Good news on cash machines

Thanks coppicer - next time I'll risk not taking a wad out with me and test out the local ATMs instead

I always get my cash using my Nationwide account at Italian ATMs - HOWEVER I now make sure I go only to local banks as once we arrived in a thunderstorm and when I put my (wet) card into the machine the whole thing went beserk and kept my card. It couldn't be found when I enquired at the bank after the (of course!) bank holiday weekend and a special engineer had to be called out from Florence to delve into the entrails of the machine where it had been sucked. I had to keep checking every day to see if it had been found and eventually it was. If I had decided to use a machine near the airport instead of near the house it would have meant a lot of travelling to get it back. Luckily myOH had a card we could use in the meantime. Interesting you can draw more cash out now. On occasion when we've both had to draw 250euro for several days to pay a builder or something we've had to keep changing ATM as they ran out of money! Maybe that was the problem when you found it difficult to get cash Coppicer.Anyway, we're going again on Wed after what seems an enormous absence - 2 and a half months. Far too long to be away from my looking glass life. I'm really excited!ciaopam

Seems like we will no longer have the advantage of the good rates on the above soon. Still better than some banks though!! http://www.talktalk.co.uk/money/guardian/news/2010/07/31/nationwide-to-c...

I haven't been able to get out since last October (long story). Has coppicer's post from last September proved true in S Marche? I'm coming out for a month in September and would dearly love to know what arrangements I need to make for cash.....

Not sure about S Marche but in the Macerata area we no longer have a problem with a non Italian card. I assume that this will be true all over as presumably the machines are all linked in some way. Ages ago we did have the problem mentioned above as for a while we could only get money out of the PO bancomat machines as no other would accept foreign cards. Those days now seem to be long gone and we have no problems with any machines using any card, all work. Not sure about the 'internet' option mentioned as never bother to change screen language to English but I do know that at the PO we can withdraw up to €600 daily whereas with the same card at other machines the max is €250. After a long time away, enjoy being back in Marche!

... we were in Marche (Val D'Aso and surroundings) a couple of weeks ago and it was a nightmare getting cash. 90% of the bank machines wouldn't work - despite having internet / international withdrawal menu options and being fully multi-lingual. It got so bad that by the 6th ATM, I rang the bank in the UK to find out what on earth was going on - they claimed that every ATM in Italy had now been updated and were somewhat surprised that it was a problem, but I suspect they only care about big cities. Ironically my bank forced me to change to Visa from Maestro last year and under Maestro, I had much better success with maybe 50% of ATM's working OK. The only bank in southern Marche that we found it possible to withdraw cash from was Carisap. So it may still be a problem in some areas! ( PS. To the site admins, you can't use this website to write comments on an iPad - it will be your rich text editor that is causing the problem I think. )

in fact, in s-marche there is just the carisap in comunanza and another by the piazza in amandola that I know of and have used with a uk card. all other banks: my experience is the same as brancusi's.

Many thanks for the updates What about over the counter in the actual bank (problem usually being coinciding with the opening hours!) Can you use a UK credit/debit card then?

Don't worry Anne, I can take money out of all the cashpoints now with a UK cashcard and can draw an unlimited amount over the counter using a debit card in BCC. You'll be fine.