t325

I switched to a credit union several months ago (American Eagle Credit Union based in St. Louis) and have not been out of the country since. However, I'm planning a trip to London and am now wondering if I'd have problems using my Visa debit card over there. The back of my card has logos for the Pulse, Co-Op and Star ATM networks - all 3 of them are US only networks.

It was my understanding that all Visa debit cards are part of the Plus network, which is international, but I'm not 100% sure since there's no Plus logo on the back of my card.

Last time I went to Europe, I was with Bank of America, and I wouldn't switch back to them for all the money in the world. But now I'm worried that my small credit union isn't part of the necessary networks for me to use the card at foreign ATMs. Are there any other AECU (or local credit union in general) members here that don't have a Plus logo on their card that have used it at ATMs overseas? Thanks

JimboM1391

If it has a Visa logo on it, it should work.

lakers6902

Why not open a foreign fee free account like Schwab for occasions like this? I only transfer money to my Schwab account while traveling and have yet to have any problems with them. During my time here in the US, I keep my Schwab account empty (no inactivity fee). This way you have nothing to worry about.

On a side note, a few years ago in Sweden I met a guy who had so many problems with his credit union card, such as only certain ATMs accepting it,

rvandeut

I opened up a capital one online savings for this reason. There are no monthly fees associated with it and you can use your debit card at atms anywhere in the world for free.

holtju2

I would advise anyone to have more than one card (ATM/debit) when traveling. I have three bank accounts for this purposes. Sometimes the links between the banks might be down and the transaction will fail. I had one ATM in Tel Aviv just eat my card.

cordelli

It may work
It may not work.

My wife has been with a very small credit union for 20 years or more now, and it took quite a while for them to get her card to work outside of the US. There were some settings on their end they had to change, and because they were so small they did not get many requests to do it. She would try no matter where we were and it would not work, and the first time it did she was thrilled.

I would check with them to see if there is anything they need to do to activate it for use outside of the US, and ask if others have had any issues.

Make sure you also have a PIN that is 4 numbers, and you know it in numbers.

My visa debit card is from Chase, and it works all over the world, but it does not have a Plus logo on it, I would not worry about that.

pinniped

My small credit union card has worked well everywhere except Nepal. There, I had to try three different ATM's before I found one that worked. (It did eventually work.)

I've noticed that when a foreign ATM does not give you an option between savings and checking, the money automatically comes out of checking. Since a lot of credit union users leave no money in checking (knowing that it automatically pulls funds across from the shares account when you write a check), that can potentially be a problem. I always make sure I have a few hundred bucks sitting in checking before I go on an international trip.

The Schwab idea is a good one. I always worry that I only have one debit card on me when I'm traveling beyond major European or Asian cities. By the third Nepalese ATM I was wondering if I'd just have to get by on credit cards and a little cash. I have a walletful of CC's but in some countries it's still nice to have cash on hand.

jdtravel

I use a capital one atm card with no foreign exchange fee. It has worked well.

travelmad478

Mr. travelmad478 has a credit union account only (a small CU) and he has had quite a few issues trying to get it to work overseas. We've gone so far as to call the CU from abroad and try to get them to fix the problems, and that usually does nothing. I end up lending him cash from my never-fail Citibank ATM card. That card does have f/x fees, but I don't really care because they're not exorbitant, and the hassle of opening and keeping money in a separate account is not worth the trouble for me.

lindaiah

I've been able to use my credit union (VISA) ATM card in most cash machines in the UK but it has never worked in the machine to top off my Oyster (transportation) card (no matter what station I try). I have to use my Wells Fargo ATM card or go to a window with an agent if I want to use the credit union card.

MightyTravels

My Bankdirect card has never worked as they do not allow foreign withdrawals and you need to send a fax to enable that. Plus after that their fraud alert kicked in. Lucky for me my Citibank debit has worked everywhere except Japan so far.

Doc Savage

A what?

cbn42

It is possible that your card is part of the Plus network but doesn't show the logo, in which case it will work. However, do not count on this without checking with the credit union.

Visa (credit or signature-based debit) and Plus/Interlink (ATM or PIN-based debit) are two completely separate networks. They are owned by the same company and therefore generally are found together on bank-issued debit cards, but not always.

The easiest thing to do would be to call your credit union and ask. You always need to inform card issuers of foreign travel anyway, in order to avoid them suspecting fraud, so might as well ask at the same time.

Zaynab

Very wise advice above; please follow it: get more than one card; preferably with a chip which is the mode of action here in Europe. The chip is more secure, cannot be demagnetised (e.g. in a shop), but even these cards do break - especially at uncomfortable times.

JujuJLT

I have never had anything but a small credit union card, and I have never had any atm-related problem with it anywhere in the world. I have, however, had my credit union refuse the transaction in Bucharest without prior authorization because Romania is a high-fraud country (this was confirmed for me when that afternoon I was mugged on the street). I normally do not call ahead since I travel internationally at least once a month so I was surprised when that happened. They explained it when I called an turned it on..... just in time for it to be stolen.