Indian Bank ATM Charges

daveashcroftuk

Hi there,

I thought it might be a good idea to start a thread where people could contribute recent experiences of Indian ATM charges (as charged by the local bank) for using foreign cards (Cirrus/Maestro/Plus). Ive no recent experience.....so the ball is in your court! If anyone wants to mention type of card and card issuer, i will add it to a table here for the benefit of all.


**Indian Bank** **Card Type** **Indian Bank Charge** **Card Issuer**


(awaiting info)

lotus blossom

i was charged 3% (in rupees) when i went in and withdrew from a bank, on top of the 3% (u.s. currency) that my credit card co. charged me. When i used the ATM the only charge was from my credit card company. I think it was a 10.00 minumum fee or 3% of the total withdrawl amount.

__________________
Not all who wander are lost

Anders

As far as I know there is no charge by any indian bank to use their ATM. I certainly never had to pay anything for it. Your own bank back home might charge you something for it.

daveashcroftuk

Luckily for me, ive just opened a Nationwide account in the UK (no charges at all for overseas ATM use)........so if they ever sort out my internet banking i will be laughing!

crvlvr

All charges for ATM are applied by your bank to your account. Given that ine in swithdrawing in rupees and the account is debited in $ or pounds, it will be difficult to determine what any additional charges werem unless one knew what exchange rate was used by tthe bank.

Typically, I withdraw the maximum amount at the ATM (just in case there is a fixed fee, it will spread over a larger amount). The corresponding debit applied to my account is always lower than the what I would have to pay if I had used cash or travellers checks.

daveashcroftuk

In Europe, its common to have a charge applied by both your own bank, and the foreign bank. This can add up to almost 8% in some cases (using a Royal Bank of Scotland (UK) cirrus card at a deutsche bank ATM). Thus my pretext for asking the original question.

Number Six

Nationwide Flexaccount is the way to go if youre from the U.K. Had no problems with it in India last time and definately no charges (I checked it!).

crvlvr

Davea, my point is that any charges that you pay, will be paid to your bank. Whether a portion of that is paid to the Indian bank will be difficult to determine. you will have to ask your bank to show some proof. Many banks claim that the fees were applied by the ATM's bank so that it does not reflect badly on them.

In the US, ATMs have to disclose (a sign on the ATM) if they charge extra. In India they don't.

daveashcroftuk

CVLVR:

Assuming that other people have banks who provide them with the breakdown (as in the case of my bank) of what the charge taken from their account is, it could be useful to provide that information here for the benefit of others. In that way, people could decide which type of ATM they should use for their particular card. Its the whole point of me starting this thread!

For your info, the charge applied by the foreign bank is known as an "ERTF" charge, which i believe stands for "Exchange Rate Transaction Fee"

EDIT: Ive just found out that ERTF charges only apply to Cirrus/Maestro cards

machadinha

Possibly, yes. My experience, too, and in Europe as well, is that using an ATM card it's your own bank that charges you for any foreign transaction, not whatever local banks you use. As noted these charges can be quite substantial so make sure to enquire about this beforehand and/or take out bigger amounts each time if this is the case. Credit cards might be a whole different story again.

My card falls under Cirrus/Maestro btw I see now so unless they've changed something I've never encountered this, but it may well vary depending on what *your* bank's policy is (rather than the one where you make the withdrawal).

__________________
Reading tips, all picked up at IndiaMike : INDAX's A Comprehensive Guide To India / Dinoj Surendran's Desi Humor / ITHVC on Culture Shock & Travel Health / JetLag Travel Guides For the Undiscerning Traveller / India Travel Links

dani

my bank (the swiss post actually) charges me 3 SFr when I get money from a foreign ATM (that's about 103 Rs). There are no additional charges from the foreign bank.

iyou

Here's some data that may be of use:

ATM 1124 2256 978637 CHURCHGATEST,NR.CAF $224.75 24/11/2004
ATM 1124 2256 978637 CHURCHGATEST,NR.CAF $1.00 24/11/2004

The first line is for Rs 10,000 withdrawn, the second is a fee my credit union tacked on. According to the currency converter at Oanda.com (http://www.oanda.com/convert/classic the interbank exchange rate in effect that day the amount should have been $221.926 USD, but of course this is NOT the rate offered to tourists exchanging Traveler's Cheques at the foreign exchange counter. All in all, I'd say it was a very fair transaction.
.
.
.

__________________
.
.
.
--May a moody baby doom a yam.

crvlvr

It looks like we in the Us get off cheap. As iyou pointed out most ATM charges are fixed fee (and not a % of the transaction amount) $1-2.50 per transaction is typical. My bank does not provide detai that shoes the additional charges -- may be they don't charge me.

Here is what I see on my statements (2 separate transactions for Rs 15,000 each)

01/03 Withdrawal at ATM #1196 - 350.45 ATM ICICI BANK BANGALORE IN
01/16 Withdrawal at ATM #6618 - 348.28 ATM ABN AMRO BANK N V BANGALORE IN

That converts to Rs 42.8 and Rs 43.1 per $ -- thats 1.2-1.5% above Interbank rates for those days. Typical Credit card rates are +2% and cash rates are +4%.

I love my bank -- a small credit union.

snowcrab

I withdraw from a Canadian bank and they charge $3 per transaction in India, $0.50 at home on my bank's machines, $1.50 on any other bank's machine. The funds are withdrawn in $US dollars for some reason and then converted back to a $CAD balance. Don't quite understand that part.

GoanCanuck

The bank that I use here in Canada charges me a flat fee of $3CDN for ATM withdrawals in India regardless of the amount being withdrawn. The exchange rate that they have given me so far has been really good and is higher than that offered by the money exchangers. Money changers in India usually give you a shitty rate while converting Canadian dollars.