11154 Cashpoint Cards not working in Italian ATM's

..........plus Halifax, natwest and Barclays.......its not the UK cards, it is the italian computer networks, they keep going offline...........if you put your card in and the first thing it asks is how much , you know you have no chance of getting any money ...........

It is a bit more terminal than going offline sometimes, which has always happened. The Lloyds TSB card does not work at all - ever!

My Barclays credit card works in cashpoints. It is just Lloyds TSB that will [B]never[/B] work due to some incompatibility.

Penny I have pmd you.

Penny,
Tthe card issues that you are having are intriguing..................Lloyds TSB debit card has never let us down, nor has our credit card.................although we have mainly used them for 'Ikea-ing' our house !!

The card works fine when buying stuff online and in shops but not for cash from a cashpoint. The credit cards work fine too.

Does yours work in a cashpoint here?

We have a few bank cards, Nationwide would not work in the Amandola banks earlier this year, but worked in Communanza. Few days ago I went to Comm and neither bank there would accept it, saying "Link" system was not available. Returned to Amandola and managed to get money out of BNL. Again Natwest cards are having problems, as are Barclays, Cahoot etc. The only one that does seem to work is Banca d Marche.
Someone did say that the best thing is to go into the bank and try and ask why their systems are so useless.

I've spoken to BNL in Amandola and BCC PIcena in Comunanza about it and they have lots of Brits going in saying their cards won't work. It is currently due to Italy moving to Chip & PIN but the move not being finished so they are operating both systems.

[quote=Penny;105245]I've spoken to BNL in Amandola and BCC PIcena in Comunanza about it and they have lots of Brits going in saying their cards won't work. It is currently due to Italy moving to Chip & PIN but the move not being finished so they are operating both systems.[/quote]
Suppose we will have to wait another 5 years for that to happen before we can withdraw money here easily!!!!!

What I conclude is that UK cards are becoming redundant in ATMs, including VISA ones, surely there must be a governing body of banks to complain to. It's a ludicrous situation. In the meantime Postepay or Travelex Passport, both prepay cards, for visitors, might be a clever back up.

I think I posted this under the wrong title as I originally listed it under "Bancomat Cards."
Has anyone tried to get sums larger than 250 euros at a time from a bancomat using their debit card from their home country's bank (in our case the USA)? If so, did you have to go inside the bank and present the card? Were there additional fees above what would be normally charged at the bancomat window? When we stay at agriturismos, most don't take credit cards and we have had to resort to inserting the card several times in a row to get the required cash. We have a card from our bank in the USA that can be used as a debit or credit card. Our bank increases the amount we can withdraw so there should be no problem but the only time we have been able to get more than 250 euros at a time from the cashpoint is at Fiumicino Airport.

Panny,

Your making me think !!! never a good thing nowadays!

We tend to only use our Banca della Marche cash card nowadays at Bancomats and to pay at (say Dum)..............I only use the LTSB credit or cash cards if I've used up my monthly 'allowance (1500 E !!!).........

But......I seem to recall that we used our LTSB cash card in the bancomat at Amandola (in the piazza), and also in the bancomat at Oasi..........

It definitely did not work in Penna or Santa Vittoria...........

Cheers

Sprostoni - It will work in the old cashpoints but not at the new ones which are springing up. Different software apparently!

Lisa - if i go into my Italian bank I can take an unlimited amout out on my UK debit card over the counter. I don't know if it would be the same for an Amenrican card. Otheriwse you need to take out €250 twice from the cashpoint. That works.

[quote=Penny;105256]Lisa - if i go into my Italian bank I can take an unlimited amout out on my UK debit card over the counter. I don't know if it would be the same for an Amenrican card. Otheriwse you need to take out €250 twice from the cashpoint. That works.[/quote]

Thanks Penny. We have taken out 250 euros four times from the cashpoint when we needed to pay bills and then had the US bank put a freeze on our account as they thought it was fraud even though we informed them in advance that we'd be in Italy! We had to call them and clear it up before we could take out any more or use it as a credit card. The BCC in Communanza let us use our debit card when we went inside and take about 1000 euros but others haven't. Guess we'll have to look into other options. I appreciate your feedback.

Lisa

yes In my NE corner of Sicily I have been having trouble with UK cash cards and I have found the message displayed has no meaning whatsoever. One message I get quite often is -we have been asked by your card supplier to return your card, contact your bank- and quite often just that the link is down- but I have found that I have had to come down to €200 to get them to work or use other amount, which proves the link is not down. I just wonder if the banks now stock as much cash .:madd:

I found this is an interesting subject because unless it had been raised, it would not have occured to me, that the situation, should it continue, will affect tourism...ie what tourists spend. We are resident and transfer large sums once and a while to our Italian bank and procede from there, no problems. But those we know, on holiday in Italy, having paid for their accommodation in advance, tend to generally use the Hole in the Wall for cash to spend here.
Please could those still experiencing problems in a few months time, keep us posted so we can alert our guests.

I was having a similar problem with my Nationwide card back in summer. It stopped working when one of the old atms was replaced at the bank closest to us. My wifes card also wouldn't work. Fortunately it worked on alternative machines though (but not all of them)

[quote=gioiosani;105262]yes In my NE corner of Sicily I have been having trouble with UK cash cards and I have found the message displayed has no meaning whatsoever. One message I get quite often is -we have been asked by your card supplier to return your card, contact your bank- and quite often just that the link is down- but I have found that I have had to come down to €200 to get them to work or use other amount, which proves the link is not down. I just wonder if the banks now stock as much cash .:madd:[/quote]
Poste Italiane used to limit withdrawals to €300 a day at their ATMs. Three days ago I was getting "card not operational" at their machines. I have since then realised that their limit has been dropped to €250 a day.
The card [B]is[/B] operational; I was just asking for too much money!:eerr:

[quote=Noble;105306]I found this is an interesting subject because unless it had been raised, it would not have occured to me, that the situation, should it continue, will affect tourism...ie what tourists spend. We are resident and transfer large sums once and a while to our Italian bank and procede from there, no problems. But those we know, on holiday in Italy, having paid for their accommodation in advance, tend to generally use the Hole in the Wall for cash to spend here.
Please could those still experiencing problems in a few months time, keep us posted so we can alert our guests.[/quote]

Hi Noble,

This is not a new problem - we have been experiencing it for I believe at least four or five years. Before that, we used to bring travellers checks, credit card and cash so it hadn't been an issue. We now travel with two debit cards, a credit card and cash. We started using a debit card as most credit cards in the USA charge several percent just for the priviledge of using their card. We initially didn't know our debit card had a freeze on it. We had just used the atm in Le Marche four times in a row to pay our agriturismo bill and then I purchased a pair of eyeglasses at a shop in Bologna. I then tried to use our debit card to pay our b and b bill in Bologna as the owner took debit and credit cards. He tried to put it through several times and got an error message. We told him we'd get the cash while we were out and settle up when we returned for the night. He thought there must have been a problem with his processing machine. We went to a cheese store and purchased a number of items and when we tried to pay with the card, it kept saying it was not a valid card. I had to run several blocks to numerous banks' cash points but none of them took the card. Fortunately, I had my other debit card which worked. Only when I called the USA did I find out that they had frozen the account because they thought my using the card numerous times in a row at the atm and then at the eye shop was suspicious. I had to clear all of the transactions with my bank before they would unfreeze it. As I said in a prior post, I had notified them in advance of our trip and increased the daily amount we were allowed to withdraw. We were mortified that this happened with the owner of our b and b and at the gourmet shop.

I would counsel your guests to always have several methods of payment available when they travel to Italy,

I had this problem about a year ago and lloydstsb asvised me to open an offshore account. (pain in the...) but you get a euro debit card so no charges for shop transactions and small charge at cashpoint but at least it works and you can transfer from your normal lloyds account online so can move money over here quickly.

[quote=herealready;105330]I had this problem about a year ago and lloydstsb asvised me to open an offshore account. ............[/quote]

Careful - these offshore accounts are not covered by UK Govt guarantees on deposits if the bank fails, unlike UK accounts where the first £50.000 is 'safe'

.

oooh er, must bear this in mind next May. We have opened Nationwide accounts so we are not charged for taking out cash but my daughter had problems with it which apparently were due to the connections being 'down'. I had been warned before a recent trip to Poland that they often did not work but had no problems at all. We alwasy bring various cards and generally up to our insured limit for cash but usually need to top up before the end, particularly if we have to pay for accommodation with cash. I think our daily withdrawal limit is £300 and with the £ heading south so fast that must mean less euros each day.
Must remember to check this out before we travel, keep us posted more regular Italy visitors/ residents please.

Alan H, thanks but I currently have 0.74 cent in my account, so not worried, the minute my money hits the account I go draw it out!

I tried in Servigliano last week to take out cash. Couldn't with my Citibank card. But my Dutch friend with his Dutch bank card got money no probs.

Is it a non-Euro thing???

Hi
Had a few anxious moments yesterday when my HSBC premier debit card would not work in 4 different bank ATM's. I had been asking for more than 200 euros, but when I went to the fifth and asked for 200 euros it worked!!! So if you want more than 200 and your card permits this use the card the number of times you need.

Unfortunately (for me) the Euro card is no better. It also doesn't work in cashpoint machines here despite what Lloyds TSB said.

If your card works successfully, can you tell me who you bank with please, as I am going to have to change banks as this is ridiculous?

Thanks

Many banks now have anti-fraud mechanisms which kick in if your (UK) card is used abroad - I had to phone the bank when we were in Morocco a couple of years ago as my card stopped working after two cashpoint withdrawls. Barclays told me I had to let them know but you can do so well in advance (so for example in the summer before we came to Italy I also told them other (work) trips I would be taking for the rest of the year - including complications like driving to Italy) Card hasn't failed me so far.

Chris

We have been told by Lloyds that it doesn't matter if you tell them as the computer automatically decides when to 'stop' the account and they can't do anything about it.

If anyone knows of a bank that employs human beings to make decisions please let me know and I'll change.

A friend of mine was told that early this year by card services that there was a limit of £50 that could be taken out daily due to fraud but if they needed more then just advise them and they would increase the limit which he did. No problems now with that but he now is finding other problems similar to the ones already mentioned.

I wonder if this is just in Italy or in other EU countries as well. Does anyone know???

I occasionally have anti-fraud stops put on my card but I ring up and they remove it straight away. My cash withdawal limit is €500 daily. I wouldn't have a problem with the banking service if their cards worked here. They used to.

1 recommendation for Barclays

Any others?

Penny,
If it helps, a friend tried all cash points in Comunanza today with an Italian bank card and non of them worked so may be this isn't just a problem with UK cards. We have a Barclays Euro Account which we do a transfer to our Bancoposta Account every so often and then use the Bancoposta Account to withdraw cash. It only costs €38 per year for the Bancoposta Account so we find it works quite well. Some guests found in the summer that they had problems with the cash machines in Amandola and Comunanza and some had to inform the banks before they travelled abroad.

It's definitely not an anti-fraud stop. If it was, then your first transaction of your visit would go through. Also, I tell my bank every time I'm going to italy so they don't query any transactions whilst I'm there

Thanks everyone for the info. It is quite a specific problem with the Lloyds TSB cards as they have acknowledged they do not work in Italian cashpoints at the moment. It is not a failed link or a security check or a financial limit on the card. They just don't work. They also have no timescale for a fix. Not much use for me.

I don't have any problems with my Italian bank - BCC Picena who are great.

Does anyone use Allied Irish?

Cheers.

Yesterday, went to BNL in Amandola with a Nationwide card. First couple of attempts at the ATM, kept telling me PIN incorrect, although it wasn't. 3rd try accepted and paid out. Today at Banche d Marche, card locked their machine, so they had to call somewhere to get it unlocked, despite everything being ok one month ago. Back to BNL, same scenario, 3rd time of input, paid out.
Wonder when the Italians will get their act together.

Hey - don't knock it. At least you can GET some money out!!:laughs:

[quote=Geotherm;105799]Yesterday, went to BNL in Amandola with a Nationwide card. First couple of attempts at the ATM, kept telling me PIN incorrect, although it wasn't. 3rd try accepted and paid out. Today at Banche d Marche, card locked their machine, so they had to call somewhere to get it unlocked, despite everything being ok one month ago. Back to BNL, same scenario, 3rd time of input, paid out.
Wonder when the Italians will get their act together.[/quote]

sounds like a fruit machine............remember .......hold the two cherries......:laughs::laughs:

[quote=deborahandricky;105803]sounds like a fruit machine............remember .......hold the two cherries......:laughs::laughs:[/quote]
Next time it will be superglue ........... stop everything turning :yes::yes:

Just as an update on ATMs for withdrawing cash. Went to Amandola today to the Bancoposta with my Nationwide card. This is a Visa card, but also accepts Mastercard etc. Worked first time with no problem for E200, so could be just some of the major banks that are having this problem.

Some progress. I can still use my cards (Euro & Sterling) over the counter in the bank.

I'll try the Bancoposta bancomat but as Lloyds TSB have told me they don't work in Italy I don't hold out much hope.......