The Netherlands: Foreign tourists in the Netherlands often unable to use their local debit and credit cards - by RM

Foreign Credit and Debit cards not easy to use in Holland

The Netherlands is not very "Tourist Friendly" when it comes to tourists wanting to use their debit or credit cards for local purchases.

Most of the time they are unable to pay with their credit/debit cards for purchases or expenses in local stores, restaurants,gas stations, train stations, toll roads,  hotels or super-markets.

US bank credit or debit cards, even those with a "chip" or "pin-code" usually won't work in the Netherlands and basically force the owner of that card  to take out cash from a local ATM. This automatically results in high bank charges for these transactions by the credit card holder's own local bank in addition to potential exchange charges in the Netherlands.

As one tourist, who wanted to pay for a raincoat she bought in a local department store in the city of Almere, but had all her cards declined, said in desperation - "this must be the first country in the world where the banking system and stores don't want to make it easy for tourists to pay for their goods with a debit or credit card."

Almere-Digest