges (2% + £1 from Nov 1), and how much in GBPs has finally been debited from your account. If you've already withdrawn, say, €250 from a couple of other foreign ATMs that day, so that you've now clocked up a total of €750, that won't matter as far as "Foreign ATM Three" is concerned, and, in principle, it also won't care if your FlexAccount only had a balance of, say, €500 to begin with and you are now significantly overdrawn.

 

Nationwide, of course, may well care and, if their system eventually flags that your debit-card is being used to make lots of cash withdrawals over a short period of time and/or your account is suddenly heavily in the Red Zone, your card could well be disabled as a security measure. Even if that doesn't happen, if your debit-card usage abroad results in your FlexAccount becoming overdrawn, then the appropriate overdraft charges will be applied.

[spospe]

Derek

 

Interesting.

 

I have never tried to make multiple withdrawals on the same day, only for amounts greater than €300.

 

It has never occurred to me that it might be possible to go overdrawn by repeated use of the card on the same day. I have always (wrongly it seems) assumed that the £300 per day limit was international.

 

Anyway, we seem to be agreeing that it is possible to get out more than €300 per transaction when the ATM allows one to specify "other amounts" (not all do, but in my experience more do than don't).

 

Off to France and Germany for 8 weeks soon, so plenty of opportunity to experiment ;-)

 

[rupert123]

I am amazed at how complicated people like to make their life. You are going on holiday, you need some money to spend, it is very simple. Get some cash before you go, use your card, get some more cash if you need to. Now not sure how much you all spend but the tiny amount it will save by changing bank accounts, running around to get the best rate is not worth the bother. The long complicated explanation Derek gives is a case in point. Why would you want to take out more than 300 euro a day? If you want to pay for an expensive item use a card, if you want to carry large sums around get it before you leave. I am away next Wenesday, got a delivery of euro's from Crown Currency few days ago at around 1.21 and will use my normal HSBC debit card when away to pay for everthing I can so the cash lasts. From past experience I know I will get around the same rate here. Their may be a hidden charge but why would I care the rate remains good. The only place I can lose out is if I run out of cash and have to get some more. I will get charged around £3 for this but so what in the scheme of things this is not even two cups of coffee.

[LordThornber]

rupert123 - 2010-08-27 12:49 PM

 

I am amazed at how complicated people like to make their life. You are going on holiday, you need some money to spend, it is very simple. Get some cash before you go, use your card, get some more cash if you need to. Now not sure how much you all spend but the tiny amount it will save by changing bank accounts, running around to get the best rate is not worth the bother. Why would you want to take out more than 300 euro a day? QUOTE]

 

Got to agree Henry, I've followed this thread to see if I'm missing a trick, and clearly I'm not.

 

Unforseen spending aside, i.e. sickness, breakdown, (and even then you could use cards), what on earth would you want to be carrying €600 on your person for?

 

Martyn

[rupert123]

LordThornber - 2010-08-27 12:58 PM

 

rupert123 - 2010-08-27 12:49 PM

 

I am amazed at how complicated people like to make their life. You are going on holiday, you need some money to spend, it is very simple. Get some cash before you go, use your card, get some more cash if you need to. Now not sure how much you all spend but the tiny amount it will save by changing bank accounts, running around to get the best rate is not worth the bother. Why would you want to take out more than 300 euro a day? QUOTE]

 

Got to agree Henry, I've followed this thread to see if I'm missing a trick, and clearly I'm not.

 

Unforseen spending aside, i.e. sickness, breakdown, (and even then you could use cards), what on earth would you want to be carrying €600 on your person for?

 

Martyn

 

Beginning to think it was just me Martyn who liked to keep things simple as possible, nice to know it is not. I have just got off the phone trying to speak to BT. After going through a hundred button pressing moves was told I was in a queue and wait was between ten and twenty minutes, threw the phone at the wall, probably a mistake but made me feel better.