You can get money out of an ATM with a credit card, and the transaction is called a cash advance. It works mechanically like a debit withdrawal, but financially it’s a short-term loan from your card issuer, with a separate fee, a higher interest rate, and no grace period. A $500 withdrawal typically costs $15 to $25 in upfront fees alone, and interest starts compounding the same day.
Why a Cash Advance Is Not Like a Debit Withdrawal
When you use a debit card at an ATM, you’re pulling your own money out of a checking or savings account. A credit card cash advance is borrowing. The bank treats it that way, and federal law requires your card agreement to disclose the cash advance APR, the transaction fee, and whether a grace period applies before you ever use the feature.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1637 – Open End Consumer Credit Plans For cash advances, that last disclosure almost always reads “no grace period.”
What You Need Before the ATM
A PIN for Your Credit Card
You need a Personal Identification Number tied specifically to your credit card, which is often not the same as any debit PIN you already use. Request one through your issuer’s app, website, or customer service line. Many issuers mail PINs separately for security, so build in a few days if you haven’t set one up yet.
Your Cash Advance Limit
Your cash advance limit is a separate, smaller slice of your credit line, often 20% to 30% of the total. A card with a $7,000 overall limit might only allow $400 to $500 in cash. Check your latest statement or your issuer’s app for the exact figure, because anything above it will be declined at the machine.
The ATM has its own daily cap too, usually somewhere between $300 and $1,000 per transaction or per day. Even if your cash advance limit is higher, the machine may not dispense more in a single visit.
A Compatible Network
Check the back of your card for logos like Visa’s Plus or Mastercard’s Cirrus, and confirm the ATM shows the same. Most U.S. machines belong to these networks, but an incompatible one will block the transaction or add extra fees.
The Steps at the Machine
- Insert your card, or tap if the reader supports contactless.
- Enter your credit card PIN when prompted.
- Select “Cash Advance” from the menu. Wording varies; look for “cash advance,” “credit card withdrawal,” or similar.
- Enter the amount, keeping it within your cash advance limit and the ATM’s per-transaction cap.
- Accept the ATM operator’s surcharge, usually around $3, when the screen asks you to confirm.
- Take your cash and receipt. The receipt shows the withdrawal and the ATM surcharge. Your issuer’s separate cash advance fee will appear on your next statement.
What It Actually Costs
Three costs run at the same time on a cash advance, and together they’re the reason this is an expensive way to get cash.
The Upfront Fee
Card issuers charge a cash advance fee on every withdrawal: the greater of a flat amount (often $10) or a percentage of the withdrawal, typically 3% to 5%. A $500 advance at 5% adds $25 to your balance before any interest. Federal regulations classify this fee as a finance charge, which is why it has to be disclosed upfront.2Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 12 CFR Part 1026.4 – Finance Charge
A Higher APR
Cash advances carry their own APR, separate from and higher than the purchase rate on the same card. As of early 2026, the average cash advance APR at major banks sits around 28% to 29%, compared with roughly 21% to 23% on purchases. Credit union rates run lower, sometimes near 20%, but still expensive for a short-term loan.
No Grace Period
Purchases usually give you 21 to 25 days after the statement closes to pay in full before interest starts. Cash advances don’t. Interest accrues the moment the cash leaves the machine and compounds daily, with each day’s interest added to the balance so the next day’s interest is calculated on the larger number.3FDIC. Credit Card Checks and Cash Advances
Withdraw $500 and repay two weeks later, and you still owe the upfront fee plus roughly 14 days of compounding interest at 28% or higher. Fast repayment helps, but it doesn’t erase the cost.
How Payments Get Applied
If you carry both a purchase balance and a cash advance balance on the same card, the order in which your payment gets applied matters. Federal law requires your issuer to apply any amount you pay above the minimum to the balance with the highest interest rate first.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1666c – Prompt and Fair Crediting of Payments Since the cash advance rate is almost always the highest rate on the account, extra dollars should flow there automatically.
The minimum payment itself is different. Your issuer can allocate the minimum however it chooses, and that’s rarely in your favor. To knock down a cash advance quickly, pay well above the minimum so the excess is legally directed at that high-rate balance.
The Effect on Your Credit Score
A cash advance doesn’t appear on your credit report with a special label; it just looks like a higher credit card balance. But that higher balance raises your credit utilization ratio, which is one of the heaviest factors in scoring. Going from 15% utilization to 40% because of a cash advance can pull your score down even while you keep every payment current.
Compounding interest makes it worse. The balance grows daily until you pay it off, and utilization climbs with it. A common benchmark is keeping utilization under 30%, and a cash advance can push you past that quickly when the withdrawal is large relative to your credit limit.
Using a Credit Card at an ATM Abroad
International withdrawals stack another charge on top. Most issuers add a foreign transaction fee of 1% to 3% whenever the transaction involves foreign currency or a foreign bank, and that fee is separate from the cash advance fee and the ATM surcharge.2Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. 12 CFR Part 1026.4 – Finance Charge A $300 withdrawal overseas can easily carry $15 in cash advance fees, $9 in foreign transaction fees, and a $3 to $5 ATM surcharge before interest begins. A few cards waive foreign transaction fees, but they still charge the cash advance fee and the higher APR. A debit card with no foreign transaction fee is almost always cheaper for travel cash.
Cheaper Ways to Get Cash
A cash advance is worth using only when the alternatives are exhausted. Several options put cash in your hand for much less:
- A debit card withdrawal costs nothing beyond a possible out-of-network ATM fee.
- Cash back at checkout on a debit purchase is usually free.
- A personal loan, even at 10% to 36% APR, typically costs less than a cash advance carried more than a few weeks, and the rate is fixed.
- Some employers and apps offer early access to earned wages with minimal or no fees.
- Cash-back rewards you’ve already accumulated can often be redeemed as a statement credit or direct deposit.
Convenience checks that arrive in the mail from your card issuer are not a workaround. The FDIC notes they’re treated as cash advances, with the same high APR, the same fees, and no grace period.3FDIC. Credit Card Checks and Cash Advances
Limiting the Damage If You Go Ahead
Take out only what you actually need. Every extra dollar compounds against you daily. Repay as fast as you can, since a cash advance cleared in three days costs a small fraction of one left sitting for a month. Pay more than the minimum so federal allocation rules push the excess onto the cash advance balance first.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1666c – Prompt and Fair Crediting of Payments And if the withdrawal will push your utilization above 30%, weigh the score dip against anything you have coming up, like a mortgage or auto loan application.