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Spain has become a nightmare re ATM fees for UK cardholders. Never pay a fee in France, Italy, or Germany, but most of the big players in Spain charge €6-7 per transaction. I used to use Deutsche Bank who didn’t charge a fee, but they are at €3-4 now. Sabadell was only a couple of Euro when I used them a few months back. Some of the smaller regional bank don’t charge a fee but I couldn’t name them.
LiberBank was free when I was there, but it was a year ago.
I think someone mentioned Abanco too.
atmfeesaver.com
I guess that it depends on your personal situation.
Well it’s never truly free of course and banks will make a positive return from the rate they buy it at versus the rate they sell it to you at. So it’s up to you how much ‘extra’ want to pay and you have the choice of paying the the ATM fee, and/or a fee to your bank, and if you really want to go for gold and demonstrate how much you appreciate the service, you can convert at their rate! There are always opportunities to pay more!
This forum strikes be as pretty affluent overall, judging by the demographic, the conversations we have, the fact that many seem to have access to credit, and of course the that we are often talking spending $5k ish on a hobby/interest. That’s good and we should all be happy with that, but many people I met on Camino were interested in saving €5 (yes really), even if only every couple of weeks. Younger Europeans in the main I guess so if we can support that it does help folks.I guess that it depends on your personal situation.
There are six barbers in my local "village". I frequent the barber that cuts my hair the way that I like and who also charges me less than the barber with the fancy advertising.
I was amused when I was in downtown Melbourne last year to notice that some barbers were offering "free" alcohol drinks with a haircut.
Yes they will. The two are unconnected. You can look to change that if you so wish. The OP has the three cards that are rated the top 3 in UK for which the card issuer does not charge fees for overseas transactions. Many UK card issuers charge 2.99%!
Yes. My own comments were aimed at the forum readership in general.
True indeed, and my hat goes off to young people who manage to stretch their funds in order to prolong their travel experience. My son came back recently from eight months around Europe and North Africa. I wouldn't last a month on what he survived on,
As a Canadian, Abanco charges me a small fee. Deutsch Bank you to be one of the best, but not this year for me
Why is that on Forums, when someone asks a specific question, someone has to question their motives, when it is absolutely non of their business. Why not go and start your own thread. This thread could have been a good resource for people looking for low or no fee ATMs.
From a UK card standpoint DB was free for a long time for me but noticed a charge introduced summer 2023.
I forgot to mention there’s an app - ATMFeeSaver - that tells you fees, limits, and proximity to your location. Used it in Colombia last month for first time, where fees and especially limits vary hugely. and saved a few quid. Probably as good as the users info it receives but seemed pretty accurate.
Yes DB was always a good one to aim for sad to hear this is changing. I think I will get some from an ATM in France.
An App, there is always and App, I shall download it now, Mucho Gracias.
Indeed. Double check DB - I did try a few with no joy but worth a relook. Can’t find it mentioned on there sight re introduction of fees.
Use the report function as the mods can’t see everything. Sure they would have deleted as think a rule was introduced re sarcy comments!
Unicaja
Agreed, but nor do I expect my barber to charge €50 or the equivalent for giving me an all over number 1. €7 for an ATM withdrawal. I think that is excessive.
@Lindsay is making a good point that is often overlooked in these threads: What you are charged when you make a withdrawal in € at an ATM in Spain while your own bank account is in £ or $ depends on a number of factors, and it is not always obvious how the total fee is calculated and who earns it.
There may also be a "foreign transaction fee" even if you withdraw your home currency. I once made the mistake of withdrawing Sterling from my UK bank account at Dublin airport!
Thanks for the chart. Most interesting
It used to be the same in the UK until about 25 years ago or thereabouts (but charges were only about 20p. It is still the case in many European countries. Here in Greece I pay €1.50 to withdraw cash from a different bank's ATM.
Well I never knew that about European banks!! So those who bank digitally (N26), always pay a fee? I appreciate digital may be far bigger in UK, possibly, than other European countries!
In Greece, yes, I always pay a fee. In Spain, I used LiberBank for free.
Sure understood. I get it. Just assumed the UK system would be more widespread. I guess I generally don’t pay a fee in Germany as a UK customer so not sure how that tally’s with domestic consumer. @Molly Cassidy while you are here, wfsts the the deal in Greece for a UK cardholder with fees. Assume contactless is big?
No, in France, withdrawals are generally not invoiced.
Ditto in Germany if the bank’s don’t have an agreement to the contrary, although the fee’s seem to vary. Because I have accounts at two of the most common I can’t remember the last time I was in this situation though.
You pay a fee of €1.50-2.50 (used to be more in some places but government recently made banks reduce fees).
Yes, the Global ATM Alliance partner for Barclays UK card holders in Spain is Deutsche Bank. Since the OP has a Barclays card, this would be a potential port of call. Or are there any Barclays UK card holders who were recently charged ATM fees at a DB ATM in Spain? Also, I guess that DB is not as ubiquitous in Spain as other banks are.
In which country ?
Greece, that's what I was asked about.
That's the way that it is in the US. If I want to use my Wells Fargo debit card without a fee I need to do it at a Wells Fargo ATM. It's been the case for as long as I've had a debit card, which is many decades.
Years ago I had a Bank of America account and was able to withdraw money at partner banks abroad such as DB, Santander, and Scotia Bank. But that ended around eight years ago. That's when I learned about Schwab.
You have been fantastic on here advising folks about CS! You have saved alot of people money. I saw an advert about them earlier (think they re sponsoring a golf tournament somewhere), and thought of you! Can you get to work on Europe please!
It would indeed be helpful, but for me at least, life's just too short and it's all too confusing..
Thanks Molly! I had forgotten about the banking crisis. Appreciate the info!
Hi Bedspring, sorry if my post offended. The problem with forums, in my opinion, is that people ask inappropriate questions and receive answers to all the questions they didn’t ask. In your circumstance the best place to address your question would be Chase, Clarity and Barclays. They know who their partner banks are and who they have reciprocal agreements with.
5 Euros Bank Caja was the best price I found doing the VDLP. I didn’t find one bank that didn’t add a fee for transaction I would withdrawn 200 euros cash and used my Starling or Revolut account for card transactions. Bear in mind the Vdlp was very rural and a lot of places only dealt with cash
Thank you for this perspective. Maintaining ATM machines, keeping them stocked with cash, dealing with crooks who put false readers on the machines, dealing with ATM software crooks, etc., this all equates to operational costs. Having said this, looking for reasonable ATM fees is fine.
One would think so ... but only if one has never tried to figure out just how much one pays in a foreign currency transaction, i.e. how much and what is added to the day's ECB exchange rate and what the various fee additions are called, and if it is percentages of the sum, or a flat rate, or a percentage with an upper limit for the total fee.
Might be worth looking at ING! I don’t know if they have a presence in Spain (probably not outside the main cities). I’ve no idea what they charge but I used them in Istanbul the other day and they were zero fees. Turkeys tends to be at the very high end of ATM charges (even more than Spain) and I tried about 10 ATMs - they line them up side by side here in many cases like the dreaded ‘standalones’ but charge the same as ones attached to the bank premises. My logic is that if they don’t charge a UK cardholder in Turkey they may not charge them in Spain. All the usual caveats to that optimistic statement!
When using one of my cards, my Bank does not charge me.One would think so ... but only if one has never tried to figure out just how much one pays in a foreign currency transaction, i.e. how much and what is added to the day's ECB exchange rate and what the various fee additions are called, and if it is percentages of the sum, or a flat rate, or a percentage with an upper limit for the total fee.
Since the OP listed the names of his bank cards I made of course an effort to find out more for at least one of these banks, in this case Barclays, before I made comments. For example here where Barclays UK explain about "withdrawing cash abroad". So first of all there is the exchange rate they use; then there is their non-sterling transaction fee; and finally there is their ATM fee of £1.50. They will not charge their ATM fee, they say, when you use their partner bank in the foreign country but they add - I guess to be on the safe side - that their partner bank may still charge an ATM withdrawal fee of their own ... However, this may not be the case for banks / countries belonging to the SEPA area but I can't find a reliable source.
Of course, one can argue, so what: €2 or €3, it is worth the convenience. €5 or €7 starts to be annoying ... at least for me.
You are right. But I can show you a sample from Palermo Italy from 2019. I ordered €250.- and by mistake used the “Accept Conversion” at the end I paid €313.-
to EURONET WorldwideYou will do well to avoid ATM fees anywhere outside Europe. In many countries that have a high level of contactless you can mitigate this by having cards that don’t charge for contactless anywhere in world. . So for example in Australia a couple of years ago, I was there for 6 weeks and didn’t use cash once so avoided the ATM withdrawal fee.USA similarish!
Last year May - June I used Clarity. Abanca did not charge fees on ATM withdrawals. There App was good and it was easy to top up funds to avoid paying interest on ATM withdrawals which start at the point of taking the money out. I was also told deutcher was also fee free. Santander had the most expensive fees.
Yes, with Clarity, as soon as the cash withdrawal shows on your account, the best thing to do is pay it off.
LiberBank is still free. We used it on spring Camino this year.
I have used a Schwab checking account (VISA debit card) for three Caminos (just returned a week ago to USA), and all transaction fees/user fees are covered by Schwabs. There are other cards which do the same thing. I use the Schwab account like a Camino savings account, saving up for the next one. I learned of the Schwab account from forums like this. I don’t care what the fees are at the ATM as they are covered by Schwab. I use this card only on the Camino for cash and charges. Works perfectly for me.
I am surprised by this assertion (but not surprised that it is promoted by Revolut, which, if I remember, is not maintaining any ATM...).
As a Canadian i avoided Santander as fees were 7 euros. I have not noted the name of banks i used. I tried several banks in the major cities
Santander was definately the highest (same charge UK card bolder) for a while but most of the other big players have now caught up.
This Wikipedia article has a long list of European countries including the UK where the ATM fee systems within each country is explained. As obvious in this thread, numerous posters and presumably readers were not even aware of the fact that consumers can be charged ATM withdrawal fees in their own country.ATM usage fees - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
This seems entirely at odds with the reality on the ground. It is clearly the ATM provider that is making charges on my cash withdrawals here in Greece. It doesn't even show as a fee on my account. It simply shows an ATM withdrawal of e.g. €81.50.
Thanks that looks pretty accurate as a summary with the exception of DB who now seem to charge from last summer.
How is that at odds? The post you refer to is about SEPA and fees for ATM withdrawal abroad. Are you talking about such a situation or are you referring to a withdrawal within Greece, i.e. bank account is held in Greece and ATM is in Greece?
Caixa bank is also charging €7
My sentiments precisely, proceed to the route as my satnav keeps telling me! Advice is free criticism should be fined
Indeed. There were my ‘go to’ as recently as 2021 at €2 but seemed to shoot up almost overnight!
I have used Abanca, and free.
Be careful to differentiate if one is operating in Euros…verses a foreign currency. Even if you request payment in euros, they-still charge higher fees if you are converting from a USA card, for example.
It clearly states either euros or a conversion if wished, which is fair enough. Then it is between the user and their own bank.
I wish that were the case! I always request Euros, but besides the fees banks like Santander charge additional percent from spain, not my bank!
atmfeesaver.com
My trip ends today, not paid any ATM fees.
I know we talk a lot about Spanish ATMs, but just thought I would share this mornings experience in Lisbon.
Ditto!! 1.04 to the £ does seem to get offered irrespective of what the midmarket rate is, which happens to be 1.2 today! I remember a desk at the old Berlin airport, before we left EU and £ was about 1.35 midmarket, offering 0.97 (unbelievably less than parity)!
