Well this conversation has taken a little turn, but its all good information so I'll jump in with a bit more. We have our investment (brokerage) accounts at Charles Schwab. I just phoned my account manager and he told me that they have an <i>&quot;Investor&quot;</i> checking account with no annual fees, no conversion fees on foreign exchanges, <u>and</u> they rebate any ATM charges at the end of each month. So, if you do business with Charles Schwab, you might want to look into this type of account. I think I'll open one before we leave for Thailand.

Just checked with my free checking account at Washington Mutual and they only charge $2 per foreign withdrawal and 1%. I'm happy I don't have to switch banks now! :)

Yes, that was a very nice change WaMu made! Too bad other banks are going in teh opposite direction.