How much is fair to pay for Euro exchange?
 

We have always used our ATM cards for all our expenses when travelling,however, it seems our bank, Bank of America, has raised their transaction fees to 4%. We are a family of four and our 2 sons (college students) travelling with us each use their own ATM. On our past trips all the transaction fees seemed outrageous and now with this increase it will be even worse so I am looking into exchanging Dollars into Euro and taking enough for the entire trip. Never done any exchanging in the States before, what is the rates per $1000?
Thanks in advance.

You will get hit with very bad exchange rates to start with and it isn't very advisable. I'm also a BOA customer, but also use other banks. The rate will vary by the daily rate, but what you get has little to do with the actual rate. As an example, say the rate is 1.32:1. BOA may charge you 1.4:1 plus an additional fee to get the Euros before you leave. Trading them back into dollars, if the rate was the same, you might get 1.22:1.

Use a different bank for the debit card. You can set it up in just a few days. Many credit unions have no additional fees.

In addition to the buy/sell spread there will also be a commission (or an even worse exchange rate), which will vary depending on what outfit you use. Much better to get another bank account, even if you only use it for travel. Besides, do you really want to carry that much cash around with you?

I've usually done a combination of taking Euros with me and using ATM's for more needed cash. In March I paid $265.62 for 200 Euros. This was a rate of 1.32810000. I use Wells Fargo. It is my understanding that the rate varies daily, or at least it can vary daily. So, it will depend on the day and what the going rate is. We also paid a foreign currency exchange fee of a couple of dollars per transaction. I didn't do many transactions. This was for ATM use, don't believe I was charged a fee for regular debit card purchases.
There have been many threads on this, so do a search as there is a lot of good advice on them.

Use BofA's partner banks for your ATM transactions and you will not have a fee.

I don't understand why $40.00 is a big deal. Don't you charge on your credit card and use cash for only smaller purchases? Guess I don't understand carrying all that money around.

Most banks in the US will charge 5% or more to exchange US dollars for euro. You will do better using ATMs if you pick the right card. See http://flyerguide.com/wiki/index.php...reign_Exchange

Henry

the rates will be much higher than using credit cards or ATMS. Burt - they're not listed as "fees" - they just use a very poor rate of exchange. You can expect to lose 8 to 10% of the value of your money exchanging through a bank in the US. If your current bank is raising charges so high -- suggest you look for a bank with better deals. In my experience the Bank of American charges very high rates for ALL services.

Henry,
great link, thank you

Schwab Investor Checking Visa:

No markup on exchange (bank rate is used)
0% transaction fee
0% International Service Assessment (the so-called "Visa" fee)
$0 ATM withdrawal fee

Verified after every trip at xe.com/ccc

A friend of mine just bought $1000 worth of EU at AAA and got 700 EU.

On my recent trip to Italy I took 250 EU from ATM's using my Citibank card, on two occasions a week apart, which converted on both occasions, to $325. I was also charged $10 per transaction, something new for Citibank.