ORDAirport Guide

Currency exchange and ATMs at O'Hare: counters, hours and machines

Seaway Bank runs O'Hare's exchange counters, notes only. See each counter's gate and hours, the ATMs by terminal and where the map differs from the list.

The bronze world-globe sculpture hanging under the white tubular vault of the passage toward Concourses H and K in Terminal 3 at O'Hare.
Passage to Concourse K, Terminal 3

The exchange counters at O’Hare keep bank hours, and none opens before 7 a.m. Seaway Bank runs the six counters on the airport’s banking page. Only one of them, the upper-level counter in Terminal 5, serves after 6 p.m. The airport’s map prints hours past 6 p.m. for three counters: Terminal 3 until 8:30 p.m. on weekdays, the Terminal 5 baggage claim until 6:30 p.m., and Gate M14 in Terminal 5 until 8:30 p.m. Seaway buys and sells notes only, with no coins.

Where each counter sits and when it’s open

Terminal Counter Past checkpoint Hours
Terminal 1 Concourse C, Gate C18 1, 2 or 3 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Terminal 1 Concourse B, Gate B10 1, 2 or 3 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Terminal 2 Concourse F, Gate F1 5 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Terminal 3 Concourse K, Gate K10 6, 7, 7A or 8 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Terminal 5 Lower level Not stated 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Terminal 5 Upper level Not stated 8:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.

The banking page lists four of these counters by gate and the two in Terminal 5 by level only, and it doesn’t say which side of security each one is on. All four gate-numbered counters are past security. Call Seaway Bank at (773) 831-7320 to confirm hours before you cross a terminal for a counter.

What the counters buy and how you pay

The airport says Seaway buys and sells more than 200 currencies, and its banking page names sixteen: the Aruban florin, Bahamian dollar, Costa Rican colón, Jamaican dollar, Korean won, Australian dollar, Canadian dollar, euro, yen, Mexican peso, pound, Chinese renminbi, Thai baht, Vietnamese dong and Turkish lira, plus an Indonesia entry the page prints as “Rupee”. If yours isn’t among them, the airport’s banking page gives a separate Seaway Bank number for asking about additional currencies.

Seaway accepts major credit and debit cards and also offers credit card advances for buying foreign currency. The airport’s page publishes no exchange rate or fee.

Where the airport’s list and its map disagree

The map prints its own hours for the counters, and they differ from the banking page’s.

Counter Banking page Airport’s map
Terminal 1, Concourse B Gate B10, 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Gate B9, daily 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Terminal 1, Concourse C, Gate C18 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. No hours printed
Terminal 2, Gate F1 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Daily 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Terminal 3, Gate K10 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday 7 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., Tuesday and Wednesday 11:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., Thursday and Friday 7 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Terminal 5, Lower Level, no gate listed 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Not matched to a map counter
Terminal 5, baggage claim, before security Not matched to a banking page counter Daily 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Terminal 5, Upper Level, no gate listed 8:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Not matched to a map counter
Terminal 5, Gate M14, past security Not matched to a banking page counter Daily 7 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.

The Terminal 1 gates are one apart, so check both and call Seaway before you decide the counter has gone. At Terminal 2, plan on the 4 p.m. close. At Terminal 3, the map’s hours run later than the banking page’s. Neither source says whether the banking page’s Lower Level counter is the map’s baggage-claim counter, or whether its Upper Level counter is the map’s Gate M14 counter. So all four sit in separate rows. Our Terminal 5 page shows where Concourse M sits.

ATMs by terminal and level

BMO Harris and Bank of America run most of the ATMs, which the airport says handle withdrawals, deposits and balance checks. Counts by terminal and level, from the airport’s map:

Terminal Departures and Check-In level Baggage claim
Terminal 1 5 1
Terminal 2 5 1
Terminal 3 10 1
Terminal 5 3 2

Terminal 5’s machines are all Seaway ATMs: the two at baggage claim and the ones at Gates M13, M18 and M24.

Beyond the ATMs, the airport’s map marks cash-to-card machines in Terminals 1, 2 and 3. The airport’s map shows one BMO Harris machine at the Multi-Modal Facility, the building that holds every rental car counter. It sits on Level 1 near the rental cars and is open 24 hours.

Sources