Visitors from the United States have claimed that they cannot use their American bank cards in Bank of Bermuda ATM machines.

They claim that they are unable to use the Cirrus link which allows customers from different banks around the world to get cash from ATM machines abroad.

The bank has had a series of problems locally with machines since they upgraded the system last year.

The Royal Gazette has been contacted by half a dozen Americans who have been unable to get money from their US accounts.

One woman, who asked not to be named, said: "I have been unable to get money from the machine on my Bank of United States card. A message comes up and states my card is invalid.

"I have contacted Bank of Bermuda and Bank of Butterfield about the problem, but to no avail.'' The woman said she had asked her bank in the US for a replacement card, but was unable to use it in Bermuda.

She said she had to use travellers cheques instead which charged more for the transaction. Another American visitor, who also asked to remain anonymous, said he and his group had been unable to use their bank cards, and had also had "card invalid'' flash up when inserted.

And a young family said they were unable to use their cards here, despite assurances from their home banks they would be able to access funds in their accounts from the Island.

"We were lucky we had American Express travellers cheques,'' the father said.

"Or else we would have been short of cash. With so many Americans on holiday here, it is amazing it has not been fixed.'' The man said that the Bank of Bermuda was unable to give him what he considered a satisfactory explanation for the fault.

Last night a Bank of Bermuda spokeswoman said: "We have not been contacted about any difficulties in accessing our ATM services and we are confident that customers with Bank of Bermuda EasyLink cards are currently experiencing a fully operational service.

"So that we can investigate the difficulties these people have said they experienced with their cards from overseas banks, they need to contact our help line on 299-5959 where we have staff ready to help. These are not our cards and we will need details about the card itself, at what time the transaction was attempted and where. We can then trace the exact transaction and find out what occurred.'' A spokeswoman for Bank of N.T. Butterfield said that no problems with foreign cards had been reported to the bank.

This month Bank of Bermuda sent out a letter to EasyLink customers explaining problems with ATM machines in the last nine months were caused by an upgrade started last autumn.

Bank customers were issued with a letter thanking them for their patience over problems and asked anyone with problems to contact the bank.

ATM problem: The Bank of Bermuda says it will investigate problems vistiors say they are having with their ATM cards.