question for all Europeans

[querty]

Here in Belgium we only can get bills of 20€ and 50€ out of the wall at our bank.

How is that in other countries? Is that the same?

[Venga]

Here in Belgium we only can get bills of 20€ and 50€ out of the wall at our bank.

How is that in other countries? Is that the same?

There are banks in The Netherlands that give 5, 10, 20 and 50. And... you can even choose your notes. So 250 euros can be 22 new notes for EBT!

[Dakkus]

Here in Belgium we only can get bills of 20? and 50? out of the wall at our bank.

How is that in other countries? Is that the same?

There are banks in The Netherlands that give 5, 10, 20 and 50. And... you can even choose your notes. So 250 euros can be 22 new notes for EBT!

But even if you can get 22 distinct notes, it's most of times better to just get 200e and 50e notes. Reason: When you pay with them, you'll get the smaller notes anyway. You actually get /more/ notes if you take them as big ones instead of small notes.

Of course also this has an exception: If you're going to pay with the whole 250e right away, you should get it as 5e notes instead of bigger ones because you won't get any change when paying :)
And BTW, 250e as 5e notes is 50 notes ;)

The ATMs in Finland only give 20e and 50e. Which is a bit stupid, because not everyone has 20e in their account.
If you want to withdraw smaller notes, you must go to a shop. You can withdraw any amount of money in Valintatalo shops around the country but they keep 50c as a service fee..

[Donald]

There are no rules in Germany. My home bank dispenses 5, 10, 20 and 50 € notes, others only 20 and 50. The worst ATM I had so far was in Leipzig (only 50s), but the same company as home.

[!Pretfles!]

There are no rules in Germany. My home bank dispenses 5, 10, 20 and 50 € notes, others only 20 and 50. The worst ATM I had so far was in Leipzig (only 50s), but the same company as home.

is that legal???

what a rip-off

[Donald]

is that legal???

Why should it be illegal? The bank is only obliged to pay you your money, nobody tells them in which way. You can go to the counter (only during opening hours) as well. Or you find other ATMs which offer better service, it's part of the competition. Or you have a pay card (for small amounts like public transport) or you use a credit card.

[BogPoet]

In Portugal, most ATM's won't dispense more than €20 bills, and most of them dispense €5 bills. Only in some places, especially where people are expected to spend a lot of money, can you find €50 bills in ATM's (for example, Vilamoura, a well-know deluxe tourist resort near my place).

[Marrokina]

In Portugal, most ATM's won't dispense more than €20 bills, and most of them dispense €5 bills. Only in some places, especially where people are expected to spend a lot of money, can you find €50 bills in ATM's (for example, Vilamoura, a well-know deluxe tourist resort near my place).

Most of the time we use debit card to pay for the large bills in the supermarket and so, since there are no fees with that form of payment, and it avoids carrying big sums of money around... So most of the money withdrawn from the ATM is "pocket money" to use in small things.

[avij]

Most of the time we use debit card to pay for the large bills in the supermarket and so, since there are no fees with that form of payment, and it avoids carrying big sums of money around... So most of the money withdrawn from the ATM is "pocket money" to use in small things.

EBT has surely changed by debit card usage -- before the € switchover I paid most of my largish payments (~100FIM, ~17€) with my debit card, after the switch I raised the threshold to about 20€. After I heard about EBT, I've pretty much stopped using the card, apart from withdrawing money from ATMs with that card. I still use my card for some things, the most notable place is the machine that sells train tickets at train stations ("Junamaatti").

[querty]

I still use my card for filling my car with oil and sometimes for buying a trainticket.

[Dakkus]

I didn't use cash at all before I found EBT :))
I had Visa Electron, which is supported everywhere else than a few kiosks and Lidl. And since the R-Kiosks are expensive and Lidl is generally Scheisse, I've had no problems just walking to other shops.
But now when I use EBT I don't need the electron possibilities of the card at all :D
EBT must be expensive for ECB, as they have to print more and more money just for us to use ;)

[querty]

I see you are from Finland, Dakkus. I sometimes wonder why we get so little Finnish notes, here in Belgium. Since the day that I became a member here (29 may 2003) I haven't received one yet. I think we have more chance to make a hit when we receive a Finnish bill.

[avij]

I sometimes wonder why we get so little Finnish notes, here in Belgium.

Well, if you want to get Finnish notes, you'd better come to Finland to get them

Failing that, here's a listing of countries with the highest concentration of Finnish notes this year (number of L notes in that country divided by the number of all notes in that country), perhaps you should visit them:

Code: Select all

+----------------+----------+---------------+
| country        | count(*) | concentration%|
+----------------+----------+---------------+
| Finland        |    52212 |         84.02 |
| Denmark        |       13 |         72.22 |
| Estonia        |       13 |         65.00 |
| Sweden         |       12 |         17.14 |
| Lithuania      |        1 |         16.67 |
| Latvia         |        2 |         11.76 |
| Cyprus         |        1 |         11.11 |
| United States  |       10 |          8.40 |
| United Kingdom |        6 |          7.89 |
| Czech Republic |        1 |          2.08 |
| Brazil         |        1 |          1.89 |
| Greece         |       20 |          1.05 |
| Luxembourg     |       14 |          0.81 |
| Austria        |       52 |          0.79 |
| Canada         |        1 |          0.64 |
| Spain          |       50 |          0.60 |
| Netherlands    |      486 |          0.55 |
| Italy          |        8 |          0.48 |
| Belgium        |      345 |          0.45 |
| Germany        |      568 |          0.33 |
| France         |       33 |          0.30 |
| Portugal       |       72 |          0.27 |
| Ireland        |        6 |          0.22 |
| Switzerland    |        1 |          0.22 |
+----------------+----------+---------------+

For reference, the table for Belgian Z notes looks somewhat different:

Code: Select all

+----------------+----------+---------------+
| country        | count(*) | concentration |
+----------------+----------+---------------+
| Belgium        |    32429 |         42.29 |
| Luxembourg     |      241 |         14.00 |
| Denmark        |        2 |         11.11 |
| Greece         |      105 |          5.50 |
| Netherlands    |     4807 |          5.40 |
| Brazil         |        2 |          3.77 |
| France         |      387 |          3.47 |
| Canada         |        5 |          3.21 |
| United Kingdom |        2 |          2.63 |
| United States  |        3 |          2.52 |
| Switzerland    |       10 |          2.17 |
| Italy          |       24 |          1.44 |
| Germany        |     2356 |          1.38 |
| Austria        |       80 |          1.22 |
| Spain          |       84 |          1.01 |
| Ireland        |       19 |          0.69 |
| Portugal       |      141 |          0.53 |
| Finland        |      269 |          0.43 |
+----------------+----------+---------------+

[eurobillsandcoins]

France varies a lot, we mostly get 10€ and 20€ notes. We have 10 atms in the lobby and they all give different variations. From 5€-100€. It also depends which bank.

[eurobillsandcoins]

When I buy my Metro pass I pay with cash. I pay with cash a lot, I go to the hole in the wall very often. But if I go to a supermarket I usually use my BNP Paribas Carte Bleue (debit card system in France). i usually spend 100€ on groceries weekly to feed my family.