Le Parisien, the Paris every day newspaper, has been working a wonderful video sequence by journalist Mathieu Hennequin referred to as Le Touriste, on frequent vacationer scams in Paris. The movies are in French, so that you’ll want both some French abilities or use of auto-translate, however they’re properly value watching (particularly for the hilarious little songs they write).
The sequence highlights a few of the traditional vacationer traps, together with the Eiffel Tower portrait photographers, overcharging for drinks in tourist-area cafés, and opportunistic (an typically unlawful) tuk-tuk drivers — and, in a single notably eye-opening episode from October, it investigates non-public money machines that don’t belong to banks. These ATMs (or distributeurs in French), typically operated by firms like Euronet, can cost vacationers — or, extra particularly, anybody utilizing a non-European financial institution card — as much as 4 instances extra in withdrawal and conversion charges than common financial institution machines.
I feel this sequence is improbable, so I’ve translated and summarized the important thing factors from that video beneath. However when you’d like to check your French (there’s really quite a lot of English-speaking on this one), I extremely advocate testing the unique Le Parisien video right here:
What Anybody Utilizing a Non-European Financial institution Card Ought to Watch Out For
- Keep away from non-public ATMs like Euronet, Travelex, or Cashzone or different machines not situated straight outdoors an precise financial institution, as a result of these non-public machines typically cost excessive withdrawal charges and have unhealthy alternate charges (similar to the “change” cash alternate kiosks throughout Paris).
- Search for official financial institution ATMs akin to BNP Paribas, Société Générale (SG), Caisse d’Épargne, LCL, Crédit Agricole, and even La Banque Postal (many guests don’t understand that the submit workplace can also be a financial institution in France). You may seek for these on Google maps underneath “distributeur automatique de billets“ (generally shortened to DAB), or simply “un distributeur” when you ask an precise human.
- Verify the display fastidiously earlier than confirming any withdrawal. In case you don’t have some other choices and want to make use of a non-public ATM, search for phrases like “conversion fee utilized” or “assured alternate fee.” In case you see these, it means the ATM desires to transform your cash itself, normally at a 15–20% worse fee. All the time select “Decline conversion” or “Cost me in euros” when given the choice (this additionally applies once you pay in retailers, eating places, or resorts).
- Be skeptical of prompt giant withdrawal quantities. Vacationer-targeted ATMs typically default to €200, €400, or extra, pushing up commissions and conversion markups. Manually choose a smaller quantity when you solely want a bit of money.
- Look ahead to entry or “service” charges on the abstract display. Charges of €4–€6 per withdrawal are frequent with non-public ATMs — versus €0 charges at most financial institution ATMs (no matter whether or not your personal financial institution applies a price or not).
- Keep away from withdrawing at airports, vacationer areas, or nightlife streets. These are prime spots for high-fee non-public ATMs. If doable, alternate some euros prematurely from residence earlier than arriving — ideally in payments no bigger than €20 or €50 — to keep away from having to make use of random ATMs once you land.
- All the time select to obtain a receipt and hold it in case there’s a difficulty.
- Think about using a journey or pay as you go card with low or no overseas transaction charges (e.g., Clever, Revolut, or a journey bank card).
Do You Even Want Money Anymore?
It might be tempting to keep away from withdrawing money in any respect, and it’s actually a LOT simpler to pay for nearly every thing with bank cards in Paris and different main cities in France, together with taxis, small purchases, and even your baguette on the bakery. However money remains to be nice to have for purchasing at flea markets or brocantes, for a few of the open-air meals market stands in Paris, and for leaving small suggestions once you’ve acquired good service.
FYI, the French do NOT use the bank card tipping choice, they like to go away money (normally €2/particular person is normal), so don’t really feel unhealthy when you click on on “no tip” on the machine when it’s offered to you by the servers. Extra on tipping etiquette right here.
One huge exception, talked about within the video, is within the French countryside, the place most retailers desire money, and but there are sometimes zero banks. So make any money withdrawals from financial institution ATMs within the metropolis earlier than heading out to les provinces.
One thing to remember: it’s unlawful to refuse money funds in France. They could insist on actual change, however they can not power you to make use of a bank card (there are some exceptions to this rule, akin to for transactions over €5000).
