Does anyone know if my PNC ATM card which is compatible with STAR and PLUS ATM machines will work in South Africa. I called PNC and they were no help.
Probably not the best bet but try contacting Star via:
Or try calling VISA/Plus at the number listed here:
I was in South Africa in 2002 was able to use the ATMs.
I should add that I don’t know what PNC is but my ATM card is STAR/PLUS/Cirrus compatible.
It might also be worth finding out if any South African banks have reciprocal arrangements with your American bank.
When i went home to Australia for a visit a couple of years ago, i found out that i could not only use my ATM card at Star/Plus machines, but that if i used a particular bank’s ATMs (St. George bank, i think) i was not charged any withdrawal fees.
The Plus System network of ATMs, associated with Visa, is international. (The other big international ATM network is Cirrus, associated with MasterCard.)
Visa.com has a Plus-System ATM locator which chows machines in South Africa.
Be aware that international withdrawls are expensive: about five dollars each.
I was in the service and traveled all over. I didn’t go to S.A. specifically, but everyplace I did go (Asia, Middle East, North Africa, Europe) my ATM card worked just fine (Cirrus, I think).
An international withdrawal can indeed be costly - try to minimize them.
On the other hand, you often get a great exchange rate, which can make up for a little of the cost. You do, though, get this same good exchange rate with credit cards, so if you feel you can use those I’d try to do so.
PNC is an American bank with a healthy presence in Pennsylvania and a targeted presence in a number of markets including New Jersey, Florida, Texas and other places. They also have ATMs in shopping malls that aren’t even in the same state as their branches, which is kinda’ nice.
I’ve had no problems using an ATM in Taiwan, The Philippines, Malaysia, and Japan.
Therefore, I wouldn’t even think that ATM use would be a problem in any “free” country.
You may run in to difficulties- it’s really impossible to know for absolutely sure. I knew a guy who spent four years traveling in southeast Asia with no ATM difficulties, but went to India and couldn’t find a machine that worked despite being affiliated with a full array of networks- he found that Citibank worked just before he had to get someone to wire money for a plane ticket home.
The one thing that will kill you is having a PIN over 4 numbers. If you have one of those fancy 10 digit PINs, there is a good chance it won’t work on many machines.
And make sure to call or email your bank to let them know you will making international withdrawals so they don’t assume your card was stolen and put a hold on it.
I’ll confirm that its true but I am 99% that the ATMs accept anything on the Plus network. I have to stop at the ATM anyway, so I’ll double check the logos for you and report back 
Are you coming for a visit?
I checked 3 banks ATMs while I was out and all were part of the Plus network, as well as Cirrus, Maestro, and a few others. I know that I succesfully used my standard not-a-debit-card ATM card a few years ago on a visit, so I think you’ll be fine.
That I am. I’m taking a course in law school on your Constitutional Court and the Truth and Reconciliation commission. The fun part of the class is that we’re going to actually get to go to Cape Town and meet two Justices, Mokgoro and O’Regan. I’m told we might meet Mandela as well if he’s in country when we are. I leave on the 8th, can’t wait.
Sounds pretty exciting! It’s a great place to visit - hopefully you’ll get to do some sightseeing while you’re here. If you were coming to Pretoria I’d offer you to buy a coffee. The weather is pretty hot right about now, but you probably couldn’t pick a better time of year to come (in my opinion).
My ATM card has never worked in Canada. After the last trip I called my banks. They have a security procedure that requires me to notify them when I’m going to use the card out of the country – possibly also out of the state.
That must be relatively new. When I went to Fonland in 2000, I was able to use my ATM card no problem. The only puzzler was trying to figure out how much money I was really taking out in terms familar to me, when confronted with an amount selection screen that gave choices of 50 marks, 100 marks, 200 marks, and 500 marks.
When I was in Sweden I made a few of $100 cash advances from the bank using my credit union’s Visa card that I was treating as a debit card. By the time the charges were processed, they turned out to be $80 transactions. 
I’ve been to England, Belgium, Italy, Austria, West Germany (at the time), Denmark and Sweden. I didn’t really bother figuring out how many dollars I was spending. It was much easier to just think in terms of the local currency.
Well, I was using my ATM card, so I had to figure out how much money remained in my account at home.
This was a problem for me even in the exotic locale of West Texas.
Side note : Using the ATM also comes in handy as a means of wiring money internationally - all the other person needs to do is get it to your account back home, which is often easier to do.
I’ve usually taken out rather large amounts in order to balance transaction fees and exchange rates.
First time I travelled overseas, I obsessively read every guidebook I could find. One of them mentioned this bit of advice – that you need to pre-clear your credit cards so they don’t think it’s international fraud. So I called the credit card company, and they had no idea what I was possibly talking about. They just said “sure, we’ll put a note in your record but there’s really no reason for it.” It was not very fruitful.