Cash management

[Pat Gannon]

I intend topping up my Visa credit card and using it to withdraw cash on the may. Might this work or is there an alternative to carrying to much cash

 

[wayfarer]

Depending on where you are from and the Visa regulations for there, but in Ireland even if you top up your Visa card, interest will be charged immediately for any cash withdrawl, and it is pretty steep. A better bet is to bring a Visa debit card, this you can top up or transfer funds online as you travel. I could get up to €300 cash per day with mine or use it to pay for purchases. Hope this helps.

 

[Dinkumdigger]

I took a Euro card,mine was Fair-fx but others are available.You load it up before you leave and it acts like a debit card.You can make cash withdrawals for E1.50 or make purchases free of charge.When I ran low of funds,I contacted home and got it topped up.

 

[Tia Valeria]

I took a Euro card,mine was Fair-fx but others are available.You load it up before you leave and it acts like a debit card.You can make cash withdrawals for E1.50 or make purchases free of charge.When I ran low of funds,I contacted home and got it topped up.

Where did you get your card please. Ours is similar but can only be topped up by the holder, so has to be well loaded pre-Camino. Also it looks a though it costs less to withdraw money at the ATM with yours, unless there are other hidden charges.

 

[nreyn12]

BIG caution on credit cards: Usually a withdrawal at an ATM counts as a 'cash advance' and you will pay heavily for it, beginning on the day you make the withdrawal, not on the next statement cycle like other purchases.

Two other options: Use a Visa (or MasterCard) debit card which draws from a checking account (called 'current account' in Europe), or get a 'Travel Card' and load it up. Both are protected by Visa or MasterCard against fraud and theft.

There are two different kinds of fees involved with using a debit card outside your home country: Foreign transaction fees which are a percentage of the amount withdrawn for the service of converting your currency to euros, and a per-transaction fee charged by your bank (I've never come across an ATM machine in Spain that charges its own transaction fee). If you live in the US, Charles Schwaab offers a debit card that charges NONE of these fees!

If you aren't sure how your card will work, call the number on the back of the card and ask them to clarify. They can tell you the percentage for the foreign transaction fee, the per-transaction fees, and if there will be a cash advance fee. You can save a lot of money by knowing these things in advance!

And as a side note, withdrawals from an ATM will have the best currency conversion rate - better than changing currency at a bank or money changer at the airport.

 

[Dinkumdigger]

Where did you get your card please. Ours is similar but can only be topped up by the holder, so has to be well loaded pre-Camino. Also it looks a though it costs less to withdraw money at the ATM with yours, unless there are other hidden charges.

I organised the card online although it was recommended to me initially by a girl at my local bank (RBS!).
It was also the best card at the time on moneysupermarket .com.
I load it up online via my visa debit card.When I am away I leave all the details for topping up with a family member and just send them a text when I need more funds added.
There are no other charges and the set up was free.
I used the card at ATMs to withdraw,usually,e300 at a time so the charge is not excessive.I also used it at SNCF to buy train tickets on the way home.
Hope this helps,
Graham

 

[Thomas1962]

It all depends on your home country of where you do have your bank account. So please write your country of residence.
Taking money at a Spanish ATM with a bank card from a bank within the euro zone is for free. Just make sure that your bank card allows you to take money in foreign ATM's.
Using a credit card is relatively expensive anyway.

 

[Bajaracer]

One guy took only his credit card and was unable to withdraw cash in France, he had to wait 3 days for his debit to get mailed over from the US.
I would bring a debit card as well to withdraw cash, I usually withdrew €300 at a time and visited the ATM when I got down to €50 or if it was going to be a few days to the next town with an ATM.

 

[koilife]

I used a VISA debit tied to a secondary checking account with no overdraft. The debit card was restricted from accessing my primary accounts. I then transferred money from my primary account into the secondary account via my smartphone app to the credit union and then immediately withdrew it at the cash machine. There is no way (short of compromising my phone and internet banking) that I can get "cleaned out".

Next time I will use the same process, but also include a Mastercard debit as well, and keep it separate from my VISA as a protection against physical loss of card (e.g. from pick pocketing, accident, ATM eats it, etc.).

 

[NicoZ]

It all depends on your home country of where you do have your bank account.
Taking money at a Spanish ATM with a bank card from a bank within the euro zone is for free..

Using my Canadian card I wasn't charged anything. OTOH if I had used my Italian card the Italian bank would have charged me I think €1 per transactiion.

I used a VISA debit tied to a secondary checking account with no overdraft. The debit card was restricted from accessing my primary accounts. I then transferred money from my primary account into the secondary account via my smartphone app to the credit union and then immediately withdrew it at the cash machine. There is no way (short of compromising my phone and internet banking) that I can get "cleaned out".

Next time I will use the same process, but also include a Mastercard debit as well, and keep it separate from my VISA as a protection against physical loss of card (e.g. from pick pocketing, accident, ATM eats it, etc.).

I basically do the exact same thing. But I keep two or three withdrawals worth of cash in the account. If I NEED the cash I don't want to rely on the internet and my bank's website. Things crash or go down for maintenance.

 

[nreyn12]

Make sure your PIN is 4 digits and you know the numbers (not letters) for the code.

 

[Silvester]

My bank - Westpac - has an alliance with Deutchebank so theoretically I can use my debit card at any Deutschebank branch or ATM relatively cheaply. However, I wondered just how many Deutschbank ATMs I was likely to find on the Primitivo and del Salvador.
Thanks

 

[Bajaracer]

Make sure your PIN is 4 digits and you know the numbers (not letters) for the code.

You forgot the reverse order (like a calculator) keypad, some ATM's in Spain have that.

 

[Kanga]

My bank - Westpac - has an alliance with Deutchebank so theoretically I can use my debit card at any Deutschebank branch or ATM relatively cheaply. However, I wondered just how many Deutschbank ATMs I was likely to find on the Primitivo and del Salvador.
Thanks

Silvester, I think you are unlikely to find any. Apart from the major cities ATMs in Spain are usually run by the local banks. You are obviously an Aussie, have you considered a Qantas cash card (preloaded with euros), a GE MasterCard card (no international transaction fees on purchases, no currency conversion fees, no annual fees - but to avoid credit charges for cash you'll have to preload it a month before and keep it in credit)? Westpac might also have a travel money card. There is a good article on the Choice (Australian Consumers Association) website which compares the different travel money cards.

 

[sriyantra]

Having had 2 debit cards taken by ATMS in America last trip I have decided to still take them but have some old fashioned travellers cheques with me.

Silvester, I think you are unlikely to find any. Apart from the major cities ATMs in Spain are usually run by the local banks. You are obviously an Aussie, have you considered a Qantas cash card (preloaded with euros), a GE MasterCard card (no international transaction fees on purchases, no currency conversion fees, no annual fees - but to avoid credit charges for cash you'll have to preload it a month before and keep it in credit)? Westpac might also have a travel money card. There is a good article on the Choice (Australian Consumers Association) website which compares the different travel money cards.

I have used a Commonwealth Bank Travel Money Card in the past while overseas and had no problems with it.

 

[Kanga]

Having had 2 debit cards taken by ATMS in America last trip I have decided to still take them but have some old fashioned travellers cheques with me.

I have used a Commonwealth Bank Travel Money Card in the past while overseas and had no problems with it.

Yes, we've used the Commonwealth card too - I didn't suggest it because he's a Westpac customer. We also take a couple of different cards "in case" but haven't had any trouble with any of the cards I've mentioned.
Having a 4 digit number pin is critical.
We used to take a backup of travellers cheques but these days don't because no-one wants to change them. Especially in rural Spain.

 

[sriyantra]

Yes, we've used the Commonwealth card too - I didn't suggest it because he's a Westpac customer. We also take a couple of different cards "in case" but haven't had any trouble with any of the cards I've mentioned.
Having a 4 digit number pin is critical.
We used to take a backup of travellers cheques but these days don't because no-one wants to change them. Especially in rural Spain.

I am a Westpac customer but I take a card from another bank as well when travelling. Thanks re the travellers cheques I was actually wondering about taking some this time - haven't for years but as 2 ATM's in America decided to keep my cards - and on a Sunday as well, I thought it might be an option in large cities to have some cheques. Guess I should just use ATM's outside of a bank during working hours! Thanks Kanga

 

[Tia Valeria]

There are very few places that take travellers cheques now and I personally cannot think of anywhere on the Primitivo. Others may know different. There are ATMs in larger places, and it is a cash economy mostly. Some places will take a card for payment - hotels - but nearly everywhere we stayed preferred or took cash only. It is only in some large cities that you can find 'cambios' so a card with euros loaded is the best way forward IMO. Just use the card when banks are open if you are able and try to use one inside the bank.

 

[Silvester]

Thanks folks. I'm a Westpac NZ customer. They do have a travel card you can load with euros. I need to look into the relative charges for withdrawing from this as well as from Visa debit and Visa credit (with a credit balance). It seems that using an ATM inside a bank premises in a large town for E300 at a time is a good way to go. I'll just have to time it so my withdrawals are on days banks are open at places like Leon, Oveido, Lugo etc. Here in NZ it's commonplace to get cash out with a purchase. How do Spanish businesses (of supermarket size) feel about that idea? I'm relatively frugal so I'd hope that E300 would tide me over between banks but still enable me to inject a bit of money into the local economy!
Thanks again

 

[Tia Valeria]

The supermarkets might take credit cards in some places now, but we didn't see anything about cash back and even in supermarkets paid with cash. The only places we used card payment was the hotel in Lugo. We did find that 300€ was enough between machines and we had checked out where they were on-line before travelling. Mastercard and Visa can be checked and for Mastercard you can find the 'fee free' machines, ie the machine doesn't make a charge in addition to the card provider's fee.

 

[Bajaracer]

Spain, unlike other countries is a cash society, paying with a credit card is opposite of what we are used to, it takes longer to process a credit card purchase at checkout than cash.

 

[mspath]

No matter which credit cards you carry and how often or not you use them --

1. Always carry some euro bills in small denominations; breaking a 50 euro bill in a remote village can be impossible! However, gas stations will often make change even if you don't buy gas!

2. Hide emergency cash either on you or in your kit. Never talk about it nor use it for everyday expense. This can be a true bonanza when in a bad storm the electricity fails, ATM's run dry and the banks all close for several days!! As always BE PREPARED.

Margaret Meredith

 

[obinjatoo@yahoo.com]

BIG caution on credit cards: Usually a withdrawal at an ATM counts as a 'cash advance' and you will pay heavily for it, beginning on the day you make the withdrawal, not on the next statement cycle like other purchases.

Two other options: Use a Visa (or MasterCard) debit card which draws from a checking account (called 'current account' in Europe), or get a 'Travel Card' and load it up. Both are protected by Visa or MasterCard against fraud and theft.

There are two different kinds of fees involved with using a debit card outside your home country: Foreign transaction fees which are a percentage of the amount withdrawn for the service of converting your currency to euros, and a per-transaction fee charged by your bank (I've never come across an ATM machine in Spain that charges its own transaction fee). If you live in the US, Charles Schwaab offers a debit card that charges NONE of these fees!

If you aren't sure how your card will work, call the number on the back of the card and ask them to clarify. They can tell you the percentage for the foreign transaction fee, the per-transaction fees, and if there will be a cash advance fee. You can save a lot of money by knowing these things in advance!

And as a side note, withdrawals from an ATM will have the best currency conversion rate - better than changing currency at a bank or money changer at the airport.

You are the second person to mention Charles Schwaab. Have you used this service and had a positive experience with it?

 

[Deleted member 3000]

You are the second person to mention Charles Schwaab. Have you used this service and had a positive experience with it?

When I lost my wallet with three debit cards and two credit cards, Schwab was the only one of the five that did anything for me; they sent a Western Union money wire. All the rest offered sympathy, but no help.

 

[Monk Moses]

When I lost my wallet with three debit cards and two credit cards, Schwab was the only one of the five that did anything for me; they sent a Western Union money wire. All the rest offered sympathy, but no help.

Glad I just opened that Schwab account!

 

[mxb]

Based on info I got from this forum, I opened a Schwab account for my May June camino, and it worked perfectly. Great choice for me. One thing though, for others considering the Schwab account, it took three weeks to set up. I'm ready to start loading the Schwab for a 2015 Camino. Paso a paso.

 

[oursonpolaire]

My bank - Westpac - has an alliance with Deutchebank so theoretically I can use my debit card at any Deutschebank branch or ATM relatively cheaply. However, I wondered just how many Deutschbank ATMs I was likely to find on the Primitivo and del Salvador.
Thanks

Deutschbank, if memory serves me well, has a partnership with the Spanish post office. However, I was able to use my (Canadian) credit union card to withdraw euro directly from my account at all sorts of ATMs in Spain. Looking at my transaction records (I really should pitch them), I withdrew euro in Oviedo, Tineo, Grandas de Salime, and Lugo. Most villages seemed to have ATMs. Just let your financial institution know in advance that you will be in Spain on certain dates, so your card does not get frozen. I knew pilgrims who only used ATMs at banks during business hours in case their card got swallowed by the machine. Check the foreign service surcharges from your financial institution-- while they might wave them if you bug them sufficiently, the standard charge is 2.5% from a Canadian bank-- the charge is quite excessive and unconscionable. Charles Schwab is notable in not charging the fee, which is why other posters like them so much.

 

[nreyn12]

I haven't personally used Charles Schwaab, but their reputation speaks for itself, I think.

 

[Deb and John]

Deutschbank, if memory serves me well, has a partnership with the Spanish post office. However, I was able to use my (Canadian) credit union card to withdraw euro directly from my account at all sorts of ATMs in Spain. Looking at my transaction records (I really should pitch them), I withdrew euro in Oviedo, Tineo, Grandas de Salime, and Lugo. Most villages seemed to have ATMs. Just let your financial institution know in advance that you will be in Spain on certain dates, so your card does not get frozen. I knew pilgrims who only used ATMs at banks during business hours in case their card got swallowed by the machine. Check the foreign service surcharges from your financial institution-- while they might wave them if you bug them sufficiently, the standard charge is 2.5% from a Canadian bank-- the charge is quite excessive and unconscionable. Charles Schwab is notable in not charging the fee, which is why other posters like them so much.

Glad to see this. A Canadian, my bank (Scotia) also has an alliance with Deutchebank. Theoretically we too can use a debit card at any Deutschebank branch or ATM, without fee. Remembering to stick to ATMs attached to an open bank is always a good reminder! Thanks

 

[Wolfdog]

Count me as another Schwab user, four trips abroad without any problems or issues. ATM fees get refunded and I believe there are no foreign transaction fees. Buen Camino!