Can anyone point me to a step-by-step guide to withdraw cash from an ATM in the USA?

I tried to withdraw some cash from an ATM in America recently, but failed on a few different counts. First off I think I was trying to withdraw more than my limit (£250?). Secondly I then learned I had to enable magstripe usage or something? But even after doing both of these, I still couldn’t withdraw money.

It’s giving me the option to withdraw from savings, checking or credit… Does anyone know which of these you are supposed to enter? And what if it asks for a ZIP Code or something like that?

I believe if you use 00000 as zip that does, or used to work.

Ah Okies, thinking back, this might only be at petrol forecourts.

1 Like

You wouldn’t be able to do that since our postcodes have letters and the zip entry on US machines is often limited to numbers.

I think 0’s might work, but when I was there a few days ago and tried to buy a ticket from an MTA machine, entering zeros just wasn’t accepted.

What I learnt all in all is that next time I should just take my Chase card. ATM withdrawals are free for Chase UK customers at their ATMs too

It would be really nice if banks just told us what to enter. Just like you mentioned above with banks previously giving you a zip to enter.

At the moment (and I’m speaking from experience here) what happens is that you arrive at the machine, try to use it and it asks for a zip. You look at it puzzled. Maybe try one or two combinations and it fails. Then you Google it and end up on a forum post like this one. You try the suggestions above. It still fails. Your feed ends up looking like this:

1 Like

I wonder if Mastercard send a reason code to Monzo when the transaction fails due to incorrect zip?

It would be really nice if a feed item + notification popped up telling you what to enter as your zip code.

Even if they don’t get the code, I’d imagine two identical transactions in quick succession from the US is enough to say there’s a high probability the customer is struggling with a zip code and we should send them some help.

1 Like

Thanks all. We might have gone off on a tangent re. Zip codes but that’s my fault. I know usually the only places that ask for that are petrol (gas) stations…

But thanks to the person who said to select ‘checking account’, the only problem is I tried that and it still failed. Maybe just an incompatible ATM? I believe it was owned by BECU in Washington state, who are a credit union but I’ve managed to withdraw from other BECU ATMs before so I dunno :man_shrugging:t2:

You always select credit card because foreign debit cards are processed as credit cards. Chase might be different as it may support checking and saving in America.

1 Like

Use 10012 as a Zip code. That used to be my neighbourhood. Since living back in the UK, I’ve visited the US multiple times and I’ve used the same Zip code on the East coast, West coast and mid-America without issue.

1 Like

Are you using one of your US cards with that zip code?

I’ve also heard of 99999 working. That’s generally the zip code you need to use if you want to open a US account as a foreigner (you usually have to do it in person these days).

No, UK issued cards. I’ve only had an issue once - with the original Monzo metal card - at a restaurant where the magstripe swipe wouldn’t work (magstripe was on in-app) and it had to be manually ‘rollered’
The same card worked elsewhere, so it must have been the Terminal.

So basically, they need a number and any number will do, at least on a foreign card.

The Zip code doesn’t link to non-US cards, so it’s either any 5-digit number or a valid Zip (Any Zip)

Makes you wonder why it’s needed though - to actually provide an extra domestic security check or are they tracking card movements?

I’ve had good luck with Chase and Capital One ATMs personally. Target stores tend to have Capital One machines in my experience.

1 Like

Except for the JFK airtrain, I just go contactless with my credit card in NYC nowadays.

Can you do contactless in the ATMs there?

No, was meaning on mta.

For me, I used 00000 for most ATMs or the zip code of where I was staying. For MTA machines I used 90210 and that worked too so I’m pretty sure there’s just no checks.

You’ll probably want to enable magstripe transactions too. I had issues even though I was in central Manhattan that were fixed after turning it on.

Yeah I realised that I could just use contactless on the gate after a few failed attempts to buy a ticket. They support express travel mode too which is nice.

Even though it’s been years since I worked in retail I can still hear that sound

2 Likes