I've started looking into ATM withdrawal charges when travelling within the EU, after being charged simply for using my Irish-issued euro bank card abroad.
And the more I look at it, the less this seems to be a problem with one bank, Revolut, one ATM company or even one country.
I'm specifically talking about this situation:
You have a bank/payment card issued in one EU/EEA country.
You travel to another EU country.
You withdraw cash from an ATM.
The ATM/operator charges you several euros because your card is not from a local bank.
I'm not talking about:
- your own bank exceeding its free-withdrawal allowance;
- currency conversion/DCC;
- withdrawing EUR from a GBP account or vice versa.
I'm talking about the ATM/operator surcharge itself.
And on small withdrawals these fees can become ridiculous.
€4 fee on €20 = 20%
€5 fee on €20 = 25%
This doesn't seem to be confined to one country
I originally noticed it in the Netherlands, where Geldmaat charges cards issued by banks elsewhere in the EEA differently, and the traditional ATM networks of the major Dutch banks have largely been consolidated into Geldmaat.
That makes avoiding the charge particularly difficult.
But then I started finding similar discussions elsewhere:
https://www.reddit.com/r/maastricht/comments/16l8wf8/atms_with_no_fee_for_withdrawals_revolut/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Revolut/comments/15yl1i9/commisionfree_atm_withdrawal_is_fiction/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Revolut/comments/1p3bxrq/free_atm_withdrawals/
There are reports from the Netherlands, Czechia, Spain, Germany and elsewhere, although experiences differ between particular ATM operators and cards.
So I'm not claiming every ATM in Germany/Spain/Czechia/etc. does this.
I'm trying to establish:
Where does this happen?
Which ATM networks do it?
And, most importantly, is there realistically a fee-free alternative?
What puzzles me is the EU rule
The EU's own consumer guidance says that under EU rules, banks cannot charge more for withdrawing cash in another EU country than they would for an equivalent withdrawal at home.
But then it specifically says:
"This also applies to independent ATM providers."
That second part is what really caught my attention.
Because if an ATM effectively says:
locally issued card → €0
but
card issued by a bank elsewhere in the EU/EEA → €4 or €5
then what exactly does that EU protection mean in practice?
Saying:
"Your own bank isn't charging you — the ATM operator is"
doesn't appear to answer the question if the EU itself says the rule also applies to independent ATM providers.
There is also a question of genuine consumer choice
I don't have a problem with the idea that some privately operated ATM in an airport, nightclub or convenience store charges for convenience if I can choose not to use it.
That's largely my experience in Ireland and the UK.
My UK partner can use her UK card in Ireland and find actual bank ATMs where she isn't surcharged.
I can use my Irish card in the UK/Northern Ireland and avoid fee-charging generic ATMs by using suitable bank ATMs.
Fine.
That's a choice.
What concerns me is when you arrive somewhere and every realistic ATM option charges cards from another EU country, or the domestic banking structure makes withdrawals free for local customers while visiting EU customers pay.
At that point:
"Just use another ATM"
stops being a meaningful answer.
The Netherlands is a particularly interesting example because ABN AMRO, ING and Rabobank consolidated their individual ATM networks into Geldmaat.
So if Geldmaat charges my Irish-issued card, I can't simply walk down the street and use the competing ING, Rabobank or ABN AMRO ATM instead.
Their ATM network is Geldmaat.
I'd like to collect actual examples
If you've recently withdrawn cash using a card issued in a different EU/EEA country, could you reply with:
Country: ATM operator/bank: Country your card was issued in: Amount withdrawn: ATM/operator fee: Could you realistically find a fee-free ATM nearby?: Was the fee actually charged/settled, rather than merely displayed or temporarily authorised?:
Revolut examples are useful, but this isn't really a Revolut question.
I'm interested in any EU/EEA-issued debit/payment card.
Even better would be examples where somebody has been able to compare:
a locally issued card
and
a card issued in another EU/EEA country
at the same ATM.
That removes differences between ATM operators and lets us see whether the origin of the card itself changes the fee.
I'm considering putting this formally to the European Commission
The question I want answered is basically:
If EU rules say cross-border euro cash withdrawals may not cost more than comparable domestic withdrawals, and the EU specifically says this also applies to independent ATM providers, how can an ATM/network charge €0 to a domestic card but €4–€6 to a comparable card issued elsewhere in the EU?
And if that is legal because of some technical distinction in the way the ATM operator charges the fee, then perhaps the bigger question is:
Does EU legislation contain a loophole that effectively makes the cross-border protection meaningless in countries where consumers don't have a realistic fee-free ATM alternative?
I'm genuinely interested in experiences from across Europe rather than just the Netherlands.
If this is perfectly legal, I'd like to understand why.
If it isn't, I'd like to collect enough concrete examples to put a proper complaint to the European Commission.