Subject: Re: Retrieving money on travels
Ziners:

ATMs are literally everywhere.

Look on the back of your ATM card. You'll see a logo for either Cirrus or PLUS or both. Cirrus is the money transfer network operated by MasterCard/Maestro, and PLUS is VISA's network. If the logo is on your card, it should work in any ATM that displays the same logo.

To find locations anywhere:

Cirrus: http://www.mastercard.com/atmlocator/index.jsp

PLUS: http://tinyurl.com/c75l3

You will need a four-digit numeric PIN (I've yet to find an ATM anywhere in the UK or Europe with alpha characters on it).

Take out large draws because your bank and/or the bank that owns the ATM may levy a fixed-amount transaction charge.

PLUS and Cirrus both translate your draws at the favorable wholesale interbank exchange rate and charge a one percent agio to do the transfer.

Credit card purchases also clear through the PLUS/Cirrus networks. Many bank cards are now charging 1-4 percent in addition to the PLUS/Cirrus one percent on foreign currency charges. Find an issuer that doesn't levy this extra fee. Don't use a credit card to draw money out of an ATM because interest starts accruing immediately

I've never found a place that accepts the Discover card in UK/Europe.

Jerry in E TN USA