Aarrgghh! I can't get any money out! please help
Nov 13th 2007, 8:57 am
#31
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Joined: Dec 2006
Location: Cowichan Valley, Vancouver Island, BC
Posts: 1,377
Re: Aarrgghh! I can't get any money out! please help
Hi
This is long but please bear with me. There may be an obvious answer and I may be a complete muppet but for the life of me I can't think of it.
We have been in Canada in a couple of weeks now. We brought over enough cash to tide us over but it is quickly running out. I have tried about a dozen ATMs but all of my cards are declined despite informing eveyone back home first and having substantial funds ( I had no problem on holiday 2 years ago so I can only think it is the chip and pin). I have no problem paying for anything in the shops with any of them it's just getting actual cash out. The only way I can get cash out is is to make a 50 mile round trip into Calgary and get it done over the counter(there are closer banks but my cards are visa and those banks only work with mastercards!!!!). Even this has been limited to about a couple of hundred dollars a day due to a daily limit which is no good when I have to pay rent (property management company will not accept credit cards ???). So in order to avoid several trips a week I'm having to get cash advances on my credit cards which is not ideal. It also means that I am limited to getting cash during banking hours which I am quickly learning are not as accessible as in the UK
I have rang and rang back home (UK) just to be told that there shouldn't be a problem and maybe it is just that particular machine but short of trying every single ATM in Alberta I don't know what to do. I have opened a bank account with Scotia which is aligned with Barclays (my bank back home) but it will not let me transfer funds online. I also set up an account with Hifix before I came out but I want to try to hang on before transferring my life savings until the exchange rate improves.
Do other people have this problem? I feel like I'm in the dark ages! How on earth do I get money out? maybe I have been a bit naive but I just presumed I would be able to access it as I had done on previous holidays. Barclays have said that they would do a wire transfer but it's not cheap and it takes about 4 days. I just want to go to the hole in the wall when I want - is it too much to ask?
Sorry for the rant, any ideas would be gratefully appreciated!
mant thanks
This is long but please bear with me. There may be an obvious answer and I may be a complete muppet but for the life of me I can't think of it.
We have been in Canada in a couple of weeks now. We brought over enough cash to tide us over but it is quickly running out. I have tried about a dozen ATMs but all of my cards are declined despite informing eveyone back home first and having substantial funds ( I had no problem on holiday 2 years ago so I can only think it is the chip and pin). I have no problem paying for anything in the shops with any of them it's just getting actual cash out. The only way I can get cash out is is to make a 50 mile round trip into Calgary and get it done over the counter(there are closer banks but my cards are visa and those banks only work with mastercards!!!!). Even this has been limited to about a couple of hundred dollars a day due to a daily limit which is no good when I have to pay rent (property management company will not accept credit cards ???). So in order to avoid several trips a week I'm having to get cash advances on my credit cards which is not ideal. It also means that I am limited to getting cash during banking hours which I am quickly learning are not as accessible as in the UK
I have rang and rang back home (UK) just to be told that there shouldn't be a problem and maybe it is just that particular machine but short of trying every single ATM in Alberta I don't know what to do. I have opened a bank account with Scotia which is aligned with Barclays (my bank back home) but it will not let me transfer funds online. I also set up an account with Hifix before I came out but I want to try to hang on before transferring my life savings until the exchange rate improves.
Do other people have this problem? I feel like I'm in the dark ages! How on earth do I get money out? maybe I have been a bit naive but I just presumed I would be able to access it as I had done on previous holidays. Barclays have said that they would do a wire transfer but it's not cheap and it takes about 4 days. I just want to go to the hole in the wall when I want - is it too much to ask?
Sorry for the rant, any ideas would be gratefully appreciated!
mant thanks
We have Nationwide Visa debit cards and couldn't withdraw cash. In order to get around the problem we obtained credit cards here and have been using them instead.
When it comes to paying the credit card bill we have paid in a sterling cheque drawn on our Nationwide account - it takes a little persuasion to get the bank to accept the cheque.
Visa seems to be the underlying problem!
We keep trying to us our card for cah and it works sporadically. Yesterday it worked with an ATM that refused it in the past!
We have had to make Swift transfers due to this problem and they take a while to set up and expensive for (relatively) small amounts. We had to send the actual paperwork to the UK - they wouldn't accept fax.
Nov 13th 2007, 9:03 am
#32
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Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 2,710
Re: Aarrgghh! I can't get any money out! please help
Out of interest then (and for the sake of my sanity) has anyone in the Calgary area (or Banff/Canmore) got money from an ATM with a Barclays connect card that has a visa symbol and is chip and pin back home. If so, please tell me where - I am willing to travel just to see if it works!
Nov 13th 2007, 9:38 am
#33
Pea Brain
Joined: Jun 2005
Location: TBD
Posts: 6,005
Re: Aarrgghh! I can't get any money out! please help
When my MIL visits, she has a Nationwide Visa and has the same problems - often gets rejected in stores and she can't take any cash out from ATM's with it. Banks won't allow her to take cash advances over the counter either.
Nov 13th 2007, 9:56 am
#34
RETIRED Realtor
Joined: Aug 2006
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba
Posts: 2,087
Re: Aarrgghh! I can't get any money out! please help
My daughter had a problem in reverse with her debit card in the UK, she had created a five digit pin number for hers, but the UK machines would only accept a 4 digit pin. Could you be having a similar problem?
Nov 13th 2007, 9:59 am
#35
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Joined: Aug 2006
Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba
Posts: 2,087
Re: Aarrgghh! I can't get any money out! please help
We're with RBC as well and when I pay UK cheques in my account the cash is immediately available.
Nov 13th 2007, 11:15 am
#36
Joined: Feb 2006
Location: Red Deer, Alberta
Posts: 10,614
Re: Aarrgghh! I can't get any money out! please help
Out of interest then (and for the sake of my sanity) has anyone in the Calgary area (or Banff/Canmore) got money from an ATM with a Barclays connect card that has a visa symbol and is chip and pin back home. If so, please tell me where - I am willing to travel just to see if it works!
TDM was the only one my hubby could use in Red Deer - or maybe it was the only one he could get more than $100 from or summut. I dunno but try them!
Nov 13th 2007, 1:06 pm
#37
Happy Bunnies
Joined: May 2004
Location: NW Calgary
Posts: 1,371
Re: Aarrgghh! I can't get any money out! please help
We used our Nationwide Visa debit card with no problems for some time to draw cash out (Scotiabank definitley worked). But, when we were over in June we had problems at garages paying for petrol - soemthing to do with the chip and pin the cashiers seemed to think, but they were geared up for it and used the old manual thing which imprints your card onto a slip - you might be able to find somewhere that could do this for you perhaps?
Nov 13th 2007, 2:30 pm
#38
Forum Regular
Joined: Sep 2007
Location: Cornwall UK/Moncton, NB
Posts: 94
Re: Aarrgghh! I can't get any money out! please help
You`re not alone, several years ago I came over for a month with my Barclays connect card. Had to the same problems in Halifax. All the main ATM machines would not accept my card, however the small ATM machines you see in the mall let me withdraw cash without a problem.
I think it`s a problem because it`s a visa debit card, which they don`t have in Canada (or not as popular) and not like their interac system. Seems many of the machines get confused because they don`t know whether it`s a basic checking debit card or a credit card. The machine doesn`t know how the treat the card.
I was fortunate because there were quite a few of these smaller ATM machines dotted around in bars and malls.
UK personal cheques at my local Credit Union have a 30 day hold.
I think it`s a problem because it`s a visa debit card, which they don`t have in Canada (or not as popular) and not like their interac system. Seems many of the machines get confused because they don`t know whether it`s a basic checking debit card or a credit card. The machine doesn`t know how the treat the card.
I was fortunate because there were quite a few of these smaller ATM machines dotted around in bars and malls.
UK personal cheques at my local Credit Union have a 30 day hold.
Last edited by kosh; Nov 13th 2007 at 2:33 pm.
Nov 13th 2007, 3:36 pm
#39
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Location: Pemberton, B.C. :-)
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Re: Aarrgghh! I can't get any money out! please help
My bank here (RBC) cleared a UK Ā£ cheque direclty into my account for me last month on the basis that they knew me - great service, i had expected a long wait for it to clear (and it was my UK tax refund - hurray 
)
)
Nov 13th 2007, 6:52 pm
#40
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Joined: May 2007
Posts: 415
Re: Aarrgghh! I can't get any money out! please help
i bank with the HSBC and i have a solo card am i going to have the same problem there at the atm's and do the shops except this sort of card? thanks
Nov 13th 2007, 8:15 pm
#41
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Joined: May 2007
Location: Okotoks and settled.
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Re: Aarrgghh! I can't get any money out! please help
It would be easier to try Chinook Mall, and their cash machine (oh the one inside the airport near Tim Hortons worked also). It was something to do with a symbol missing on the back of the card so the machines read it as a credit card unless the banks are associated with visa.
If you take the car into a bank and explain your difficulity and show them the card they will tell you what banks you can use, but mainly any bank that uses visa only. Once we found out we used ATM's in Calgary city centre
Sharon
If you take the car into a bank and explain your difficulity and show them the card they will tell you what banks you can use, but mainly any bank that uses visa only. Once we found out we used ATM's in Calgary city centre
Sharon
Nov 14th 2007, 1:35 am
#42
ModerĪ±tor Emeritus
Joined: Sep 2003
Location: Upstate South Carolina
Posts: 30,771
Re: Aarrgghh! I can't get any money out! please help
TD Canada Trust springs to mind then as one of the larger ones to try then?
Dunno if this will help?
http://visa.via.infonow.net/locator/...128BFEE2.webl7
Dunno if this will help?
http://visa.via.infonow.net/locator/...128BFEE2.webl7
Nov 14th 2007, 1:50 am
#43
Banned
Joined: Dec 2005
Location: Cochrane near Calgary, Alberta
Posts: 667
Re: Aarrgghh! I can't get any money out! please help
TD Canada Trust springs to mind then as one of the larger ones to try then?
Dunno if this will help?
http://visa.via.infonow.net/locator/...128BFEE2.webl7
Dunno if this will help?
http://visa.via.infonow.net/locator/...128BFEE2.webl7
If you are living, working and staying here, just open up a canadian bank account and transfer a lump sum over and then you won't have any problems.
Nov 14th 2007, 2:39 am
#44
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Location: Windsor, ON; Chicago, IL
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Re: Aarrgghh! I can't get any money out! please help
Why have you got a Solo card anyway? I thought they were for teens, and were pretty problematic to use in the UK never mind abroad.
Nov 14th 2007, 4:29 am
#45
Joined: Feb 2006
Location: Red Deer, Alberta
Posts: 10,614
Re: Aarrgghh! I can't get any money out! please help
Most probably in the shops - especially Walmart but you should be OK with ATMS - I am and have been for 2.5 years now
