ATMs are a nightmare for folks using non-SEPA cards. The biggest problem is getting solid info. E.g. this page falsely claims “Withdrawal limit: Bank ATMs in Netherlands have a withdrawal limit of 400 euros per transaction. However, there is no limit on the number of withdrawals per day.” The €400 per transaction limit is widely understood to be for non-eurozone cards, not local cards – but in fact that’s also a bogus rumor because I have seen a non-eurozone card get ~€440 before. And the claim of no limit on the number of transactions is apparently nonsense too.
ABN·AMRO claims the limit is €2k. That’s probably correct for local cards but certainly not foriegn cards.
This page is one of few to acknowledge a difference between local cards and non-local cards. But still dicey info. “€250 - €400 if you use a foreign card” (the limit /can/ be higher than €400). But what’s interesting is the site shows a range. So which machines can push limits for foreign cards the most?
I think the swindle is like this: the ATMs charge foreign cards a transaction fee of €4 (which is probablly legally capped since ATMs are a near Geldmaat monopoly in most of Netherlands). Since that’s a flat fee, it makes sense for consumers to pull out as much as they can in one go (to the extent of their need). The lower the limit, the more recurrances of €4 they can charge. The anti-competitive maneuvering they’re doing is to conceal the limit. Without transparency, consumers are forced to guess. If they guess wrong too many times, the card can be confiscated by the machine, reported, or frozen. So there is pressure to under-estimate the limit.
Anyway, what is the highest amount anyone has pulled out of a Dutch ATM in recent years using a non-euro card?
(By the way, I was forced to choose a language to tag my post with and Dutch was the only choice. Yet the sidebar contains English. So I am submitting this English text with a Dutch tag in order to make the “post” button sensitive in alexandrite)
You must log in or register to comment.
The vast majority of ATMs are Geldmaat. Their page is here: https://www.geldmaat.nl/nl/diensten/opnemen/biljetten-opnemen/
I never found them to have limits with a foreign card, or at least, 550 euro was no problem last year, though you do pay a higher withdrawal fee above 400 euro. If your foreign card doesn’t use euros, it’s 5% for DCC (which isn’t exactly great either).
I don’t know about foreign cards, but even with a card of a Dutch bank I couldn’t get €400 from an ATM, €250 was the max, really annoying.
And I couldn’t find any info about the why and where, it’s so weird.
The small Geldmaat machines have a limit on the number of bills (probably due to being really small). I think it’s like 15 bills, and they don’t carry 50 euro bills. So it caps at 300.
Also, you can probably increase that limit in your bank app.
To you and OP @[email protected] , it’s to prevent scams where someone essentially tries to subtract all of someone’s money from a card.
If the card does an economic activity of a large sum, and that was never seen before, it’ll be asked to scan and will do so more often. I think there also is a limit, but one can customise them up to an extent.
If someone asks you to customise the limit, don’t listen to them.
I’m astonished to hear of that degree of nannying. But then it occurs to me that’s probably not an ATM limit; it’s probably a limit of the bank that issued your card. I would check your bank’s contract.
Since ATM fees don’t apply in your case, the fix is perhaps to open a few accounts so you can use one card after another. I guess assuming these are gratis accounts (not sure if that’s a thing in NL).
Another trick: buy something at SPAR and ask for €150 in cash back. I’ve heard SPAR has a 150 limit but not tested it. I would like to hear if any shops have a higher cash back limit than 150 as well.
