Using Credit Cards in Morocco
 

Hi
Off to Morocco next week and just wondering is it easy to pay for fuel in Morocco with a credit card??
Any advise helpful........... i realise we may have to use some very back street fuel stations............ but if using one of the chain do they accept CC's?
Any info greatly recieved
We plan to be in Morocco 10th May if anyone else around that time???

It is unlikly that you will have to use, or even find, many "back street fuel stations". I stumbled across one near the matket in Tinerhir a week or so ago. Didn't need to use it but it had some great old pumps. Most stations are large and modern and are outside the towns. Most also take CC's........but ask first.

I was in Morocco last year
I paid for all my fuel with cash I found that was the best way to do it

Like detour Said use the big fuel stations on the out skirts of the towns they are the cleanest looking ones
Bob Fred's Photos | Facebook

Bob Fred's Photos - Morocco | Facebook



There are lots of ATM s in the bigger towns but even some of the big hotels wouldn’t accept C.C as payment so after I had to ride 30n miles to an ATM to pay a bill I made sure I kept a few days supply of cash with me at all times

Cash is still King over there I think

Have a safe Trip Bob

Apart from very upmarket hotels, few places in Morocco take credit cards, and if they do, often make a surcharge. The best thing is to bring your DEBIT CARD so you can withdraw money from ATMs (which are called guichet in French).

Most importantly, bring at least one backup card (debit or credit) as UK banks have a habit of stopping a card if there's 'unusual activity', even when you've told them in advance that you will be in Morocco.

Noel from this board had to cut short his recent trip as in order to reset his card he had to find an ATM that offered pin services, and couldn't.

Tim

Cash is best.
I had a problem with an ATM which did not dispense any cash but I got charge for it on the next statement. Sorted it out with the card company without any hasle but just an example of how it may go wrong.
Another problem is getting change, garages are not a problem but for some reason hotels often don't have change so try and acquire small coins and notes.

Have a good trip

Steve

thanks for the advice................
Travelled in SE Asia and Vietnam was fun! Yes the Natiowide reissued my debit card after i left the Uk! Therefore the card was swallowed by a very rare ATM machine!! Luckily i managed to get some guy to come open the machine up and got me card back!!! So for 10 months i had to travel using my credit card to get cash!! Luckily i got all charges back when i got home so as you have said basically always expect the unexpected!!!

Another question, any update with the Bank at the border in Ceuta? Is it still closed?

Also done the import doc online!! Very easy and great to do in advance!!

Yes, bank still closed. There's an ATM just past the first big roundabout at Fnediq.

Fiona,strange coincidence,we are also in Manchester and are riding down to Africa very soon, but we won,t(the wife and I) be in Morocco until early June, how long are you staying there?
What bikes are you on? are you doing any off road?
Enjoy your trip anyway,Pete

fyi I came across a 24/7 ATM that did foreign exchange in Rissani.
You feed in euros or whatever and out come dirhams including loose change. Cool! I presume they are everywhere.

Never used my credit card in MK nor would I expect to except in an emergency.

Ch

I agree that DEBIT cards are better in Morocco. I was there 2 years ago and we had some problems with credit cards (Visa and Master). It was not possible to use a card for example at the train station in Tanger and also in Casa. If we run out of money suddenly we asked taxi drivers (petit taxis ;) about the nearest atm in the city. Usually the second machine accepts our debit cards. Some of them were out of order or would hold cards for severeal seconds without asking for a PIN and giving out cash. So it was possible to use a card but not too easy.

ps. If you have some euros you can always exhange it somewhere. They like euro.

credit cards etc in Maroc
 

Tesco Visa got very jumpy when I started using it in Morocco and after 2 or 3 transactions they cancelled my card assuming I was some dodgy character.
To add to whats been said already, 2/7 ATMs that will change money are increasing in number (there's also one in Ouazarzate) but ATM serviceability on the Saharan fringe is not good and they are often out of service (in Zagora there are three and its not uncommon for them all to be knackered at once)

Cards
 

We didn't use our cards for fuel in Morocco last October. We went from Chefchoum to Fes and over the mountains through the middle and didn't find anywhere to buy petrol using the cards. They have the Visa/Mastercard signs in loads of the stations but don't have a machine to do it with (and I woudn't count on them getting them anytime soon!)

after 2 or 3 transactions they cancelled my card assuming I was some dodgy character

I had this abroad too once - most annoying.

I've since learned it helps to warn your bank/cc company in advance you'll be making transactions abroad (name the countries).

Ch

Sadly, after same old same old- and in depth conversations with my bank, I was told that it is the bank's anti fraud software that will 'scan' for unusual transactions and stop the card if 'it' thinks there might be something suspicious.
Your calling the bank to 'warn them' makes no difference at all- they place a note on your account manually but this does not have any effect on the anti fraud computer's behaviour whatsover.

The blocking of the card is almost inevitable - all the bank suggests is "call us from where it happens and we will resolve your issue."
They may well do so eventually but not before you've spent a fortune on your mobile...and one assumes the bank is open to retrieve the cards....that the key holder in the bank hasn't gone on a walkabout/tagine break etc etc.

mmmmmm.... :rolleyes2: it happened in the UK :oops2:once and took THREE hours to resolve and incidentally, that computer will block ALL your cards with that particular bank :censored:

Take Euro's and bless the modern tecchy world

The conservative option is to carry many, many cards: two Visa, two Mastercard, two ATM. I've had them eaten by machines, confiscated by hotel clerks ("There's an alert out for this card..."), blocked by issuing banks, even disallowed by (they tell me) our so-called Homeland Security apparatus.

I also experienced some trouble once when I informed my bank that I was going to "West Africa" instead of listing the ten or twelve countries involved. Some of their worker drones can figure out that, say, Cote d'Ivoire is in Africa....but others can't really be bothered. As Chris says, list the countries.

I will also say that some issuing banks are better, some worse. I finally gave up on one of mine, after spending much time on the phone following each border crossing. The final insult came during a trip across the border to Canada, a mere 20 miles from my home town. Find a reliable bank and use their card when far from home.

In response to the OP, you'll almost always pay cash for fuel, and even purportedly three and four star hotels sometimes don't have working credit card facilities. This can necessitate unplanned trips to the nearest ATM in order to pay your bills....and this nearest ATM might be an 80 mile round trip.

Hope that helps.

Mark