ATMs in Guadeloupe keep asking Accept or Decline Conversion - what does that mean? Shows high charges for this
Guadeloupe’s ATMs at BNP Paribas and Crédit Agricole all show “Accept or Decline Conversion.” Accepting locked me into a poor exchange rate plus an extra €6-8 fee on top of the ATM withdrawal cost. Declining pushes the conversion to my US bank (Visa), which gave much better rates and transparency. Be warned, though: Guadeloupe’s French banking fees mean you’ll still see charges, but declining conversion helps you dodge inflated ATM-side fees and keeps control in your hands.
Shared a ride with another traveler who always accepts conversion for simplicity. He ended up paying almost 10% extra for every withdrawal. Lesson learned: Declining conversion at Guadeloupe’s ATMs is the way to go, especially for anyone carrying cards like Visa, Mastercard, or Wise. ATM fees are just a part of the deal here.
Used a Société Générale machine at the airport, and out popped that dreaded conversion prompt. Chose to decline, following advice from travel forums. After checking receipts, the charges from my home bank (Chase) were actually less than accepting the ATM’s rate. Guadeloupe’s banks set their own conversion markups, which can be sneaky.
Found BNP Paribas and Crédit Agricole ATMs all over Guadeloupe, but every time I tried taking out Euros, I saw accept or decline conversion. Accepting gave me super high fees (once over €7!) plus a bad exchange rate. Since then, I always decline conversion. Visa, Mastercard, and Maestro all work fine, but French banks’ ATMs never offer fee-free withdrawals for foreign cards.