ATM in America long term

RCNPhotos

Movign to Philly next month for a year and was told in the bank today I'll get raped on charges whenever I use my ATM over there. Didn't have time to ask more about my options. Will next week, but was wondering if anyone has any experience of this? What did you do? She mentioned using a credit card instead to withdraw cash or somethin?

Cheers guys.

little lamb

Try this site Netteller this may help you

Ruu_Old

You pay fees for cash advance on a credit card too as far as I know, maybe she thought about preloading cash onto a credit card?

little lamb

That's what the NETTELLER IS A PER PAID CARD CHECK OUT THEIR SITE ALL INFO ON IT. I would think that is what the bank is saying it can be set up in a few days if you do as they ask which is no more or less than any other C/C company would ask you for Passport Home bill etc

RCNPhotos

Cheers Little Lamb, I'm going to look into that. Have you used it yourself out of curiosity?

lil_lisa

Credit cards will not charge you if you have a positive balance. However, some US ATMs will charge you for the transaction (in my experience, Chase don't do this). I use my Irish c/c over here and very rarely pay charges as I use my card in-store most of the time, having cash on you will soon be a thing of the past when you move over here. Things are quite different. So you won't get charged for in-store use like that.

I'm assuming you'll be opening a US bank account when you're here?

lil_lisa

Oh and I'm assuming Neteller is another version of 3V? Doesn't seem worth it if you already have a credit card.

little lamb

yes I have one as I said check out the site and make you decision Best of luck

little lamb

I think some people are missing your point and I hope you and I are singing from the same sheet you put money in it you spend what you have put on you never tempted to go over board and they charges well they speak for themselves Have a great trip and enjoy great city

lil_lisa

Neteller charges you to take money out in the ATM, $6 is a lot for each withdrawal! Deposits take 2-5 business days from any debit or credit card and they say its free, but that doesn't mean the bank won't charge them. I think Neteller is basically for secure online shopping, not a means to take money out abroad. I would strongly suggest against this for moving to the US long term.

RCNPhotos

There's a new irish one, saw a poster above the ATM in my local spar just now. www.payzonemoney.ie Site seems to be down, hmmm

lil_lisa

But these won't work if you're just trying to take money from Ireland out in the US. I'm assuming that's what you're doing? From an Irish bank account? If it's just to have a MasterCard or Visa card then you might as well save yourself a lot of bother and just open a US bank account.

tenchi-fan

I was in canada before.
I kept a credit (positive) balance on my credit card which meant the only fee I was charged was the currency conversion charge which I would have been paying anyway. There was no large fee to use the atm or for a cash advance.

avalon68

if you are going to be over here for a year then you will need a bank account here - otherwise its a real hassle trying to pay bills etc as they want an american address on the card. And it will get really expensive using your irish card here for more than a few weeks as eventually you will need to withdraw cash and you do get charged for that. When you open your american account you will be given a visa debit card immediately and it is just sooo convenient!

RCNPhotos

Cheers Avalon, I'll start looking into that

cheesehead

I agree with avalon. If you're here for a year - open a bank account here - it will make things easier for you.

Regarding fees for using your ATM: no fees charged if you use one of your bank's ATMs (for instance, when I lived in Philly I had an account with PNC Bank and they had loads of ATMs throughout the city and surrounding area)

If you use another bank's ATMs, they will generally charge anywhere from $1 (low end ) to $3 (high end) to make a withdrawal. This issue of charging you to withdraw your money has been gaining increasing attention lately with the whole banking regulation overview, but nothing definitive has been done to change the present system.

In Philly, a ubiquitous convenience store (like Spar) called WaWa (that's its name), doesn't charge for ATM withdrawals, so consequently many people "pop into the WaWa" to use the ATM if none of their banks ATMs are available. Also, many stores offer a "cash back" option when paying your bill with a credit/debit card. So if the bill is $20, they will ask if you want any cash back and they don't charge you for that service. So really, unless you're in a pinch, it's fairly easy to avoid paying extra ATM fees.

Good luck in Philly. I hope you like it.