Buying Euros

[mogandave]

My boy is going to Italy and Austria for a couple weeks and I want to give him spending money. 

 

I have dollars I can give him that he can change there, or I can buy Euros here to give him, or I can just let him use his ATM there. 

 

Any recommendations? How bad are the ATM fees and exchanges?

 

He will be in Italy first. 

 

Thanks!

[Pink Mist]

Moved to Banking Forum

[KhunBENQ]

Can only give general advice: "don't put all eggs in one basket".

Cash AND card. Better two cards in separate pockets/bags.

One single ATM card (VISA? Mastercard?) can give bad surprise.

I read that ATMs in Italy (still) only accept 4 digit PINs which should be OK for VISA and Mastercard credit/debit cards?

If you have Dollar cash give him that. Buying Euro here will likely give you worse result/rate.

But as a safeguard you might consider buying a small amount of Euro cash here like 300 Euro for a start (taxi, food etc.).

Prepare for the worst (sending via Western Union in an emergency, very bad rate).

 

Don't know whether it's true but I read that Italy is still cash centric (similar to here). So don't expect that a credit card will be accepted anywhere.

Edited June 15, 2023 by KhunBENQ

[NextG]

You didn’t mention the bank, but typically ,expect a 2.5% deduction from the VISA/MasterCard exchange rate for purchases.  Let’s say the MasterCard exchange rate is 37.8 today. In that case any spend on the card would attract an exchange rate of 36.855. If he spends the equivalent of €200, that’s total charges of 189 baht. That should give you some perspective. 

The main thing for which to watch out is using ATM. As the Thailand bank is likely to levy a 100 baht fee on top of the 2.5%. Only use ATM attached to a bank in Italy. Private standalone ATM can charge extra. 

[NextG]

Same goes for Austria; only use bank ATM, not EuroNet ATM. 
Good idea to just draw out a chunk in Italy for both Italy and Austria and use the card for purchases when possible. 

[NextG]

32 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

Can only give general advice: "don't put all eggs in one basket".

Cash AND card. Better two cards in separate pockets/bags.

One single ATM card (VISA? Mastercard?) can give bad surprise.

I read that ATMs in Italy (still) only accept 4 digit PINs which should be OK for VISA and Mastercard credit/debit cards?

If you have Dollar cash give him that. Buying Euro here will likely give you worse result/rate.

But as a safeguard you might consider buying a small amount of Euro cash here like 300 Euro for a start (taxi, food etc.).

Prepare for the worst (sending via Western Union in an emergency, very bad rate).

 

Don't know whether it's true but I read that Italy is still cash centric (similar to here). So don't expect that a credit card will be accepted anywhere.

No need to buy Euro beforehand if he has a working VISA/MasterCard. The US$ can be an ‘in the socks’ emergency back up. 

[mogandave]

Apparently, Kasikorn recommended he get “YouTrip” which is supposed to be a no fees type vehicle that works (I think) like a debit card. 

 

Anyone know anything about it? 

 

He does not have a credit card, just a k-bank ATM.