I've used the ATMs from several banks in Barcelona over many years and never been charged a fee at any of them, but I have used Visa and Mastercard debit cards.

I was going to say, what they will ask you is whether you want the withdrawal to be charged to your bank in Euros or your native currency, ask for it in Euros as if they convert it it will be at a poorer rate than your own bank would give, but as you appear to already be in Barcelona you must already know thisw

I know the two machines I used last month didn't charge, but I'm not sure how useful "100m from the Cathedral" or "on Rambla de Catalunya, west side" would be.

I replied yesterday but it seems to have not made it.

As far as I'm aware, no normal banks charge. The charges are linked to your card and bank. I have a card that does not have any charges for Euro transactions on my UK account (which is nice) and when I make withdrawals the only amount that is taken out of my account is the amount in Euros converted into £s at a rate close to the inter-bank rate (so approx £1 to €1.21 in February).

There are ATMs in the UK that charge a fee. These are normally non-bank machines in shops, service stations, pubs etc. I've used dozens of ATMs in Catalunya and have only seen one that seemed to want to add a charge. This was near the Urquinaona metro station on Via Laietana. I used the 'Cancel' button and went down the road.

Normal bank-owned machines in the EU don't charge. There are some specialty banks in some countries that will charge, but not the regular commercial bank. Non-bank owned ATM owners can charge or not as they wish.

Bank-owned ATMs do charge a fee in Spain if you have an account with a Spanish bank that is not part of the same ATM network (Servired, 4B). Banc Sabadell always tells me I won't be charged for the transaction (nice as I am a customer!). It seems strange to me that people with foreign cards get charged nothing but if Chris and Doff say so....! However a British friend of mine who was in Barcelona for about 2 years used her UK card and found that the transaction fee varied; even different fees from the same ATM at times, but there always was a (smallish) fee

In Germany I paid 4.99€ to withdraw 100e from a non-bank ATM. Unlike the message from the banc Sabadell, the charge was in small print at the bottom of the page and I had touched proceed before the sum had registered. Caught short b a cinema not accepting a German debit-card even for 3 seats coming to 90€ total

Intriguing. I can't speak for Spanish residents using accounts from other Spanish banks but I would think that the fluctuating charges for Lynda's British friend would be explained by small day to day variations in the exchange rate and would be charged by the UK bank.

I had an annoying experience a few years ago when a UK bank machine (not my bank) broke down in mid-transaction, retaining my card. This was the one that doesn't attract charges in the Eurozone and it was the day before we were flying. My own bank was unable to get a replacement card to me in time but advised me to speak to the bank whose machine broke. They agreed to refund all charges made on my 'spare' card by my own bank, which they did a few weeks after I got back. They were very specific about it being charges from MY bank and those were the only ones I paid.

I've had a quick look at my last two Barcelona and Berlin transactions which look like this ...

CASH WITHDRAWAL AT ATM 100810057,BARCELONA,300.00 EUR,

RATE 0.83/GBP ON 09-02-2014 £250.47

CASH WITHDRAWAL AT ATM 02137,Transact,340.00 EUR,

RATE 0.83/GBP ON 30-12-2013 £285.29

Comparing the Euros I got for my £s, the rates are within a few hundredths of percentage points of the historical £/€ rates for those dates shown on http://www.exchangerates.org.uk and there were no other related charges. Perhaps I've been lucky with my choice of card.

BTW - most UK machines that charge display their charge (often, but not always £1.75 around here) on the screen before you put your card in. You can see it from metres away. I never use them and don't understand why some people do when there is often a normal bank machine within a short walk. I seem to recall some controversy recently (jon_hall will know) when it was noticed that all ATMs within a fairly large radius around the main Liverpool football grounds had been replaced by ones that have transaction charges. I don't know if this has been addressed.

Yesterday the OP started 2 threads on the same topic. This is the 2nd thread that had fewer posts.

G-M,

The two threads are both about ATMs but are about different subjects, the other is about the maximum withdrawal amount