Australia, New Zealand & the South Pacific - ATM usage in Oz for US bank

Looking for more advice

We will be spending 6 weeks with my wife's family in Oz and I read where someone used an ATM card as opposed to converting traveler's checks while there. The last time we visited, I found it a pain to convert the traveler's checks to local currency when we needed some. I also hated paying the conversion fees at the banks when we did it. If I remember right (and I couldn't find it on a search the other day) someone used their Bank of America debit card in Westpac's ATMs with no fees for the conversion, just the current exchange rate or close to it.

Is this correct? I will call BOA tomorrow to see about setting up an account since they are closed today. Couldn't find anything on the BOA website or the Westpac website. Mrs. Frmundr called Westpac and they said that they could set us up an account to use while there, but I would still have to exchange all the currency to put in that account vs. just what we pulled from an ATM. I would rather exchange only what we were using so I wouldn't lose twice on the exchange by changing it back to US money.

Thanks for any advice
Tracy

Hi,

It's called the Global ATM Alliance - if you Google it a few pages will come up. Bank of America seems to have redesigned its website and killed most of the links, but ScotiaBank have a nice page about it here:
http://www.scotiabank.com/cda/content/0,1608,CID8040_LIDen,00.html

There's also a Wikipedia article here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_ATM_Alliance

I'm currently in the UK, using Barclays ATMs to access my money at Westpac without paying ridiculous fees. I can thoroughly recommend it - even the exchange rates are good.

Whitters

Edit:

Bank of America's ATM locator page talks a bit about it on the right-hand side of this page:
http://bankofamerica.via.infonow.net/locator/atmbranch/ListLoadAction.do

That has got to be the fastest reply I have ever gotten on a forum!!

Thanks for the info whitters, that is exactly what I was looking for!!

Thanks again
Tracy

Similar subject, if you want to use a credit card in Australia, I highly recommend Capital One. They charge NO fees (unlike every other card company out there), and the exchange rate was better than anywhere I saw. Saved me a lot of money on my trip in November.

When using a Bank of America ATM card at a Westpac ATM, will the Westpac ATM accept the usual 6-digit BoA PIN?

I've used Westpac without any ATM charges before.
My bank didn't charge anything either.

When using a Bank of America ATM card at a Westpac ATM, will the Westpac ATM accept the usual 6-digit BoA PIN?

Of all the ATM cards we ever possess over the decade, everyone of them has 4 digit PIN, never see a 6 digit PIN.

Of all the ATM cards we ever possess over the decade, everyone of them has 4 digit PIN, never see a 6 digit PIN. All three of mine have 6-digit PIN's. Issued as 4-digit, I changed them to 6-digit when I selected my own.

Dave

If you go to the search for an ATM page the alliance gets mentioned:

http://bankofamerica.via.infonow.net/locator/atmbranch/ListLoadAction.do


Traveling Internationally?

Use your ATM card or Check Card within our Global ATM Alliance in the countries shown with no fees.

Barclays (United Kingdom)
BNP Paribas (France)
China Construction Bank (China)
Deutsche Bank (Germany)
Santander Serfin (Mexico)
Scotiabank (Canada)
Westpac (Australia and
New Zealand)

Do tell the issuing bank of your ATM card that you are going and how long you will be away. Otherwise there is a risk of having the card shut off for security reasons. I used my Bank of American ATM card in Australia with no problems at all.

Traveler's checks are so....20th century!

When using a Bank of America ATM card at a Westpac ATM, will the Westpac ATM accept the usual 6-digit BoA PIN?

Don't know about the six digit PIN but I just got back from OZ a few weeks ago and used my BofA ATM card at Westpac (along with NAB & Commonwealth) just fine with my five digit PIN.

Do tell the issuing bank of your ATM card that you are going and how long you will be away. Otherwise there is a risk of having the card shut off for security reasons. I used my Bank of American ATM card in Australia with no problems at all.

Traveler's checks are so....20th century!


Went today and opened a BofA account and told the branch VP why I was opening the account. She said the same thing, to call customer service before we left to assure that we had no problems with security when we started using it out of country.

Thanks again for all the help
I was not looking forward to using travellers checks.

Tracy