ATM - no fees

[camino0515-lt]

Hi there, I am from Canada and wonder if you know of a way to avoid (or minimize) those expensive ATM fees?
Will be walking in Portugal and Spain.

 

[Tincatinker]

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/resources/spanish-atm-cash-machine-fee-cheat-sheet.749/

 

[Kanga]

My bank refunds all ATM fees both locally and overseas. It seems to be an increasing trend with banks that do not have shopfronts but are only online. I'm in Australia so my bank is probably not relevant to Canada but the usual applies - shop around!

 

[Kitsambler]

It's important to note there are two sources of these traveling ATM fees: (1) your own bank, and (2) the ATM's bank. Your own bank may: (a) charge you a "foreign ATM" fee, (b) partner with certain overseas banks to not charge an additional fee, or (c) refund you any ATM fees anywhere. Those are the situations I've seen personally, your mileage may vary. The ATM's bank may: (a) charge you an "ATM use" fee, (b) participate in a partnership with your own bank to avoid or minimize certain charges, or (c) have no ATM user charge.

So there are lots of nodes of possible complexity here, and research and "cheat sheets" can be very useful. Shopping around can definitely pay off!

 

[trecile]

I Googled "Canadian banks no atm fees traveling", and found this article which may be helpful.

Avoiding Foreign ATM Fees - Canadian Kilometers

When you're travelling, you're often stung with high charges when withdrawing funds abroad. To avoid these ATM fees, these checking accounts will help...

canadiankilometers.boardingarea.com

 

[jungleboy]

It's important to note there are two sources of these traveling ATM fees: (1) your own bank, and (2) the ATM's bank.

On the second of these two points: there are a series of ATMs in Portugal (and elsewhere in Europe) called Euronet. These aren't tied to banks and are found in convenience stores and other such locations, but charge high fees. In Portugal, look for MB (multibanco) ATMs instead, which will have lesser or no fees. As I live in Portugal and have a Portuguese bank card I don't pay any fees at the MB ATMs - not sure if there is a fee for overseas cards but if there is, I would expect it to be a fair bit lower than Euronet.