Prgaue - withdram cash from ATM with laser card

Hi all,
off to Prague for the long weekend of St. patricks. I have order my Czech money but am wondering if it is easy to withdraw cash from the ATM's over there (as a backup!) I have a laser card with Maestro sticker.. thanks.

Yes, no problem there.same as here , basically.

I have used mine (with Mestro) to withdraw from ATMs in Poland, Austria, USA and other countries so would imagine that Czech would be fine too.

S

Why bother ordering Czech money? Prague is teeming with ATMs. Far more convenient, much safer and probably way cheaper than ordering money in an Irish bank. A preloaded credit card account used to be a cheaper option than non-eurozone laser cards, dunno if that's still the case.

absolutely!
I brought around 20€ czech cash and used atm all the time there.

But every time you withdraw in Czeck Rep, Poland etc., your hit for bank charges ?

So if withdraw 4-5 times you get hit for charges upwards of € 20 in total.

And your point is...?

Do you think your local bank branch at home will process foreign exchange for free?

Point is you say probably cheaper to use your ATM card in the foreign country.

I'm questioning that as maybe in the end if you withdraw several times you end up paying more than if you had taken it all out at a bank in Ireland in the first place.

e.g I recently took out 2,500 Zloty at a cost of I think it was Euro 6.66

equates to approx € 700.

So if I had taken this out in using my ATM in more than 2 visits abroad I would have paid surely Euro 6.66.

Re: Prague - withdraw cash from ATM with laser card

I tend to use my ATM and Mastercard over there and never have any problem. The places in Prague on the main street which advertise commission free rates or certain rates for exchanging money often dont honor those headline rates or have some get out clause small print in my experience. I have always gotten a better exchange rate from my plastic except for one very hard to find Bureau at a location I would find impossible to describe.

If you do use a Bureau de Change over there, try asking them how much Czech money they will give for a specific amount of Euro then compare what one says with what another says.

Be very careful in Prague.

There last year and there's always guys hanging around the numerous Bureau De Changes.

Just waiting to offer you a better rate but you will in all probability end up with dud notes mixed in.

AVOID THESE GUYS LIKE THE PLAGUE.

Daddy said:

Point is you say probably cheaper to use your ATM card in the foreign country.

I'm questioning that as maybe in the end if you withdraw several times you end up paying more than if you had taken it all out at a bank in Ireland in the first place.

e.g I recently took out 2,500 Zloty at a cost of I think it was Euro 6.66

equates to approx € 700.

So if I had taken this out in using my ATM in more than 2 visits abroad I would have paid surely Euro 6.66.

Click to expand...

Note my use of the word probably. Btw,did the €6.66 cost include commission and the bank's exchange margin. (Irish banks are not shy to help themselves to a decent foreign exchange % margin addition to commission.) Even apart from that, there's no question that ATMs are as I said, far more convenient & much safer than wodges of cash.

Laser card (or rather the Cirrus facility on it) will cost you 3.5% in charges ranging from a min of €3.50 to max of approx €12 when you use it in a non € currency zone. It's not cheap ! To buy €100 of the currency at BOI will cost you €1.75 in commission as well as obviously the exchange rate of the day.

When outside the eurozone I always use my pre topped up Cr Card. Handy to have Cirrus for back up but not economical as your main way to get funds.

I work for BOI & have seen people shocked at running up maybe €100 in charges while on hols.

Not sure what the charge structure in other financial houses is but my advice would be to shop around. There's no charge for inquiring !