Beware - Visa Only "allowed" 50 Euro from ATM in Germany

"Tom P" wrote in message
...
On 06/06/2012 06:44 PM, tim.... wrote:
"Tom wrote in message
...
On 05/31/2012 12:56 PM, tim.... wrote:
Was travelling back through Germany two days ago and because I had
mistakenly booked a hotel that didn't accept cards and had spent all of
my
stash of Euro on an unexpected (unavoidable emergency) purchase I
needed
to
get some Euro in a hurry.

So went to the ATM and the bloody thing would only give me 50 Euro.
Thought
that it was because it was out of cash so I tried the one next to it
with
the same result.

Then I noticed a sticker on it stating that "VISA" were restricting
withdrawals to 50E.

What's that all about?

And what flipping use is 50 Euro a time. I'd be going to the machine
every
day with that restriction. Something which I really hate doing. Not
to
mention getting the charged minimum fee on my card for such a trivial
amount
(yes Visa, 50 Euro is a trivial amount!)

Is it just this particular bank (Sparkassa) or a general rule?

tim




As far as I can make out, the problem is an on-going dispute between the
Sparkassen (savings banks) and co-op banks on one side and Visa on the
other about who pays the cost of the transactions. At one point the
savings banks did not accept Visa cards from other banks at all, but
since
a high court ruling last year they are now obliged to do so. The
Sparkassen are presumably still dragging their feet by making life for
Visa customers as difficult as possible while still complying with the
law.

OH.

I did drive around for half an hour looking for an alternative bank, and
all
I found was three more of the same

(and before anyone asks: Brandenburg (an der Havel))


Mapquest shows three all a few blocks apart within walking distance -
Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, Citibank.

but not something that I have access to when I'm driving around in my car
:-(

tim

"Martin" wrote in message
news
On Thu, 7 Jun 2012 12:13:16 +0100, "tim...."
wrote:


"Tom P" wrote in message
...
On 06/06/2012 06:44 PM, tim.... wrote:
"Tom wrote in message
...
On 05/31/2012 12:56 PM, tim.... wrote:
Was travelling back through Germany two days ago and because I had
mistakenly booked a hotel that didn't accept cards and had spent all
of
my
stash of Euro on an unexpected (unavoidable emergency) purchase I
needed
to
get some Euro in a hurry.

So went to the ATM and the bloody thing would only give me 50 Euro.
Thought
that it was because it was out of cash so I tried the one next to it
with
the same result.

Then I noticed a sticker on it stating that "VISA" were restricting
withdrawals to 50E.

What's that all about?

And what flipping use is 50 Euro a time. I'd be going to the machine
every
day with that restriction. Something which I really hate doing. Not
to
mention getting the charged minimum fee on my card for such a trivial
amount
(yes Visa, 50 Euro is a trivial amount!)

Is it just this particular bank (Sparkassa) or a general rule?

tim




As far as I can make out, the problem is an on-going dispute between
the
Sparkassen (savings banks) and co-op banks on one side and Visa on the
other about who pays the cost of the transactions. At one point the
savings banks did not accept Visa cards from other banks at all, but
since
a high court ruling last year they are now obliged to do so. The
Sparkassen are presumably still dragging their feet by making life for
Visa customers as difficult as possible while still complying with the
law.

OH.

I did drive around for half an hour looking for an alternative bank,
and
all
I found was three more of the same

(and before anyone asks: Brandenburg (an der Havel))


Mapquest shows three all a few blocks apart within walking distance -
Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, Citibank.

but not something that I have access to when I'm driving around in my car
:-(

Did you think of asking a local? I found six different banks, within
walking distance of each other, with ATMs in the centre of Milan when
I needed six times the daily limit, by asking locals in English.
Sometimes having a car is major disadvantage.

The centre of Brandenburg is dead in the evening :-(

And how does extra banks work. On my card the limit for withdrawals is per
day, not an amount per withdrawal

tim

In article ,
Martin wrote:

When I did it in Italy, foreign transactions from various banks were
only collated once every 24 hours during the night. What is on the
card is the limit per transaction/day/bank. The bank owning the ATM
will check if you have already had your limit from the that bank. It
needs a bit more intelligence to collate information between banks.

I just drew 400 Euro from an ATM in Venice the other day.

Surprised because back in the day the limit used to be around $300.