Barclays overseas are just as helpful
We recently went on holiday and I took my new Citibank card which has 3 currency accounts attached to it. Before I left I deposited many Euros in the Euro account, called them and asked them to link the card to the Euro account. All well and good so far.

Until I realised I'd forgotten the PIN number (new card you see, thought I'd changed it but hadn't.) Oops. Luckily, we were in a restaurant where we know the folk very well and I was able to sign the receipt. This was Friday night so we weren't able to get to a bank until Monday. We had enough cash and other cards to see us through till then. On Monday I went to a branch of Barclays, set up to serve the expat community in the Algarve. I smiled, explained my foolish error, showed them my passport and asked for a cash withdrawal. I figured being a Brit, in a Brit bank, needing help in a strange faraway land, they'd be lovely and sweet and sympathetic. No chance, flat refusal.

Arse. All that holiday money out of reach. I tried a branch of BPI and they couldn't have been more helpful. The cashier said that seeing as my card 'looked' like a credit card, she'd call through for the authorisation and not say anything about it having 'debit card' printed on it. Result: lots of nice fresh Euros ready to exchange for food and beer.

Barclays- you are Olympic class cross border nobbers.
(randomstupidname would really like this signature field to be bigge, Sat 18 Jul 2009, 22:11, 2 replies)

Shorter post
"A company I'm not a customer of wouldn't let me do something illegal. The bastards!"
(stalinism, Sun 19 Jul 2009, 12:30, closed)

what's illegal
about trying to get my own money?
(randomstupidname would really like this signature field to be bigge, Sun 19 Jul 2009, 18:44, closed)