ATM money exchanges in Switzerland

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    15 December 2018 at 11:17:15 #819192

    Hi, guys.

    I read some people commenting on ATMs specific for EUR / USD / CHF.

    Could you give me some advice on that?

    Are these machines largely spread? Available for any one to use? Easy to operate? Do they take any bills (i.e. over 100EUR or old small face 100USD)?

    I appreciate any comments on that.

    Thank you very much!

    Luis

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    15 December 2018 at 11:48:23 #900419

    Hi Luis

    I don’t know what you mean about ATM’s taking bills. They give them normally. 🙂

    Most machines I used in Zurich could give you Euro or CHF. Though we only withdrew Euro before traveling outside Switzerland

    I’ve not heard about any ATMs dispensing USD. But perhaps I’m not clear on the machines you are talking about. I’ve not heard of ATMs taking foreign money and exchanging for local currency. I’m just referring to the usual ATMs that are normally easy to use and a similar set up to any atm in other countries.

    See more about the Swiss Franc here: http://www.myswissalps.com/sw issfranc

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    15 December 2018 at 13:52:29 #900420

    Hi, Lucas.

    Maybe ATM is not the best word for it =)

    But check migrosbank changeomat. As I understood it is a currency exchange machine and supposedly it takes dollars and euros bill and change for CHF

    Regars

    Luis

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    15 December 2018 at 18:23:13 #900421

    I’ve never seen or heard of a machine that will do that.

    I found on their site that you can withdraw USD as well as Euro and CHF from your account. Not that you’d want anything other than CHF.

    http://www.migrosbank.ch/de/p rivatpersonen/konto-und-karte/gut-beraten.html

    It could exist and I am just not aware of it (I never looked for it either) 🙂

    Otherwise you can exchange Euro or USD at a bank (in person) or with Swiss railways at many of their larger station offices

    If you just need Swiss Francs I would just withdraw it from any ATM with my bank card.

    Slowpoke
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    16 December 2018 at 1:31:46 #900422

    <<“If you just need Swiss Francs I would just withdraw it from any ATM with my bank card.”>>

    Works with my US bank debit cards. I do watch the exchange rates, since most bank cards are no-fee for foreign transactions these days, they might be tempted to “refine” their exchange rates. 😉

    Slowpoke

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    17 December 2018 at 16:52:01 #900423

    I think I know what device Lulassauro is talking about. In Wengen I walked into the Raiffiesenbank near the train station, looking to get cash from an ATM. I kept trying to insert my Visa/ATM card into the machine until my wife said “What the heck are you doing?” She then pointed out that the machine was telling me to insert cash in dollars or euros. (Did I point out that sometimes I’m an idiot?). I assume the machine would have then spit out the appropriate amount of Swiss Francs. I moved to the other machine which accepted my ATM card and gave me my CHF from my bank account.

    I travel with minimal cash, pay by credit card as much as I can, and only get “walking-around money” from an ATM as needed. I have little use for a currency-conversion machine, but if someone likes to travel with cash, this would be a useful machine to find.

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    17 December 2018 at 19:12:54 #900424

    Interesting indeed!

    Thanks for the tip!

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    17 December 2018 at 19:36:48 #900425

    Exactly!

    Thanks for the help Bpascal =)

    Let me focus on a specific question then:

    Does anyone know if the old 100USD bills and larger than 100Eur bills are normally accepted by Swiss banks for exchange to CHF?

    Thanks again!

    Luis

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    18 December 2018 at 7:18:00 #900426

    I can’t say for sure on bank policies. Large euro bills shouldn’t be an issue but I’m not sure about “old” USD bills. As long as it is still legal currency you should be fine.

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