bxl4373

I opened an account at a local credit union to use for our trip to Italy in May.I was originally told there would be a charge of 1.25 for each ATM withdrawal, I didn't bother to ask if there were any other fees. Today I found out that the credit union does not charge a foreign transaction fee, but Mastercard and Visa do. I did get a Capital One credit card to use to pay for hotels (that accept cc's) and purchases as they do not charge foreign exchange fees.

kybourbon

I have a Mastercard from my credit union and they don't tack on the fees that a non- credit union Mastercard would have.

elberko

Yup, same with out credit union...no fees.

~Liz

ira

Hey bx,

>...I found out that the credit union does not charge a foreign transaction fee, but Mastercard and Visa do.....I did get a Capital One credit card to use to pay for hotels (that accept cc's) and purchases as they do not charge foreign exchange fees.<

CapitalOne will pass along the 1% MC/VISA fee, as will your credit union.
If you use Amex, they will add 2%.

However, "foreign transaction" fees are those added by your bank - often about 3%.

Your CC is as good as you can get, except that my bank charges only $0.75 to use an "out of network" ATM.

Enjoy your visit.

Mimar

I have 2 credit union accounts. Both charge nothing for ATM withdrawals abroad. I have Visa credit cards from both; there is no surcharge. However, both the ATM withdrawals and credit card charges show a 1% Visa system charge. Otherwise the exchange rate is the interbank rate of that day.

The Capitol One credit card is supposed to eat the 1%; maybe that's no longer true.

We use only the credit union cards (credit and ATM) in Europe. Never had a problem getting money from an ATM.

Paul1950

Charges vary widely from bank to bank to credit union to etc. Both our credit card (USAA) and our bank ATM card (PNC) pass on only the 1% Visa/MC fee, and they charge nothing else for either credit card or ATM card use.

christycruz

Capital One doesn't charge a foreign transaction fee. As Mimar states, it "eats" the 1%. It's the only major card to do so. I just confirmed this with them.

I also use a credit union card as my ATM card. Your fees aren't too bad! I think the fees for mine are in the $2 range.

bxl4373

I'm bringing 3 ATM cards with me in May. The Credit Union charges 1.25 per withdrawal but said that Visa charges them 1% and they pass that along to me. One bank charges a flat fee of 5.00 for ATM withdrawals with Visa charging 1% for purchases. The third bank I am still waiting to hear from, they stated they charge 1.75 for ATM withdrawals but " have know idea" if Mastercard charges a fee. I'm amazed the banks aren't aware of the fees, two of them had to check into it and call me back. I'm just glad I called before we went away.

Andrew

My credit union gives me six free withdrawals per month at a non-CU ATM - that includes overseas. Then I think it's like $2 per withdrawal. No fee for using it otherwise - and only a 1% conversion fee from Visa (that was in 2009; perhaps Visa's fee has recently gone up, not sure).

Credit Unions are great overall. I'm still not sure why people put up with inferior customer service and rates from banks?

Capital One is a crappy company in my experience; I will never be their customer no matter what fee they waive. Once I was a victim of identity theft - someone got a Capital One card in my name and charged $3500 on it. It took me a year to get them to take that off my credit report. You'd think that faxing a notarized statement saying it was not my card would have been enough; instead, I got repeated phone calls from different departments of Capital One for a year, asking me the same stupid questions over and over again (because they hadn't talked to the other departments who had already asked me the same things).

In a separate case, a deceased relative left unpaid charges on a Capital One card and I was put in charge of the financial matters (there was no estate); all other companies stopped contacting me once I gave them confirmation of the person's death, but Capital One continued for months to send me letters and call me trying to collect the debt. (Sorry, I'M not going to pay the person's debts; it was your dumb ass that gave the person two credit cards after they had already declared bankruptcy twice.)

If you want to patronize this lousy company be my guest. I'm happy to pay a 1% fee on foreign transactions using my credit union's Visa card instead in exchange for not supporting such an awful company. If I charge $1000 overseas then I guess that cost me $10 - big deal.

kybourbon

>>CapitalOne will pass along the 1% MC/VISA fee, as will your credit union.<<

My credit union hasn't tacked on 1% in the past. Whenever I charge anything, I compare the rates when I get my bill to the interbank rate history on oanda for the date of the transaction and it's always the interbank rate.

susanna

My credit union in San Francisco does not charge an atm withdrawal fee, anywhere, but visa does tack on the 1% fee.