letting quick summary take over |
letting quick summary take over |
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Too many replies and too much disorganized info, let's focus on updating at Flyertalk's wiki page how about we also keep updating at FATWALLET too... Please update if you learn that anyone of these is incorrect. When updating include the entire fee with the 1% visa/MC included. THANKS! The following info comes from articles at Bankrate, USA Today, and Consumer-action.org Each of these includes the 1% visa or MC fee: 3% 2% 1% No Fees ellory said: As of 12/07 I have used a CapOne Cash Back rewards card in Australia. No fees. And no need to have a mortgage for application} Me too - 12/06 trip to Israel, no fees and good rates on No Hassle Cash card. No mortgage or any other Cap1 accounts. yeastbeast said: Still true as of 4/07. My No Hassle Cash card incurred no fees and even yielded 2% at foreign supermarkets psychtobe said: Definitely still true 3/08. No fees, no jacked up currency exchange rates. Essentially wholesale rates for 10 days in Italy. Still true in 9/08. No fees as always to Australia. psychtobe said: Still true 11/08. No fees, good rates x 10 days in Spain.
Columbus Bank & Trust 2% As of 10/06, there is still no transaction fee on my Charles Schwab (MBNA) card. 0%. Nothing at all. Update: As of May 2007, Charles Schwab charges 2% of the transaction amount as the fee, which puts it on par with Am.Ex. and slightly better than many other MC/Visa cards with 3% FX fee. Bank Cards Citibank Debit: 0% only at citibank branch, 3% elsewhere (including 7-Elevens, verified in Taiwan, 02/2007) =================================================================== Maybe a hidden 0.5%, 0.75%, or 1% is buried in the transaction somewhere, but from feedback provided by FW posters, HSBC, CitiBank, Bank of America, USAA, and credit unions seem to be offer competitive exchange rates for plain (non-MC/non-VISA) ATM usage. Most bank assess a Foreign ATM fee ($1.50 for non-HSBC ATM), but unless you plan on making many small withdrawals via ATM (20 Euro here, 40 Euro there) the better exchange rates win out over any $1.50 fee. Bank of America has Global alliance to help avoid the Foreign ATM fee, but IIRC their Foreign ATM fee is $5 plus any FOREX. In summary, if you want a global presence to avoid the Foreign ATM fee, but a low $1.50 Foreign ATM fee to provide absolute flexibility when you really need cash, and a very competitive exchange rate, HSBC is hard to beat. Yeah, a few banks will rebate all or some Foreign ATM fees each month, but they have not been tested out and any savings might be eaten up by a mediocre exchange rate. Since most travelers to western (or other countries with entrenched ATM networks) will want to charge as much as possible via CC, the typical traveler will really not need much cash. $500 might be enough cash for the whole vacation. Get it in one or two shots via ATM, and thats it. If you know you will need $10k of cash for a specific reason (e.g. buying diamonds in Jerusalem), then it might be worth someone's time to research more thoroughly. And in such a case, a bank wire is probably the safest, cheapest, and customary method to complete such a purchase. |
Thanks for the info,,, |
This is a list of the cards which do charge additional fees. For possible ones that don't, check the links to older threads i have already posted. |
The following don't charge an additional conversion fee beyond the built-in 1% from mc/visa: |
we were in Mexico this past December and a $400 bill came out to $412 when charged on my AMEX. |
I know that MBNA-branded cards do not have a foreign currency surcharge. But the AAA 5% gas rebate card is not explicitly MBNA-branded. |
CrankyOldGuy said: Enough with the bumps, OK? Whoops I just gave you another |
are low conversion fees mean made up to visa/mc/issuing bank with poor fx rates? |
sloppy1 said: |
Instead of using credit cards, can you go to the foreign bank and exchange cash? Is that supposed to save you at least 1%? |
any cards that have no additional foreign currency fee that also have no cash advance fee? |
SUCKISSTAPLES said: This was a subject of our discussion here last year. HSBC bank does that for their ATM card holders. |
Capital One has no cash advance fee, at least my Capital One CC does not. ATM itself might tack on ~1E or whatever, and MC/VISA collects its 1% no matter what. |
What if you use ATM card to purchase directly? I heard there is no charge from the bank, you only need to pay 1% for MC/VISA. What if you get cash directly from ATM? Other than the ATM fee, I suppose there is no 1% MC/VISA fee. |
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