Stressful call home from Kochi

teaka123

My husband and daughter are in Kochi and ran into problems getting cash from the ATMs. My husband is not able to use his debit or credit card at the machines. Our bank has been contacted and they can find no reason the cards are not working properly. Following our banks advice my husband went to three banks in Fort Cochin requesting a cash advance or withdrawl using either card and the banks all said they will not do that with American cards. My daughter has a card that is working on the ATM's there, however because of the daily rupee withdrawl limit they are running short. The taxis, homestay, etc. all requesting cash not credit. Right now they are scrambling to figure out how to come up with the 100 rps they are short in order to pay the homestay bill.
I suppose the lession here is bring cash and do the exchange so you know you have the funds. Also, if you are traveling solo make certain to bring ATM cards issued from more than one bank in case one fails to work. During the rest of their travels I imagine they will have to visit places that take credit cards and withdrawl the maximum daily amount from the one working ATM card in order to keep cash on hand. Sigh.

capt_mahajan

Lesson to be learnt here for travellers, yes.

You could send some money via Western Union. Franchisees in India are everywhere now, and it is very quick.

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Outside the machine

LilBoy BigTown

Do you mind telling us what is the sign/logo on your husbands credit card? I am surprised they can't do cash advances. I have a debit card with the 'cirrus' logo at the back and that works fine in India.

The daily rupee withdrawal limit is a pain, no doubt. I think I can withdraw Rs 20,000/- per day, which for me is a lot more than I would ever spend in a day.

ribhu95

While you are in India, unless you are on a package tour or something of that sort, you are better of carrying cash.

And you would need a visa or mastercard. The proportion of establishments accepting other cards are very low.

ribhu

wonderwomanusa

Most of the places I stayed in last year did not take credit cards -- only the more expensive hotels and restaurants are set up for these.

Can you just deposit some money to your daughter's account, so she can withdraw it as needed with her ATM card?

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The map is not the territory. --Alfred Korzybski

Nick-H

The "daily rupee limit" is just a reflection of how much your bank will allow you to draw.

Even if it 15 or 20 thousand, I do find it hard to imagine how that can be too little, even on a tourist budget --- if somebody is staying and eating in places that leave this behind, then those places probably accept credit cards anyway.

If anyone thinks that my lack of understanding here is because my mind works on a local Indian economy, let me add that I find it equally difficult to understand how anyone can be a tourist in india on Rs.1,000, or less, a day --- yet we have many members that do!That sounds like an elegantly simple, and cheap, way of solving the problem.

I do recall a day, in my visiting days, of problems with ATMs, which caused me to reflect on what it must be like to be in India with no access to cash, and to rejoice that, should my problems continue, I had friends in this city who would help out. Hoping you guys get sorted soon, and can get back to enjoying.

Kochi is a great place to visit, but cash stress can ruin anywhere.

dillichaat

I don't agree with people advocating the carrying of cash. I now have a local card but before I used my european debit cards and could withdraw all I needed, usually went to the ATM once a week and retrieved 15000 INR or so. As even small towns have ATM's, this method is usually much safer and more convenient. Just check with your bank about limits etc before leaving for India.

The only problem I had was last week, in Leh of all places. Went to the ATM to withdraw 10000 INR, got a text message from my bank acknowledging the withdrawal while standing in front of the ATM...which then refused to disburse the money due to some timeout. Needless to say I was not a happy customer but luckily, 20 minutes later I received another sms stating that the transaction had been reversed

namaste_cat

Like LLBT I have had no trouble using ATM card with cirrus logo.
I don't carry much cash and thankfully have never run into a problem with ATM or places taking credit cards. Mine are all American cards like your daughter and husband would have.

Sounds like at this point, the Western Union option is your best bet as Capt M said. I use wire transfers almost exclusively both within the U.S. and for sending/receiving money abroad. If your family can get to one of these Western Union locations, you can do this using your cc or debit card and not deal with any local banks:
http://www.westernunion.com/info/hom...asp?country=IN