ATM fees in Italy

[Andrew]

In Rome, the first ATM I used was attached to a newsstand; I promptly saw that there were banks nearby and wondered if I'd made the wrong choice. Anyway, this ATM offered the option of Dynamic Currency Conversion, where the U.S. dollar amount taken would be what showed on the screen. I knew to decline that bad rate, and what I got on my Capital One account looked about right for the exchange rate of the day.

Today in Umbertide, we went to the bank ATM near our house, UniCredit. It first offered Dynamic Currency Conversion; when we declined it, it said it had its own fee of 3 euros. It's new to me to see a bank in Italy having its own ATM fee, which is why I'm posting it. We didn't complete this transaction; we went on to Monte dei Paschi di Siena, which dispensed the money without offering DCC or reporting a fee.

 

[Ian Sutton]

New to me as well, though these days we use a euro currency cash card, which I expect would be exempt from only the most grasping ATM setup.

 

[NoSpin]

You know it doesn't surprise me. Banks everywhere are trying everyway imaginable to tack fees onto any transaction, or even non-transaction if your account is too dormant.

Three years ago in Italy I checked my B of A account online and saw that they were charging my account foreign transaction fees for using my debit card for cash. I called the bank thinking it was a mistake because I never had those fees before. The woman said, "Well we told you in your statement when the policy changed 6 months ago." I told her who the heck reads all the fine print in every monthly statement. She reversed the fees.

I have since switched to TD Bank for my debit card. There are no foreign transaction fees and they reimburse any other ATM fees. You have to have a certain level account, but its not excessive, $2500 minimum I think.