Urgent Info needed

Isabella
I had trouble with my TD bank card the PP. It was kept by one ATM machine in fact. The problem I have had , and it has happened in the states as well, is that here in Canada we have many more options for using the debit card. The use of savings , chequeings and others options , which I have on one card, I think , is the reason, or so Ive been told by the banks here. Others have disagreed, but as I see it , can be the only reason. I had no problem with Scotia Bank, bank machines, there.

I used my Royal bank card at a BHD ATM without a problem.

I used my RBC client card at the back machine outside the plaza of the Playa Dorada twice.

The first time I had no problem but I asked for one amount and received the smaller amount. The receipt was accurate but I was baffled. Maybe I pressed the wrong button. aranoid:

The second time I received the correct amount and was so pleasantly surprised I either forgot to take my card or the machine ate it. Normally I put it away without even thinking, it's automatic. (It was a blonde moment... I have a LOT of them.) Fortunately I had my VISA card so I immediately called RBC and put a freeze on use of the client card.

I also did all my RBC online banking while I was in POP.

My TD Bank card wouldn't always work with Banco Popular, and one other bank I forget what it was called..(a less common bank).

There is one bank machine at Playa Dorada that always worked for me (the red ones). The other ones never worked for me.

I too have found them to be inconsistent in working irrespective of the financial institution.
Most recently it worked right up until the end of my trip and then when I made my last attempt, it gave a message to the effect of "transaction cant be processed" so in desperation had to do a cash withdrawal on my visa which I never do. For these reasons, I prefer to have cash on hand if at all possible with a safe place in which to keep it!

In Canada we're used to everything always working on Interac, but in the DR and other countries either the Cirrus/Maestro or the Visa/Plus system may fail for a while. For example in LT a few years ago (for two days) all of the Visa/Plus (Royal Bank, CIBC, Scotia . . .) worked, but the other (BofM) system wouldn't. Then in Sosua last year for a day and a half it was the other way around at one bank only. It's why we always carry a RBC and a visa card as back up to our BMO and MasterCard.