~15% offer at a Euronet ATM in Copenhagen, declined of course

in FRA, bought an S-Bahn ticket through the RMV app, which seemed to only offer Paypal as an option -- there may have been an option to add a card, but this seemed convenient and I was in a hurry, until...



... per past experience I tried tapping on "See currency options" to switch it to EUR but it didn't "stick" and stubbornly showed the price in USD. I switched to a different card and was able to get the price to be reflected in EUR before completing the transaction. Although, again in my haste I picked a card that has FTFs :facepalm: oh well 3% is better than the 4-5% that Paypal wanted (and much less than 15% )

I probably would have been more careful for a larger amount...

I've seen this screen too when making a payment to an Ebay merchant in Germany for EUR 1,970 thru Paypal:
- first Ebay tries to offer DCC (I was using HKD card)
- then Paypal tries to offer DCC (above)

I selected out of both and selected the card I want Credit card Asia Miles earning opportunities (HK) 2022 onwards
Due to the transaction being Paypal and for a substantial amount my bank decided to block the transaction in the first instance anyway - in the denial SMS I was sent a further confirmation from bank that DCC has been successfully avoided (below).

I found the seller in another platform (Chrono24) at first, but to transact in Chrono24 I was forced into HKD multi-currency conversion with 2.15% markup. Frustration with the inability to change into EUR, and the seller's frustration with Chrono24's higher fees led to mutual agreement to re-list the product in Ebay and transact there:



As a postscript I'm just back from Hungary and Czechia, and seem to have successfully avoided all DCC on pre-authorised payments (car rental, I think all hotels were booked via OTAs), Visa Apple Pay or cash withdrawals.

I just completed a brief trip to Madrid. DCC was present at about half of the merchants I visited, and contactless transactions didn't prevent DCC prompts. In all but one case I had direct control over the terminal, and at the one place where I didn't, a restaurant, the waiter proactively said, "You want euros, right?" The EUR / USD prompts were apparent on screen, so an easy opt out was possible in all cases.

That's consistent with my experience in Spain last month.

Honest Guide is not really portraying an accurate picture; downright biased. Not sure if they have a personal vendetta against Euronet or just presenting a bias view for YouTube clicks.

DCC is Visa/MC feature which merchant/ATMs accepting these cards can choose to offer as long as they obtain explicit permission during the transaction which Euronet is doing. Heck, Euronet is even presenting the markup % as well as fx rate which is not required by VISA. I have had ATMs present DCC without showing what the markup and fx rate is; only what the USD amount. Euronet is going above and beyond in disclosures. If one need to blame DCC, there is blame for VISA/MC for offering DCC to begin with.

Cash and Balance scam is not even a fee Euronet is charging; it is a fee the card issuer is charging for interacting with a 3rd party ATM. I just Cash and Balance and then cancel a transaction at Euronet recently against my Fidelity card and nothing was charged because my card issuer does not charge such a fee.

Finally Euronet charging a fee for ATM withdrawals is not really different than a US-bank operated ATM charging a fee if you are not taking money out from an account of the same bank. Euronet is providing a convenience similar to a Chase card member taking cash out at a Bank of America ATM. Depending on which country/location you are in, Euronet ATM is indeed offering a service here. Was in Florence recently and bank ATMs were not available outside of branch hours while Euronet ATMs were readily available. So if you needed to get cash on a Sunday evening, Euronet ATM is offering a genuine convenience option being around in numerous locations and being accessible.

[...moderator edit...]

Where is the bias and inaccuracy? This is their second video on Euronet ATMs. The first one is , which focuses primarily on DCC. The more detailed version of the first video also showcases different behavior depending on the type of card used. The narrator inserts a local bankcard, denominated in CZK, and immediately the default amounts for a cash withdrawal are much more reasonable and far less than the €400-800 equivalent in CZK that the machines were offering the narrator's GBP bankcard.

Even though the Visa and Mastercard networks support DCC, they do not decide to implement DCC. The ATM operator or acquirer in the case of a credit card terminal do. Furthermore, the DCC markup on Euronet (13.95% in this example) and Travelex (12.49% at LHR a year ago) ATMs make most other DCC markups blush (with the exception of the post from Zorak showing a 15% markup).

This is an ATM operator fee, not a card issuer fee. If you take the time to watch the entire video, a Euronet customer service representative confirms this. Why would Euronet change the type of default transaction and include an OTHER option that says CASH (and a separate BALANCE INQUIRY)? I wasn't about to select CASH & BALANCE on the basis of the video.

It is possible that the behavior has changed between the time of the video posting and your recent cancelled transaction. If you had proceeded to withdraw cash after pressing CASH & BALANCE, would you have been charged the balance inquiry fee? We both know the answer. Otherwise, Euronet wouldn't have that be the default option.

This is the only part of your post that I consider reasonable, and it's why we encourage people to get debit cards that not only don't charge a fee for using non-bank ATMs but also reimburse ATM operator fees. If all Euronet were doing was charging €3 or €5 equivalent for using its ATMs, few would have a problem with it, and certainly one is always welcome to seek out a surcharge-free ATM.

This is intentional. These ATMs are almost always in highly trafficked touristy spots and airports, ready to prey on unsuspecting travelers who are unaware of having to navigate the minefield to opt out of avoidable fees. Take this example of overhearing someone after having used a Euronet ATM in Germany:

You can claim that it's a matter of caveat emptor, but Euronet and equivalent ATMs take things to another level. Even those unbranded ATMs at an upscale bar or club aren't nearly as bad.

Majuki in my recent trip to Budapest I avoided Euronet like the plague.

Near Rakoczi Ut there weren�t many non-Euronet ATMs to chose from. They all had an operators fee one way or another, but at least didn�t try and force conversion. I think the missus and I settled on OTP bank, and unfortunately we seem to have added to the long line of locals who also seemed to use that ATM and no other.

Poland is outrageous with DCC markup

Even mcdonalds kiosk had DCC (I don't recall mcdonalds asking for DCC in any other country).

4.75% on train ticket app
6% at train restaurant car
10% at hotel
9.9% at McDonald's

A lot of their bank ATMs are operated by Planet cash or Euronet. 0-22PLN fee plus 13-14.95% DCC markup. 14.95% is outrageous (and this one had highest 22PLN fee on top

One said zero fee with DCC rate (13% markup). Declined it, then next page asked again which option I want: DCC (13% markup) with 0 fee vs PLN with 0 fee, and said that Planet cash may charge an additional fee for foreign cards but did not mention how much. Is this legal? (Asking DCC twice, and fee may not be entirely disclosed?


At least I declined DCC for all of them. Still trying to find a fee free ATM

It's similar to the double opt out that one has to do in Portugal sometimes. This would go against the spirit of the DCC rules that state the customer shouldn't be corralled toward a particular decision, which an, "Are you sure? Are you really sure?" implementation seems to do. Furthermore, the rate has to be disclosed to comply with the Visa/MC implementation rules around DCC.

Of course, reading this thread and its predecessors will give many examples of DCC that aren't in compliance with the payment network rules.

[...moderator edit...]

The net effect is they are giving the impression people should avoid the Euronet ATM (and unnecessarily go out of the way to find another ATM) when it is entirely possible to get cash out by declining DCC. When declined, the rate will be identical to any other ATM not offering DCC as it VISA/MC will be doing conversion.

The withdrawal fee is disclosed as required by VISA/MC. If one has a fee-reimbursed account, then it is essentially avoided.

[...Moderator edit...] As for the point of the video — to me it seems that the Honest Guide is mostly warning about something people are accustomed to that doesn't hold true with the Euronet's ATM Cash & Balance button — that cancelling the transaction will result in no fees. Before I got a fee reimbursing debit card I would frequently "shop" ATMs in places like Greece, where bank ATMs still charge a fee (many European countries bank ATMs will not charge a fee) to find a cheaper one. I would go through the motions till I reach the screen where the fee was listed, then cancel — and I wouldn't be charged. In case of a Euronet ATM I would apparently get dinged as soon as I hit the Cash & Balance — not cool.

Three posts have been edited. Please adhere to Flyertalk's rules including this one:

Santander was not the one with double opt-out

But 14.95% markup plus fees on a bank ATM? This was inside Santander bank. It seems Santander offloads ATM responsibility to Euronet (and also participates in Euronet, so their own card members won't get fees). Foreign cards get shafted.



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I would also tend to avoid Euronet or other independent ATMs due to their setup. While compliant, these ATMs take advanced knowledge to avoid all of the fees. Their DCC markup is excessive, far more than the typical 3-5% one often sees at a point of sale or other bank-branded ATMs. At 13-15% DCC is not a service but rather an underhanded technique to get those not in the know.

The original purpose of DCC was more benign and had much lower markups of around 3% or below. In fact, 15+ years ago as a US cardholder it might have even made sense to accept the DCC offer when most cards had a 3% currency exchange fee. The USD amount that presented incurred no further fees from the issuing bank and earned rewards on the full amount. Banks wouldn't give rewards on the 3% currency exchange fee. Over time, US card issuers switched to foreign transaction fees instead of currency exchange fees. Subsequently, many travel focus cards started to feature 0% FTFs about 15 years ago. At this point, there is never - outside of some esoteric case of an extreme currency fluctuation - any advantage for the customer to accept DCC. The profit sharing between the acquirer and merchant (or ATM operator in this case) creates a perverse incentive to steer the customer into accepting DCC or opting the customer in to DCC.

I would do the same before I had a card that reimbursed ATM operator fees. With Euronet ATMs specifically, the danger is getting charged a balance inquiry fee for selecting CASH & BALANCE, the default option, instead of OTHER and then CASH.

What other option is there in Poland? I tried Santander, ING, Another bank I don't remember the name of

All these were actual ATMs inside bank - all operated by euronet and have fees

There were plenty of other "independent" ATM kiosk that were advertised as Euronet or Planet Cash, did not try any of them

EDIT, looks like BNP Paribas ATM is operated by Planet cash (this was on side of BNP Paribas bank but with BNP logo plus Planet cash logo) - no luck