Will a UK debit card work in the US?

May 30, 2008 10:56 AM

My son has a few friends who will be visiting us this summer. They have debit cards for their UK bank accounts, specifically NatWest/Solo and HSBC cards. Will these work in the ATMs (hole-in-the-walls (or is it holes-in-the-walls?)) here in the US?
posted by cosmac to travel & transportation (13 comments total)

Two years ago my UK Barclay's debit card worked fine in US ATMs (specifically, Bank of America). But the currency conversion fees were outrageous, so you ought to be careful of that. I don't know anything about their particular bank/ATM combination.
posted by itinerant at 11:53 AM on May 30

UK debit cards with a Cirrus or Maestro logo will work at most US ATMs (check for corresponding logo on the ATM, and select 'credit' as the transaction option). If the cards don't have either of these logos, they should check directly with their banks - there may be specific US partner banks which will allow withdrawals.
posted by Jakey at 11:54 AM on May 30

But, also, seconding itinerant, beware of the transaction fees, which are typically 2-3GBP per withdrawal. Each friend should withdraw the maximum at each transaction and split the cash amongst them, rather than drawing 100 bucks each per time.
posted by Jakey at 11:59 AM on May 30

My HSBC card works fine in the US, but yes, they will charge a fortune - firstly there will be a fee to withdraw money from a foreign machine and second, the currency conversion rate will be very poor.
posted by triggerfinger at 12:33 PM on May 30

Thanks all. I found using my Schwab debit card in the UK was the best way to get a good exchange rate. Schwab even refunded my ATM fees. For some reason I thought the same would be true the other direction...

I'll probably have their parents put £££s in my UK bank account and give them the $$$s here.
posted by cosmac at 12:48 PM on May 30

As others have said, most UK banks will charge through the nose in transaction fees.

It's worth noting that Nationwide offer no-fee withdrawals for when overseas, which I've found particularly handy, but I'm not sure if they deal with this by offering a poor rate of exchange instead...
posted by gkhewitt at 1:35 PM on May 30

I have mixed results with my UK debit card -- big banks (Bank of America etc) works fine, the smaller local ones not always. The solo cards are a kind of half way house to debit cards but it seems that they tend to have the Cirrus Maestro symbol on them see here. Uk debit cards generally work as credit cards in the US, not debit cards, its the Visa/Maestro/Cirrus part that enables them to work.

If they do intend to use them make sure they inform their banks they will be in the US. I regularly seem to get my cards cut off as a 'fraud prevention measure' as I forget to do this.
posted by tallus at 1:36 PM on May 30

Visa debit cards are very common in the UK, (previously known as delta) but not well supported in the US. They wii be accepted in some places as visa credit cards.

Maestro/cirrus/mastercard is far more commonly accepted in the US. Solo is a debit card with online verification - most solo cards (previously called switch) will also be maestro and/or cirrus cards for international use. Both natwest and HSBC use solo/maestro I believe, so they should be fine. Just check the symbols.

Nth'ing they'll get eaten alive by transaction charges though. There's a number of ways they can exchange money in advance at a decent rate and take it with them without carrying cash - the easiest being a pre-paid travel card. Most UK banks do them, as does the post office and tesco - get a maestro one as opposed to visa electron, and they should be pretty broadly usable.

Or get into the money laundering exchange business, as you suggested!
posted by ArkhanJG at 3:59 PM on May 30

Did a little last bit of digging. Maestro is the international name for mastercard; they should be interchangable. Cirrus is the ATM/cash dispenser aspect, so maestro for direct purchases and cirrus for cash withdrawl, though a number of ATMs also support maestro as well as cirrus - but not all. Cirrus is the best one to have (interlocking blue circles) for most compatibility. All three brands are owned by Mastercard, but are operated slightly differently.

Visa is the competing system, with visa debit, visa credit and visa electron.
posted by ArkhanJG at 4:09 PM on May 30

They will work fine, but you should never use a card to take out less than three or four hundred dollars - don't do what I did last year and keep taking out $50 here, $100 there. Pretty much for every hundred pounds they withdraw in US currency, they can pay up to fifteen, twenty quid in fees. Change money before they go.
posted by Happy Dave at 1:38 AM on May 31

They should just get a Post Office Travel Money card. Works exactly the same as a debit card abroad, but without the foreign charges lumped on top. Best thing since sliced bread, you can buy/recharge them online or in your local Post Office.
posted by saturnine at 4:59 AM on May 31

My bad, *you can buy them online, but recharge them over the phone or at your local Post Office.
posted by saturnine at 5:00 AM on May 31

The post office money card is a good idea, but it looks like you get hit for about 4% on the exchange rate. There are also fees associated with using it in an ATM. It probably ends up costing about the same as a debit card, but you are guaranteed to be able to use it and you don't have to worry about your bank account being put at risk.
posted by cosmac at 10:49 AM on May 31