Debit Card advice

NJ Mom of 2 · 09-18-2012, 09:35 AM

My D is currently in Copenhagen studying at DIS. She left with a capital one debit card which was perfect - no transactions fees or atm fees. We thought we had conquered all the banking issues. Now that she is there, the debit card has not worked at any vendor. She has tried to make purchases in Denmark, Norway and Germany. Capital one claims there is no problem with her account, but the vendors' systems must not be accepting their card.

Does anyone have a suggestion of other banks we could try that would also have no transaction fees? Another option we thought of was to open an account in Denmark for the duration of her stay. Any thoughts on that?

artrell · 09-19-2012, 12:37 AM

Sorry to hear about your daughter’s problems.
My daughter is also in Europe for Study Abroad and she is using the Schwab Debit card with no issues and no transaction fees. I believe you need to set up a High Yield Investor Checking account (you never have to use it for investing) and ask for a debit card.

At this point I think the best option may be to open a local checking account however you need to research the amount needed to open a local account. Sometimes it can be rather pricey.

I had heard the debit card has recently changed for Capital One, it no longer offers free transaction fees. We just returned from Europe and used the Capital One credit card and had no problems with it being accepted everywhere.

Debruns · 09-19-2012, 06:56 AM

We have a Chase Sapphire my daughter is using in UK, no transaction fees. She also gets points for purchases, air and at stores.
She has a Bank of America debit also which has an affiliation with Barclay's in UK so there are no fees at their ATM's.

She is going to open a bank account there in the hope she can get a job, and was told many "student accounts" are not hard to maintain and some have perks. She thought there wasn't a minimum amount to be kept in account but is checking that this week. That might be a good idea for your daughter if she is staying for over a few months.

Eternal Icicle · 09-19-2012, 10:01 AM

I was in Denmark for my study abroad. Because of the chipped European debit cards, I found it easier to just take kroner out at the ATM (I always used the one in the Norreport metro station, and they're easy to find at train/metro stations all over the city).

cupcake · 09-19-2012, 06:30 PM

Is the problem chip and PIN? In other words, do cards in Denmark need a chip to work and your daughter's card does not have one? If that s the case, with drawing cash from an ATM as suggested above is the way to go.

In the UK there is a disability law which says swipe and sign facilities must be available, so if you don' have a chip and pin card you can insist they take your old fashioned swipe and sign card (they will then mutter and grumble about it but the ancient swipe card machine will be dragged out of a back room somewhere eventually). However, I have no idea if there is similar legislation in Denmark. Is there anyone your D could ask?

NJ Mom of 2 · 09-19-2012, 08:50 PM

Interesting question cupcake. That might be the problem although she says that all the other American debit cards seem to work. She can withdraw money at an atm with no problem, I think her biggest frustration is traveling to other countries where she has to exchange money (since Denmark does not use the euro) rather than just using the debit card.

Her host "mom" works in a Danish bank and told her as soon as she gets a Danish ss#, which should be any day, she can open a Danish bank account with a debit card. At this point I think it is the only way for her to go. She does have a B of A debit card, but since there are no
B of A partners in Denmark, as there is with Barclay's, there is a 3% transaction fee which of course she is trying to avoid.

alooknac · 09-19-2012, 09:38 PM

Pentagon Federal Credit Union has a Platinum Rewards card with no foreign transaction fees and no cash advance fees. The rate, even for cash advances, is 9.99% guaranteed for a year or more. You will have to open a savings account with them ($5 deposit) and make a one-time donation to one of two military-related charities ($20 I think). I chose a charity that aids military families. I was able to do everything over the phone. I think I could have done it online but I wasn't sure how the donation would work. What they did was just charge the two small amounts to my existing credit card.

I also received enough initial bonus points to redeem for a $250 gift card (not sure if that offer is still on) and in just a few months I have accumulated about that much again. You get 5% on gas purchases and 3% at supermarkets, 1% everywhere else. I've been very happy with the card and their customer service.

The card I have is VISA. They offer an Amex card with a similar-sounding name but I know nothing about it.

rodney · 09-19-2012, 09:53 PM

NJ Mom: confused here; so are you saying that the Cap One Debit card cannot be used for purchases but is fine for ATM's? I wonder if the vendors are not putting it through as a visa or MC? Maybe the issue is that the vendors don't realize that they need to press "credit" not "debit" when processing. We sometime have that issue even here in the US.

We used our CapOne debit card all over Spain this month without a problem and no transaction fees (high yield checking). But most of our outright purchases were made with the Chase Sapphire (more points/no transaction fees)

Tell her to try to make a purchase and tell them it is a credit card (even if it says 'debit')

tylerg92 · 09-20-2012, 01:55 PM

One of my friends took a trip to London and was having the same problem your daughter is. The thing was that the bank had blocked all his overseas transactiona because they didn't know he was on a trip and assumed his card was stolen.

I'm not sure if any of this helps, but it may make a difference to call the company and inform them that she's overseas

NJ Mom of 2 · 09-20-2012, 05:30 PM

Thanks Rodney, I will tell her to tell them it is a credit, not debit card. Maybe that is the problem. Yes, CapOne knows she is in Europe and does not find anything wrong with her card. The problem is they don't even see a rejected purchase which leads them to believe that is the vendor's problem and not a cap one problem.

littlemisschic · 09-20-2012, 05:56 PM

I had a similar problem with my Vanquis card in denmark last year. There are some places that will take it, though it's strange the failed transactions are not showing up on her cap one account. Maybe there is a problem with the card she has been given you should request a replacment card and see if that fixed the problem. I would try a Barclays account, I've a few friends who used them when they where in europe and said they were good!

Eternal Icicle · 09-21-2012, 10:34 AM

If her card is working at ATMs, I would suggest that each time she travels to a new country, to just withdraw what she thinks she'll need for the duration of the trip, instead of going through the hassle of exchanging kroner. I found this worked well for me because it also helped me budget-- I could visually see how much I was using and make spending decisions accordingly.

cty4ever · 09-23-2012, 12:29 AM

Another possible probable is that her card likely doesn't have a chip on it, this means vendors have to run it differently (European cards have chips on them for security reasons). Just let her know to tell vendors it is an American card without a chip and they should know what to do.

And now that I've read all the comments more carefully I feel really redundant.......