Cheapest French bank ATM for withdrawing cash using non-EU debit card?

score:3

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I'm back from my holiday in south-west France. Happy New Year to you all.

I was using a Mastercard debit card from a UK bank. This is what I found out:

The following banks' ATMs offered a choice between charging my bank in euros (with no extra commissions or fees) or converting the amount to pounds themselves (using a bad exchange rate, for example £1 = 1.04 euros when the market rate was 1.13 euros). I chose to be charged in euros and got the best conversion rate.

  • Credit Mutuel
  • Banque Dupay de Parseval (even though their screen was badged with the Euronet logo, see the answer by @Nicolas Formichella)
  • Caisse D'Epargne
  • La Banque Postale
  • Banque Populaire du Sud

On the other hand,

The Credit Agricole wanted to charge a fee of 5 euros even on a 20 euro transaction. I didn't follow through to see if they also wanted to make the conversion even more expensive.

No banks refused my card, so it is looking rosy at the moment for people with non-EU debit cards withdrawing cash in France. However, for the future, keep an eye on banks deciding to follow Credit Agricole's example.

Upvote:1

As far as I know French ATMs don't add local surcharges to withdrawals (as opposed to common practice in other countries).

Also as far as I know, all french ATMs will either charge only in euros, or give you the choice of charging in euros or the currency of the card.

Now, charges added by your card issuer may vary. Some banks will charge fees for use of any ATM abroad, but may have all sorts of rules like "first X withdrawals per period Y are free", or "withdrawals from ATMs of bank Z which is a partner are free while others incur a fee" or whatnot.

This would be specific to your card issuer, and possibly to the account or card type.

Upvote:2

As per @jcaron, there are no fees charged on cash withdrawals at French bank or Post Office on top of what your bank will charge for a foreign withdrawal

But, outside of that, that may be the case. For example in malls/supermarkets...

If you see the logo/name of a major bank on the ATM itself (Like Société Générale (Crédit du Nord is in the same group), la Banque Postale (usually only in post offices), BNP Paribas, Crédit Mutuel, Banque Populaire, Crédit Agricole...), you are fine, Orange Bank (found in some parisian malls) doesn't charge either

On the opposite if you see a logo like the Euronet one, run away, it will charge a hefty fee and is a regular touristy trap in other countries (don't know if they are popular in France, doesn't seem to be, but in Italy and Spain they are a customary trap)

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