Hi, currently in Alvor Portugal, card working fine no probs apart from withdrawing cash from ATM, wanted £55 for withdrawing €55!, shocked. They seem to all be the same, ATM Euronet Worldwide, charging like the light brigade! Any ideas?
Euronet ATM’s are ok in some places, but terrible in others. They are awful on the rates because they do the conversion for you from GBP to EUR, and charge fees.
Use a local bank where possible. For example in Malta last week I used BOV (Bank of Valletta) and HSBC to withdraw cash. The withdrawals were done in Euro’s, so the conversion was done by Monzo, and I wasn’t charged any fees.
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Try having a read of this thread:
Hope it helps!
Hey there @Hoey! As @StuartMac has mentioned this is down to the ATM you are using making their conversion at their own rate.
You’ll need to locate a local ATM which will either let you withdraw in Euros by default (therefore allowing us to make the conversion at our own, superior rate) or one that will give you the option of which currency you want to be charged in, in which case, again you’ll need to select Euros as opposed to GBP.
If you need some help finding a Mastercard compatible ATM, this website should help! https://www.mastercard.co.uk/en-gb/consumers/get-support/locate-an-atm.html
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Are you saying that this ATM converts €55 into £55, or that it converts €55 and adds a charge of £55?
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That’s not far off since £ to € is at 1.10 now. So a 10% transaction fee… Monzo would be cheaper but it’s not going to be orders of magnitude different.
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It should be £50.09 as per today’s rate for €55.
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Thanks everyone most helpful, wanted £55 when withdrawing €50, in total.
Just returned from an AB bank, 6 digit pin but accepts 4 etc, for €50 = £50.52, €1=£1.01045, still better but not brilliant. Think I need to find a National bank nearby?
All ATM withdrawals using debit cards are free in Portugal by law. You can use any ATM as they’ll all be the same. Just reject any currency conversion (choose to be charged in Euros) or you’ll be hit with a 10% surcharge over interbank despite them promising no conversion fees. They just have a horrible base rate to begin with😉
AB (ActivoBank) IS a Portuguese bank, not that it matters as I’ve mentioned previously
All ATMs in Portugal are MasterCard compatible