Greece reins in excess banking fees, but sneaky banks still pull these two "tricks" on tourists
Banks still find ways to clean up on fees they shouldn't be charging in the first place
Banks, don’t you just love them? They certainly love you — well, the money they can extract from your pockets, that is. This week the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, announced a raft of new measures to try to rein in excessive fees that banks have been charging for various transactions. The Minister of State, Akis Skertsos, recapped these as follows [partial list]:
1. Zero charge for payment of bills and debts to the state, insurance funds, local authorities, energy, water, telecommunications and insurance companies, through digital networks (web-banking/mobile-banking) (from 0.6 euros that it costs today in most cases).
2. Drastic reduction of money transfer fees between banks: Maximum charge of €0.5 for sending money (outgoing transfer) and €0.5 for receiving money (incoming transfer), for amounts up to €5,000 per transfer, for individuals and freelancers, between banks. It concerns both simple transfers and direct credit transfers (SEPA). This corresponds to a reduction in the cost of these fees from 50% to 80% depending on the bank and the type of transfer (from €1 to €2.5 today).
3. Zero charge for cash withdrawals from ATMs of another bank than the one where the account is held in remote and island areas where there is an ATM of only one bank. In addition, nationwide, zero charge for account balance or card enquiry at ATMs of other banks (from approximately 0.2 euros currently in force).
Travelers, be warned — none of the 10 measures announced address two ATM-related issues that are perhaps unique to foreign visitors. Despite the general shift toward electronic purchases, chances are good that during your trip you’ll want to withdraw some euros from a bank machine simply to have some cash on hand.
BUT WATCH OUT.
1. Fees to withdraw cash from a Greek using an American bank card range anywhere from 1.80€ to 2€ and up — that means you are paying $2 maybe even $3 simply to withdraw as little as around the equivalent of $20 in cash. Bum deal, right? It gets worse.
2. Sneaky banks have figured out a way to sock it to you even harder. At most ATMs in Greece now (as for other European countries, I’m not sure), after you select the amount you wish to withdraw, a prompt comes up on the screen that says something like “Do you wish to withdraw your cash at the current exchange rate or with conversion”? That query is usually accompanied by language that entices you to select the “conversion” option — don’t do it!! Invariably, if you do, you will get fleeced.
This happened to me at a Eurobank ATM, but it doesn’t matter: Piraeus Bank, other banks, they are all in on the little scheme which, if you choose their preferred option, meant less cash in my pocket and will likely mean less in yours, too.
There’s often no way around paying a few bucks just to get some of your cash. But by just saying “no” to the ATM’s conversion option, trust us, you’ll save yourself a bundle.