ATM fees and international travel

[rubytue]

Since I know we have so many world travelers around here, and I'm not one...

So I know that withdrawing from an ATM is better than brining dollars to convert. I looked it up a few months ago, and BoA had an agreement with Bank of Ireland to waive fees. Well, that seems to have disappeared. So now it will be $5 + 3%. Yikes!

I'm cool with opening another account somewhere if it will save me fees. I'm not dropping BoA for good. We are too enmeshed with them to make it worth the effort.

From what I have read, it looks like my best options are Fidelity Cash Management account (1% but no per use fee) or TD Bank ($2.50 but no %). I'm leaning toward TD bc (a) I'm old and like the fact there is a branch somewhat local and (b) I was semi "with" them for year when TD Waterhouse used their banking services (that got dropped during the merger with Ameritrade). I would imagine we'd be withdrawing >$250 at a time. Probably $500 and see how that goes, mostly using cc.

Any others I should consider?

[maddiepaddy]

I'd suggest the Capital One 360 checking/debit card. I didn't have any fees when I used this debit card in Japan and China. The exchange rates were also very good. This card was better than even my credit union card in regard to fees and exchange rate.

[rubytue]

Jul 22, 2014 9:51:34 GMT -5 maddiepaddy said:

I'd suggest the Capital One 360 checking/debit card. I didn't have any fees when I used this debit card in Japan and China. The exchange rates were also very good. This card was better than even my credit union card in regard to fees and exchange rate.

apparently, it's only fee free if you don't have Capitol one branches around. And I do

(eta: in your state of residence)

[gt7301b]

My credit union reimburses me for all ATM fees, both international and domestic.

[Deleted]

To be honest, if you are happy with your bank and don't do really extensive foreign travel, I wouldn't bother changing banks.

If you took out $500 on a trip, with BoA you'll pay $18 in fees. That isn't that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things.

But otherwise, a credit union is probably your best bet.

[raangoli]

I will echo the recommendation of a credit union. The fees were a lot lower and weren't percentaged based if I remember correctly.

[rubytue]

My credit union is $1.50 + 2%. I guess it's better. I tend to forget I have that account though. It's just got the min to have it. I got it for their mortgage rates, then ended up elsewhere.

v, you have a point. But $18 each time is a lot. We could run out of cash and need more. Plus, it would be nice to travel more. Use those passports for more than cruises lol

[emilyinchile]

I would call BA and ask if there's anything they can do for you. If you have a bunch of accounts/money with them, they might be able to waive some fees and/or offer you a different type of no-fee account. That would be the easiest. Otherwise I echo v in that while I haaaaaaate fees just on principle, it might be more hassle than it's worth to open a new account elsewhere. If you still want to do it though, I'd pick the TD option and take out your ATM max at the beginning of your trip, then use CCs whenever possible to try to make that money last.

[Deleted]

Jul 22, 2014 10:17:02 GMT -5 rubytue said:

My credit union is $1.50 + 2%. I guess it's better. I tend to forget I have that account though. It's just got the min to have it. I got it for their mortgage rates, then ended up elsewhere.

v, you have a point. But $18 each time is a lot. We could run out of cash and need more. Plus, it would be nice to travel more. Use those passports for more than cruises lol

Totally agree -- but depending on where you're going, you may be able to get by with not much cash so you may not get hit with those fees that often.  Do you have a forex-free credit card?  That's much more valuable to me because I try to use credit whenever I can (so I just take out cash for situations where I can't use a credit card -- how frequent those are depends on country).

I've been pleased to discover too that in several European countries, ATMs tend to be fee-free (so you're only charged what your bank charges you -- the foreign bank doesn't charge you).  

[emilyinchile]

Jul 22, 2014 10:17:02 GMT -5 rubytue said:

v, you have a point. But $18 each time is a lot. We could run out of cash and need more. Plus, it would be nice to travel more. Use those passports for more than cruises lol

FWIW, I feel like I rarely use $500 in cash on trips. I much prefer using CCs both for the points and because mine don't have fees. I use cash more in places where there's some bonus (Argentina, get the unofficial exchange rate), where I'm worried about card safety or where there isn't much card infrastructure. Ireland would not be somewhere that I would focus on cash.

[bettyfinn]

Jul 22, 2014 10:17:23 GMT -5 emilyinchile said:

I would call BA and ask if there's anything they can do for you. If you have a bunch of accounts/money with them, they might be able to waive some fees and/or offer you a different type of no-fee account. That would be the easiest. Otherwise I echo v in that while I haaaaaaate fees just on principle, it might be more hassle than it's worth to open a new account elsewhere. If you still want to do it though, I'd pick the TD option and take out your ATM max at the beginning of your trip, then use CCs whenever possible to try to make that money last.

I recommend calling and seeing what can be done.  I have a higher end account with my bank and get reimbursed on my domestic ATM withdrawals at other banks.  I mistakenly thought that the benefit extended to international withdrawals as well.  After a trip to Europe where I wound up needing more cash than expected (I think we racked up $50 in ATM withdrawal fees), I called the bank to inquire about the reimbursements and was told that in order to get international fees reimbursed, I needed more money in my account.  However, they were willing to credit me for the fees this one time.  

I prefer to use credit always when abroad, since my CC doesn't charge a foreign transaction fee but if I need cash, I much rather just pay the fee than deal with a new bank.  I just look at it as part of the cost of taking a vacation abroad.  

[Deleted]

Call B of A.  They have agreements with other banks around the world - get an updated list from them.

[Susie]

Jul 22, 2014 10:03:07 GMT -5 v said:

To be honest, if you are happy with your bank and don't do really extensive foreign travel, I wouldn't bother changing banks.

I agree.

I bank with a credit union, and anecdotally I usually pay $3-5 in fees for each ATM withdrawal when I'm in Europe.  Even at $18 though, in a lot of places you can get by on 2 or so withdrawals per trip.  At that cost, it's just not worth the hassle of new accounts.  I just consider it a travel expense.

[my3bears]

I use a AAA prepaid debit card. We initially started doing that because I keep 2 months expenses in our regular checking account and the idea of having that drained if our card was lost or stolen abroad terrified me. On our 3-week honeymoon we actually split up the cash between 2 separate debit cards, just as an extra precaution in case 1 was lost or stolen we'd still have the other half of the money on the other card. I think it is like $5 per card and we had to pay whatever fees the foreign ATM had, but no additional American fee or %. 

I don't think you have to be a AAA member but I could be wrong...

[rubytue]

Thanks everyone! I'm going to talk it over with H some more and see where we end up.

[more adventurous]

Do you have any accounts with Charles Schwab? I was just researching this and it looks like they have a high yield checking with no minimum, no fees (including foreign transaction), and they reimburse all ATM fees. The only catch seems to be that it must be linked with a brokerage account, but, that really isn't a catch since the one they're pitching with it also has no fees or minimums. Correct me if I'm missing something with them though. If not, I'll probably go that route since my H already has a brokerage account there. Hopefully it will be pretty painless to link it with a checking account.

[alleinesein]

Don't forget that some overseas ATMs can also charge fees for withdrawls that are separate from your bank fees. Citibank ATMs in India charge INR 200 just to use their ATMs.

[monsterz]

Jul 22, 2014 12:56:30 GMT -5 more adventurous said:

Do you have any accounts with Charles Schwab? I was just researching this and it looks like they have a high yield checking with no minimum, no fees (including foreign transaction), and they reimburse all ATM fees. The only catch seems to be that it must be linked with a brokerage account, but, that really isn't a catch since the one they're pitching with it also has no fees or minimums. Correct me if I'm missing something with them though. If not, I'll probably go that route since my H already has a brokerage account there. Hopefully it will be pretty painless to link it with a checking account.

This is what we have and love it.    No catch - all ATM fees are reimbursed the brokerage account is good to have and no fees for international travel.   

[aurora]

Jul 22, 2014 12:56:30 GMT -5 more adventurous said:

Do you have any accounts with Charles Schwab? I was just researching this and it looks like they have a high yield checking with no minimum, no fees (including foreign transaction), and they reimburse all ATM fees. The only catch seems to be that it must be linked with a brokerage account, but, that really isn't a catch since the one they're pitching with it also has no fees or minimums. Correct me if I'm missing something with them though. If not, I'll probably go that route since my H already has a brokerage account there. Hopefully it will be pretty painless to link it with a checking account.

This is what we have, too. Never any issues. I didn't realize it had to be tied to a brokerage account, though. Interesting.