Piraeus Bank ATM Withdrawal Charge

[P&B]

I have been using a Halifax Clarity Mastercard to make cash withdrawals for the past 5 months. Almost all of the withdrawals have been made at the Piraeus Bank in Kalyves and I have never been charged for the service. Today when I tried to make a withdrawal at the Piraeus ATM in Kalyves I was prompted with a charge of EUR 3 and the option to proceed Yes or No. I proceeded to walk down the road and make a withdrawal at the Co-Op ATM at no charge.

I can't find anything on the internet about Piraeus introducing charges for ATM use. Has anyone else encountered this or have any information?

[Kilkis]

A lot of discussion about a similar, but not quite identical, issue on an earlier thread.

Warwick

[filippos]

To me, the easiest thing to do would be to go Piraeus Bank in Kalyves and ask. Kostas the manager, whose desk is at the far right hand end of the banking hall will know. He's helpful, knowledgeable and if you need to use English, his is excellent.

[kvsteele]

In the last few weeks I have been charged 2 euros each time I made a withdrawal from an ATM at banks in Heraklion and Neapoli using a Canadian card. This has never happened before. This is of course on top of the charges I incur with my Canadian banks.

[stevemartin911]

Yes me also first time ever at the national bank of Greece in Malia, they offer a conversion which they profit from, as do most which I never accept of course, so I assume this is now another way of extracting money from us ?

[tartanbeat]

Yes, this happened to a couple of my Caxton card withdrawals back in February - I think it was a blip then because the charges were refunded, and at that time, at no point did the ATM 'tell' me it there was to be a charge.

This is different, but it does seem ATM withdrawal charges are in force at some banks here. We have been informed on the display of a charge at Piraeus (EUR3) and Eurobank (EUR2.50), for the last week or so now. So far, in Chania, Alpha and Bank of Chania have not charged (maybe a matter of time?).

[bobscott]

Slightly off topic but related: I pay the phone bill on-line through Alpha Bank and last time, for the first time I was charged €0.30 for the privilege! Bob.

[Kilkis]

Same here, Bob. Up to the latest bill all the COSMOTE payments show "no charge". The latest had a €0.30 charge, which is the same as ΔΕΥΒΑ water. ΔΕΗ is €0.10. All with Alpha.

Warwick

[BrizoH71]

Happened with my Caxton card as well in the Piraeus ATM in Analipsi, and the Euro Bank ATM in Hersonissos. Having spoken with Caxton about it, it is a charge on the bank's side and not Caxton.

Piraeus is the only bank ATM in Analipsi (they have two), the rest are Euronet ATMs which I know charge already.

[STEVE.W]

This may be worth a look if you have a UK address https://www.starlingbank.com/travel/

Don't know if the local banks will apply the charges mentioned in the various posts but worth a try. The lock card function could also be useful and it would seem it is very good to use all over the world along with a transfer/exchange function to foreign banks which seems to be slightly cheaper than TransferWise.

Steve

[mouche]

http://apokoronasnews.gr/high-charges-f ... ued-cards/

[Kilkis]

Original ekathimerini article. I am posting it for the last sentence, which isn't in the Apokoronas News version. With around 45 % of their total loan book classed as Non-Performing-Loans it isn't really surprising that they aren't making much profit from interest.

Warwick

[Kookla]

Yes 2-3 Euro charge at ATM on international credit/debit card

1.30-2.20 Euro charge on Greek card used at different bank to own.

14-18 cents charge to check account balance at different bank to own.

[john4d]

Are there any charges on pre-paid cards?

[Kilkis]

I think it's a decision by the Greek banks to levy a charge on foreign cards so it doesn't really matter what sort of card they are. Effectively they are charging you for using their ATM. I could be wrong.

Warwick