Withdrawals with Mercury Bank Mastercard Debit card in Uruguay, has it worked for anyone?

[juancho]

Hi there,

I have a Mercury Bank Business Account. I never tried using the debit card until a few days ago when I wanted to withdraw some money from an ATM in Uruguay.

My Mercury Bank Mastercard Debit card didn't work in any cash machine in Montevideo. I tried several ones and none of them worked.

I contacted Mercury Bank and they say they cannot see any rejected transactions , meaning that the Banks in UY must be rejecting it without even contacting Mercury.

They then told me the card should work in any Mastercard ATM in Montevideo , they gave me a online locator for those but I tried a few of those ATM and I still cannot make any withdrwals.

I have a CHASE Personal account and I can get money with it without any problems.

Has anyone tried their Mercury Bank Account debit card in UY? If so, which Bank and if possible location could you recommend?

Thanks!

 

[Marie Manila]

I had a similar case at an ATM in Barbados. I think it was a Firstcaribbean Bank ATM.

I could not withdraw cash with one cards, but it worked with another card.

Both cards were Mastecard.

The issuing bank could not see a rejected withdrawal either. So the ATM refused to issue cash.
The card was also not blocked as I could do POS transactions with both cards.

Have you tried another ATM at the same bank in Montevideo?
Or have you tried another bank's ATM?

 

[juancho]

I had a similar case at an ATM in Barbados. I think it was a Firstcaribbean Bank ATM.

I could not withdraw cash with one cards, but it worked with another card.

Both cards were Mastecard.

The issuing bank could not see a rejected withdrawal either. So the ATM refused to issue cash.
The card was also not blocked as I could do POS transactions with both cards.

Have you tried another ATM at the same bank in Montevideo?
Or have you tried another bank's ATM?

Hi Marie,

I’ve tried six different cash machines and none of them worked. I’m going to apply for a Business Bank Account in another bank that offers visa debit card which I think should be usable in more ATMs. Mercury isn’t providing any useful information either :/

 

[luap]

Try getting a Curve card and attach this to your Mercury card. Works much better worldwide.

 

[juancho]

Try getting a Curve card and attach this to your Mercury card. Works much better worldwide.

Hi luap, I didn’t know curve, but doesn’t really sound great for withdrawals:

Using your Curve card at ATMs abroad​

If you make an ATM withdrawal in another currency while abroad, we won’t charge you any fees up to a certain amount. Your limits will depend on which Curve card you have:

• Curve (previously: Curve Blue) - £200/ month
• Curve Black - £400/month
• Curve Metal - £600/month

Any amount that exceeds these limits will be charged either a 2% or £2 fee, whichever is higher.

 

[NeedAnExit]

Curve Metal is worth it if you're UK based - you can use it to cycle £10k pcm of credit card spend through various manufactured spend vehicles to get cashback/avios/whatever. If you select your cashback options carefully (for example, we have Amazon/Apple/supermarkets) selected then the cashback generated from ordinary day-to-day spending builds up nicely too.

The bloody metal card is a pain for contactless though!

 

[juancho]

Curve Metal is worth it if you're UK based - you can use it to cycle £10k pcm of credit card spend through various manufactured spend vehicles to get cashback/avios/whatever. If you select your cashback options carefully (for example, we have Amazon/Apple/supermarkets) selected then the cashback generated from ordinary day-to-day spending builds up nicely too.

The bloody metal card is a pain for contactless though!

I don’t think curve is the answer for this specific thread. I’m not UK based, and the question was about withdrawing cash with my Mercury debit card in Uruguay. Thanks anyway

 

[momordica]

You have two ATM networks in Uruguay. RedBrou which is located in branches of Banco Republica or other system used by rest of the banks (Banred). I would advise you to use only RedBrou ATM at Banco Republica branches. Lower fees, and they actually work.
The problem you might face is bc of what you select in the menu at the ATM, there is a lot of options. Local or international card, checking account or credit account, pesos or dollars. I had to try multiple combinations before I found the one that works for my card. Also, one combination works when I choose spanish menu, but it does not work when I choose english menu.
Also max. limit per transaction is 14k pesos or 300usd fyi. If you go over the limit, it gets rejected automatically.