For many years I’ve used a Caxton currency debit card if i’ve not wanted to buy or get cash using my French account. Very convenient just top it up, using phone app, direct from my Barclays account and within seconds it has € on it at reasonable rates.
Last week i wanted small amount of cash but both Credit A and Credit Mutuel Bretagne wanted to charge me €5. According to Caxton such charges are now levied by the bank terminal operator when getting cash and are outside the control of the Visa/Mastercard agreement. Brexit Xmas present that keeps on giving!
So can anyone recomend a replacement currency card (as distinct from a debit card on a uk bank account) as a replacement?
I had a Caxton card from when the service first started but in more recent times have moved away from using it.
I now use Revolut (see link at top of page alongside the Search icon). The free account allows 200€ cash withdrawal by the card per month (usually fee free from Revolut) but some cash dispenser operators will make a charge - notably CA in our local area.
I’m not sure it is really anything to do with Brexit, it’s just as Caxton say, the bank terminal operator who is “cashing in” (pun intended) on it.
Frankly, we don’t really use our Revolut card for obtaining cash, just shopping (and a disposable card for online shopping). Our local bank where we have an account (Banque Populaire) dispense cash from our account from the ATM without charge so that is what we use.
You can move funds to your Revolut account just in the same way as you have been doing with Bankleys Bark on line app. In our case, we move Sterling from our UK account to Revolut and then convert what we need to Euro in the Revolut app when the exchange rate is favourable.
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Bank populaire or La Poste cashpoints are free to use
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I got stung by Credit A this morning, just wanted 20 euros and they charged me 5 euros, never happens at the ATM in LeClerc
Oh dear… I take it you’re not a CA customer ???
What Card were you using???
Barclaycard used to be fine in certain ATM but not all … that much I remember from long, long ago.
One can find something suitable, generally, at the supermarket malls…
It was my Wise Border a/c card, but I have never had to pay “commission” when withdrawing cash from other ATMs
So this was the first time… and the last I suspect… that you will use the ATM at Credit Agricole. I guess many of us have found out the hard way what we can do where…
Only went there to save time later in the week, I need to phone my hay man but was short 20 euros, will never use CA again
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That would be a wise decision.
On form I see Stella…
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Revolutionary even
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Don’t think it a characteristic of CA…rather of the card you were using , was it to draw out from a UK bank account or Uk domiciled card issuer.? I use my CA debit card in a varying French banks, Credit Mutuel Bretagne, Soc Gen, BNP Paribas and never get a fee…until i try a uk card.
It was my Wise Border a/c card in £, I use it as I get a better rate and also my French card sometimes doesn’t work, never been charged a commission when I have had to use the ATM in Leclerc
I think it is to be honest. As @Ann_Cook mentions:
and we the same with our Revolut card at the ATM at our Banque Populaire branch.
As Caxton correctly told you, this charge is levied by the ATM operator - in this case CA.
Just goes to show… probably best to check where to use the Cards without charges, before zapping them into any old ATM.
In the days of Barclaycard (well before moving here)… we knew which ATM’s to look out for and would drive slowly to find the one we needed.
Even so, we all make mistakes. I remember dashing into a building waving my Barclaycard to use an ATM (somewhere, lost in France), only to be told that it was for “Customers Only”. I felt totally stupid and went as red as a beetroot and slunk away… 
IIRC at the large shopping malls, each ATM machines used to have a sign indicating which cards could be used (for free)… no idea if that is still the case. We couldn’t use our BCard in just any old ATM even at Leclerc etc… in those far off days.
Generally, the ATM will tell you before you commit to the transaction that there will be a fee allowing you to cancel if not content to proceed.
The only other thing to be wary of - whether an ATM you use regularly or not - is to check to make sure that it has not been nobbled with a card skimmer - there are plenty of clues listed elsewhere on the web to look out for without repeating them here.
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The point is that there’s no way to do this really in this case, CA introduced this charge at the start of the year with no mention at all anywhere. Only now is it starting to get some press as people are ‘joining the dots’ so to speak, there has to the best of my knowledge still not actually been any official word from CA. In one sense why would there be? It’s bad news for customers so companies tend not to like shouting about it, and the change only affects a small number of users, but I think it’s the underhanded way it’s been slipped in that’s the issue. Residents here can probably find another machine to use, tourists and such may not know where other banks are or how they can get cash out, and so will likely just accept the charge which is only told to you at the last stage before the cash is dispensed. It’s very poor behaviour really and makes me think so much less of CA.
I thought that with Wise (for example) one can check where (abroad) and under what circumstances the card can be used… sure I’ve seen something recently…
EDIT: next time I visit my CA Branch I’ll ask them about this sort of thing.
If I have recalled the details correctly:
Wise Border Account card in £
ATM at CA charged 5€ to provide 20€ cash without giving advance warning of this charge (which would have allowed the customer to cancel the demand).
@Ann_Cook is this correct??
It seems that CA charges were certainly brought to our attention in January 2022
EDIT: I’m in the middle of baking and this has been running through my head. Now I’m wondering if CA have done this deliberately to deter their ATM’s being depleted of cash by Visitors (whatever) which might leave their own clients high and dry…
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CA also charge €5 for using euro currency cards, but you do have the option not to proceed/ to cancel the transaction
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