Daily spending limit on an EC card

Anyone know if there is a daily spending limit on an Sparkasse EC Card? Or is it just linked to your balance?

Are you gonna clean out in one big sweep?

I have withdrawn 400 Euros all in one day.
So I know at least that much.

Just go to the Geldautomat and see how much you can withdraw.

I think it is linked to the amount of dispo kredit that you have.

depends on your bank account, not so much your balance. You can get it raised though, but you may have to go in to do that. Your original papers should tell you how much it is right now.

I have a similar question. Is there a difference when the charges are deducted from your account when you pay with typing your gehiemzahl, then when you pay with a signature?

It can be both. There should be alimit on the account and there will be alimit on how much you can take out in one day.

I have dispo credit. I guess what I am asking is can I buy something for 4000 euros with an EC (with enough balance in the account to cover)

Guess I will check with the bank

I've taken up to 2000 out on a day with no problem.

It depends on what the daily limit is or if it was set by your bank.

I think that this was once covered in the buying a car with an EC card thread. Unless you have prior approval, that may be a bit much.

The limit is set by your bank and can be changed if you submit a written request. Most banks alow €1,000-2,000/day and €3,000-5,000/wk. This is indeed for your own safety. If you think you might need more than that in a single go, go straight to your home branch office and not some oter branch if you can at all avoid it.

woof.

not that I know off.. the gehiemzahl is for extra security (hence is a company policy issue). the money withdrawn from your account should be the same regardless if the shop gets your signature or not.

At Deutsche Bank, you have to arrange this with the Bank, so I have a daily withdrawl limit, which is completely different to my Internet on-line transfer limit !

I know my online transfer daily limit is 2000

The only reason that I ask, is that when I withdraw from an EC Automat, it is deducted that day. Sometimes I print out my account after going to a store and it takes several days to appear on my account. Other places it appears the day of the transfer. I just thought it might be the geheimzahl might be immediate and the signature is processed later.

good point! you got me there... I guess you are right.

edit: but what processing is there to do with the signature. you still run the card thru the machine and it still gets the banks approval when you sign it.. right?

No, I never correlated which withdrawals dates went with which transactions. It may just be random, I just don't know.

indeed..

If you give your PIN then the transaction is done online by connecting to your bank. The stores have a limit that they will cover in event of fraud/lack of funds. If you pay for a small amount then a signature will suffice as you are under the limit and they don't need authorisation from your bank. Go above the limit and they will connect to your bank.

So if your account is close to zero and you try and purchase items with a value over what is in your account. It can be rejected? Or does the bank allow payment, but charges you for the overdraft.

Well that depends on the agreement you have with your bank and the type of account you have. Yes the transaction can be rejected. I saw it happen last week in Karstadt.
For instance, my girlfriend has no overdraft on her account. If she tries to buy something with out sufficient funds the transaction will be rejected.
I have an overdraft allowed so I can pay up to my overdraft limit and get charged by the bank if the account is still under zero at a certain point.

this has actually happened to me before. I bought a couple of books (worth 30sth. bucks) whereas I had something like 25 in my account (rent and various stuff were withdrawn money and I was not aware).

The book shop tried to withdraw the amount a day or two later and they contacted the bank when they couldn't the bank gave them my adress information and they wrote me a letter explaining the situation with a bank transfer paper. I transferred the money to them with 10sth fine. Even the bank charged me about the same for processing this.. I am not sure if I signed for them though..

moral of the strory: before shopping with EC card make sure you have enough money on your account.

Or an overdraft facility.

Note that there are two types of payment w/ the EC card. One is electronic cash, similar to withdrawing money from a teller machine, for which you also need to enter your PIN, and I believe there is a daily limit for this. The amount is deducted from your account immediately. The other is EC-Lastschrift (debit entry), where they just swipe the card and you sign the receipt. I don't think there is any limit for this, I recently paid € 3,500.- all in one go like that at my car garage for a larger repair/overhaul. The amount is withdrawn from your account within a few days.

Thanks for the info Oli. I will try it and see

Thanks to all here, some good info.

The default limit is 400 Eur. whether your bank allows 400 per withdrawal or 400 in total per day varies. This limit can be extended by signing more papers at the bank..

This default I believe is different with different banks and different types of accounts. This was not my default !

The limits work kind of like this: If the amount of your purchase is above a certain level set by the shop or buisness then the terminal will try to contect to the bank to authorise the payment, which requires your PIN.
If it is below a certain amount then the shop accepts the risk that there may not be enough funds to cover it, and asks only for a signature and the funds are withdrawn at a later date.
A lot of this depends on the capabilites of the card terminal and the settings within.
Then on your side, there is usually a daily withdrawal limit set by your bank when you get your account. This can be changed by agreement with your bank. Then there is a limit on the total amount of funds you can take out, be it until the account is empty and no more, a weekly limit or the overdraft limit allowed on your account. There are usually default values decided when you sign up for the account but all can be changed by contacting your bank.

Hope this helps.