No issues elsewhere, but in Australia, both ATMs and stores keep rejecting my card. Anyone know if this is common? Any banks that actually work?
I had this problem in Sydney last month with my French Amex card and also with a UK Starling Bank debit card. The Amex was hit-or-miss, especially at smaller shops and cafes. The Starling card was rejected by two different ATMs one from NAB and another from Suncorp. I walked into a Westpac branch and their ATM finally accepted the card and let me withdraw without issue. After that, I used cash for tips and smaller places and stuck to Visa payments via phone wallet at major stores. If your card keeps failing, try switching to mobile payment, it seems to bypass some of the chip-reader issues.
Just got back from a trip to Perth and had non-stop issues with my Canadian Scotiabank Visa. Worked fine in Southeast Asia but was declined at multiple petrol stations and even at a hostel in Fremantle. It turns out some Aussie payment processors flag foreign cards, especially those with extra fraud protection. What finally worked for me was using an ATM inside a Commonwealth Bank branch those seemed more reliable than stand-alone machines. I also used my Wise card through Apple Pay and it was accepted in most stores, even when the physical card failed. If you have a backup card, try it with tap-to-pay first.
I’m in Brisbane right now and ran into the same thing with my Revolut Visa card. It was rejected at both a Bankwest ATM and a Coles supermarket. I used the same card in New Zealand last week with zero issues. A local told me that some terminals in Australia still don’t process certain international prepaid cards properly. I had better luck using ANZ ATMs and also managed to make contactless payments through Google Pay using the same card. The tap feature seems to work more often than the chip. If you’re stuck, find an ANZ or Westpac ATM and try contactless over swipe or chip insert.
I was in Melbourne this June and had a lot of trouble using my German N26 Mastercard. It worked perfectly in Thailand and Singapore, but in Australia, it got declined at two Woolworths stores and at a Commonwealth Bank ATM. I called N26 and they told me it’s likely due to how some Aussie POS terminals route foreign card payments especially from fintech or prepaid banks. I finally had luck withdrawing cash at a Westpac ATM and used that for smaller purchases. For cards, I switched to my Visa debit card from ING Germany, which worked everywhere. Definitely not just you it seems to be a known compatibility issue with some cards and Aussie systems