Wise card declined in Montenegro

Just got back from a week in Ulcinj and same story here. Wise card worked perfectly in Albania and Kosovo but once I hit Montenegro it became hit or miss. It declined at Hipotekarna ATMs and even at Voli supermarket. Eventually got it to work at an NLB Bank ATM near the bus station, but it only let me take out 50 euros. My friend had a similar issue with Revolut too, so I think some Montenegrin banks just don’t play nice with certain digital cards. Would recommend carrying a backup Visa or Mastercard from a traditional bank just in case.

I’m in Kotor right now and yeah my Wise card isn’t working at most places. Tried withdrawing from CKB Bank and Addiko Bank ATMs and both declined it, even though I had euros loaded. Also got rejected at a few restaurants in Old Town. I called Wise support and they said it looked fine on their end. Honestly no idea what’s going on. Thankfully I had my Monzo as a backup and that’s been working great at places like Aroma Market and even smaller kiosks.

Interestingly, I had no problems at all with my Wise card during my trip to Montenegro in May. Withdrew cash twice from NLB Bank ATMs in Budva and paid for meals with contactless in places like Hard Rock Cafe Podgorica and several gas stations near Nikšić. I did notice some ATMs gave a “technical error” when I tried to withdraw larger amounts though, so I started keeping it under 100 euros and had better luck. Maybe it depends on the ATM network or even time of day.

Had the same issue in Podgorica last month. My Wise card just kept getting declined at several ATMs including Erste Bank and Hipotekarna. Tried using it at a Konzum supermarket and again, it was a no-go. Super frustrating because it had worked perfectly fine in Serbia and Bosnia just a few days before. Ended up using my Revolut card without any issues. Locals told me some Montenegrin banks randomly block foreign fintech cards even if there’s no actual problem with the account.