Right now I have a Citibank card (love it!) but I refuse to pay extra bc I'm using foreign currency. Thanks!

best of luck!

With the greatest of respect I appreciate your concern but I wonder:

how MANY "foreign transactions" do you routinely make in a year's time?

is saving that 3% really going to amount to enough money to make this worthwhile?

I bet if we looked carefully there are a lot of ways you could save even more money, and a lot more easily.

Check out USAA Federal Savings Bank Mastercard. I believe they do not charge anything for foreign transactions. M/C tacks on the 1% conversion fee.

Does the person have to be eligible for USAA membership?

The current issue of CR adresses the problem and recommends smaller banks and credit unions.
I use USAA V here in SMdA (the 1% V conversion fee is offset by a 1% rebate currently) and I use USAA for my ATM cash W/Ds as the first 15 transactions each month on out of network events are rebated/free. I have a USAA MC which seems to alternate about every 6 or 8 months with the Visa for rebates.
I use my CitiAA MC for US transactions simply for the AA miles, but would never pay their overseas/conversion rates.
M rates.

Intrepid1,
Only their Property and Casaulty Insurance require USAA membership.
All other financial products are open to all.
M (member for 35+ years)

If you only have one credit card, I guess there is no harm in getting another for foreign travel. However, there are some disadvantages to having lots of credit cards you don't need (it can hurt your credit rating, even inquiries can affect it). Credit cards also do not like customers who don't use the cards a lot. I had one card change the terms to my disadvantage because I wasn't using it enough to make them happy. Now that doesn't matter too much to me because none of the terms can affect you (unless they instituted a yearly fee, which you could then drop it) unless you don't pay the bill each month. If you do carry balances, that can matter.

Thanks, Mike, for that information.

I asked because I am also a USAA member but I use a credit union for checking, etc., so the cash withdrawals aren't an issue for me.

I tend to agree with Christina although I do pay off CC balances on a monthly basis so regardless of what their terms are I ignore them and use the CC for convenience.

I'm certainly not against saving money, especially when it comes to banks and their fees.

Does your Citibank card give you miles??? Mine does and I use it ALL the time when I am home but on this last trip I used it only when I was short on Euros. For travelling I suggest ATM cash withdrawals providing your bank does not have outrageous ATM fees. (Mine charges $1.50 per.)
A Visa or MC debit card linked to your checking acct may not have such a stiff fee. Check with your bank.

I have used both Schwab and Salomon Smith Barney Master Card debit cards. They charge a flat $1 per ATM withdrawal and no currency markup that I can detect (by comparing my statements with the day's European Central Bank rate).

<b>http://ecb.int</b>

I opened a First Republic ATM Checking acct. for international travel. No ATM fees, no bank fees--worldwide. We have $500 limit per day per cardholder per account. So we can take $1000 out between my husband and me per day, and if we need to, another $1000 from my husbands acct.

I currently use only my Citibank Dividand card (cash back, no annual fee) and pay in full every month. I refuse to pay a 3% charge for foreign use, no matter how little the amount may be. I have excellent credit- I prefer to be paid to use a card, not the other way around. I also enjoy saving money, no matter how little that may be. It's why I can afford to travel abroad, Intrepid1, even at the last minute.
I'll look into the USAA card and Amex. Thanks all!

My Schwab Visa has no ATM fee and adds no charge other than Visa's one percent.

I have a Capital One Business Platinum that still charges 1%.

I have always used my Citibank AAdvantage card for everything - I love the miles! However, I didn't use it at all for my May trip to France because of the recent 3% charge. I have an LL Bean card (MBNA), which still only charges 1% (which is the Visa charge)- and used that exclusively. The AAA card also only charges 1%. But who knows for how long??? I think that 3% is a real ripoff, and it really makes me mad that the greedy banks are doing that. However, I do like my Citibank AA miles, so won't cancel it unless AA goes bankrupt!

USAA card, a lot less than 3%, if any charge at all ( I don't remember there being any and we used it to withdraw cash and pay for everything overseas), this is mostly for military folks, however, my husband is not in the military and he has one, so I would check what the requirements are. www.usaa.com

Even with the 3% tacked on, just remember that this is still a heck of a lot cheaper than the old method of cashing in traveler's checks or exchanging currency where fees and poor exchange rates could total 15% or more.
Of course you should shop for the best value, but if you are about to take a trip and just discovering the 3% charge, I wouldn't sweat it.

The question of foreign transaction charges has been discussed several time previously here. Capital One charges only 1% (the standard VISA charge). MBNA used to be the same, but is upping its fee on most cards.

An article in the Wall St Journal the other day said that the non-bank credit card companies (like MBNA and Cap One) were having more financial problems because they don't have so many other sources of income as the banks. (So why are the bank cards the ones that charge the highest fees? ... that's just the way of the world, I guess.)

Anyway, the conclusion was that those companies might be targets for buyouts by banks -- more of the consolidation that always ends up with higher prices for consumers. The article did say that Cap One was doing better than MBNA because they were more diversified, and might be better able to resist a buyout / takeover.

I have a Capital One card that I have been very happy with. There is a long thread here somewhere about the pros and cons of the Cap One miles award card. You might want to search for it.

Oh, and speaking of Citibank -- were you one of the 4 million people whose personal information was lost or stolen? That wouldn't make me too happy to be a Citibank customer!

I really like my Capital One card, also -- they are actually just down the road from where I work, I can almost see them from my office. Now I read they were closing one of their offices in San Diego, to cut costs--I think it had something to do with auto loans.

Maybe the reason they don't charge extra for foreign transactions is exactly because they care more about retaining CC customers than the banks, who have other sources of income (whatever that may mean, I'm not sure -- Capital One has a lot of products). MBNA used to care about trying to keep customers, but doesn't any more, I guess.

I had a Citibank VISA once and was always satisfied with their customer service, but saw no other reason to retain their card when I got some without the foreign trans. addon.