Do US credit/debit cards work in Europe?

[FloridaJim57]

Will my US credit cards or debit cards work in Italy? If not, what do I have to do? Advice please.

 

[braumeister]

Will my US credit cards or debit cards work in Italy? If not, what do I have to do? Advice please.

Check your card issuer's site. Some of them require you to notify them in advance about which countries you'll be visiting and when. Standard anti-fraud measures.

 

[audreyh1]

Generally yes, and VISA and Mastercard are readily accepted. But most cards charge foreign transaction fees that can be as high as 3%. Those of us who travel overseas usually get a card or two that have 0% foreign transaction fees and make sure that we take charges in the local currency.

 

[jollystomper]

Yes, they should work. To echo the above: we traveled to Europe (France) last month. We had to notify our ATM/debit card issuer. We did not have to notify our credit card issuers. We used credit cards (Capital One, Amazon Prime) that did not charge foreign transaction fees. All was fine.

Interestingly, we also have a credit card (Visa) through our ATM/debit card issuer, but they would not approve of the Visa card use overseas, at least in the past (since we have so many other and better options, I stopped checking with them about that card).

 

[OldShooter]

Will my US credit cards or debit cards work in Italy? If not, what do I have to do? Advice please.

Yes, generally, though Amex and Discover are often declined due to high merchant fees, by establishments that are not tourist-oriented. Watch out for foreign transaction fees (as mentioned) and ATM fees that your card issuer doesn't reimburse.

Contact your card issuer by phone or on their web site and let them know dates and places you will be traveling. This is to minimize the likelihood that their fraud detection software will lock you out. It happens, though, so we carry two Visa cards from different issuers.

ATMs used to be a pain with debit cards not always working. This has gotten much better, but we still carry two debit cards from different banks.

So, our optimum is four cards with the debit cards used only at ATMs.

I got scammed in a new way in Italy a couple of months ago. I am used to ATMs being "honest" with their exchange rates and this is the case with bank ATMs. I got money from a privately-owned ATM and got scammed on the exchange rate. It was well done in that they gave me a screen showing the dollar/Euro conversion and I clicked without reading. It cost me about 20%. Lesson learned. I will avoid non-bank ATMs and always mentally calculate the rough conversion I should be getting.

You will probably have no problems of any kind. Have fun!

 

[foxcreek9]

Yes, generally, though Amex and Discover are often declined due to high merchant fees, by establishments that are not tourist-oriented. Watch out for foreign transaction fees (as mentioned) and ATM fees that your card issuer doesn't reimburse.

Contact your card issuer by phone or on their web site and let them know dates and places you will be traveling. This is to minimize the likelihood that their fraud detection software will lock you out. It happens, though, so we carry two Visa cards from different issuers.

ATMs used to be a pain with debit cards not always working. This has gotten much better, but we still carry two debit cards from different banks.

So, our optimum is four cards with the debit cards used only at ATMs.

I got scammed in a new way in Italy a couple of months ago. I am used to ATMs being "honest" with their exchange rates and this is the case with bank ATMs. I got money from a privately-owned ATM and got scammed on the exchange rate. It was well done in that they gave me a screen showing the dollar/Euro conversion and I clicked without reading. It cost me about 20%. Lesson learned. I will avoid non-bank ATMs and always mentally calculate the rough conversion I should be getting.

You will probably have no problems of any kind. Have fun!

Many bank atms will give you the option in $ or € but it is never a good exchange to select $, at best it is 5% worse than what the real exchange will be.

 

[OldShooter]

Many bank atms will give you the option in $ or € but it is never a good exchange to select $, at best it is 5% worse than what the real exchange will be.

Good point. Actually IMO the bigger danger is in stores or restaurants where they kindly offer to run the tab in dollars instead of the local currency. Letting them do the conversion is going to be much more expensive than letting Visa do he conversion at wholesale rates. Another scam story: I bought a croissant at one of the CGD restaurants and they ran the slip in dollars, then refused to revise. A small gouge to be sure but in volume quite profitable.

 

[brett]

The only card that I have not had accepted, in Europe or during our other travels, is our Amex card.

And only because the vendor would not accept any Amex cards no matter where they were issued

Never had an issue with MC or Visa. We still take several just in case.

 

[braumeister]

I've found that Master, Visa, and Amex have all been rejected at one time or another. There are also places that won't accept any card not issued in the Euro zone, so that's another issue.

You need to realize that accepting a card has nothing to do with the card issuer; it's purely up to the business whether they take it or not.

 

[latexman]

My Credit Union has some countries “blacklisted” as part of their fraud prevention. In one of these, my debit card did not work in ATMs, until I called and and released them from liability. After I got the local currency, with no problem, I called again and re-established the blacklist.

Talk to your banks/CUs before you go.

 

[OldShooter]

... You need to realize that accepting a card has nothing to do with the card issuer; it's purely up to the business whether they take it or not.

Well, sort of. In the past at least, Amex and Discover charged higher merchant fees than other cards like Visa. So that's why merchants declined the card (including my company and many others in the US.)

I know there has been legal and fee turmoil in the card business lately, so things may be changing. Regardless of possible changes IMO there is no reason to tempt fate by planning to use Amex or Discover in Europe.

 

[foxcreek9]

The only card that I have not had accepted, in Europe or during our other travels, is our Amex card.

And only because the vendor would not accept any Amex cards no matter where they were issued

Never had an issue with MC or Visa. We still take several just in case.

My experience is that most hotels will accept Amex, but not all. Other than that, Amex acceptance is low. That is why I only carry my Discover card

 

[MdaPetralia]

That is why I only carry my Discover card

Discover is less accepted in Europe than in the U.S.

 

[Ian S]

We were in Italy last month and had no trouble using our Fidelity Visa credit card and my Schwab VISA debit card at ATMs. Most of the time, we were able to use the contactless credit card feature for payments. Occasionally, they would use the chip and signature method. I don't think I was ever asked to use my PIN for the credit card transaction which was good because I'm not absolutely sure what it is. Be aware, in Italy, there are ATMs that charge excessive fees. I only used my debit card at ATMs at an actual bricks and mortar bank and didn't encounter any unusual fees.

 

[Ian S]

You should let the credit card issuer know what countries you'll be visiting but some don't require that any more while others do. Best is to check.

 

[RetireBy90]

Lived in Germany 10 years and seldom had a problem with Amex. Vendor sometimes asked if I had another card but most of the time took Amex if i didn’t have another card. They have also been very proactive with fraudulent charges. One time after lawyer letters and all I called to say I’d pay all but one charge ontime and they took the problem, called vendor and the vendor called to apologize. While living in Germany, a charge was made to my Visa and it took months to dispute a new fridge back in Virginia.All have stories I’m sure but that is mine.

 

[jollystomper]

Check your card issuer's site. Some of them require you to notify them in advance about which countries you'll be visiting and when. Standard anti-fraud measures.

Many bank atms will give you the option in $ or € but it is never a good exchange to select $, at best it is 5% worse than what the real exchange will be.

Very true. I looked at the rate we were getting with the CCs last month and the US Dollars to Euros rate was between .91 and .927. To compare, our hotel bill in dollars would have been about 10% higher had we let them charge it in dollars vs. euros. Fortunately we did not encounter anyplace that "forced" us to charge in dollars (DW's fluency in the language may have helped ).

 

[Drake3287]

Haven't read all the comments but as someone who travels to Europe at least once a year, including Italy, your typical Visa and Master cards will work just fine. And yes, some banks require a notification before you leave and some don't.

And a BIG tip that many American's aren't familiar with, most if not every Visa and Master card has a PIN number assigned to it which you may not even be aware of. This PIN is only required at some automated ticket machines such as trains, ferries and unstaffed gas stations and such.

I learned the hard way on my first driving trip to Italy when I attempted to get gas at a station without any employees on-duty. Luckily I made it to another station before I ran out of gas. Just last week my daughter was in Italy and wasn't able to purchase train tickets because she didn't know her PIN. And yes, I had warned her about finding it out before she left!

 

[Jenna]

Will my US credit cards or debit cards work in Italy? If not, what do I have to do? Advice please.

We also make sure and grab local "cash" at the airport where we are sure to have access to a legitimate ATM.

 

[Jenna]

Also when charging something, make sure it's in Euros or the local currency not in $. They will give you a horrible exchange rate if you charge in $ in a foreign country

 

[donheff]

Yes. In Italy and Switzerland now.

 

[HarveyS]

FWIW- last year in the Netherlands merchants in small towns could NOT accept US Visa cards. Only Dutch cards. Big towns and cities had no issue with visa. Small towns required cash or local cards.

 

[audreyh1]

FWIW- last year in the Netherlands merchants in small towns could NOT accept US Visa cards. Only Dutch cards. Big towns and cities had no issue with visa. Small towns required cash or local cards.

Right. I’ve had to use cash in remote areas of the Netherlands. They didn’t accept credit cards just the Dutch debit cards.

 

[braumeister]

We also make sure and grab local "cash" at the airport where we are sure to have access to a legitimate ATM.

In my experience, airport ATMs often have a much worse exchange rate than machines in a bank in the city. So you're probably paying for that convenience.

 

[marko]

In my experience, airport ATMs often have a much worse exchange rate than machines in a bank in the city. So you're probably paying for that convenience.

+1. Rip off !
Check with your CC company and see which local bank ATMs they might be aligned with. Living in France, our Bank of America was connected with BNP Paribas and we could withdraw without fees along with a decent exchange rate.

I'd guess that any known bank based ATM is going to be "legitimate" just with slightly different fees and exchanges. Like in the US, avoid those standalone kiosk type ATMs you might see in bars.