Bank Of America - they definitely charge 3% fee on Credit card. I got charged a few months ago for deposits I had to make in Europe. They also have overpriced fees for using the ATM card. I have since cancelled with them.

E*Trade Visa- A card some of you might not have thought about is E*Trade. I have a Platinum Visa with them- 1% foreign transaction fee (although when I spoke to a customer rep recently they said there was not a foreign fee, so I need to check that out again.) They also have an excellent CDW/theft policy for rental cars, they even cover Italy as a secondary insurer.

E*trade also has ATM and you can get your fees refunded in the US and I believe from overseas ATM's, but I have not checked that out yet.

And no I don't work for E-Trade, I was just pleasantly surprised that they had such a good card rate and fees compared to others and thought I would pass it on :)

mcnyc, my ING account is indeed an online savings account, specifically, an Electric Orange account.

Also, my BofA CC is a platinum card. The one foreign transaction I made on it (made by mistake, long story*) was charged a 1% fee.

My Capital One CC imposed no foreign transaction fee at all on any of my charges, as my ING ATM card did not at the ING machine, but I said that already. :-)

*Well, not so long and maybe other people need to know this. In November, I made a hotel reservation through an online booking company. Cancelled the reservation 2 days later because I found something else. Printed out the cancelation notice. Wouldn't you know it? When I returned from my vacation 5 months later, I was charged for the room that I had cancelled. No response from hotel when I emailed and snail mailed them; booking agent has record of notifying them. Anyway, BofA refunded everything including the 1% transaction fee.

I have had nothing but great experiences with my HSBC debit card in Europe. I even had a situation in Paris last year where my travelling companion needed to change a very large Euro note to smaller bills, couldn't do it anywhere, but I was able to walk into an HSBC branch, explain the situation, show my debit card, and complete the transaction.

I am about to depart for Beijing for one month and anticipate using my HSBC card there, too. I researched the situation, and it turns out that they just incorporated locally in April 07. I am not fully clear what that means for my ability to use my card, and of course as others have noted, their tagline "the world's local bank" is a joke, at least concerning global knowledge in their NYC branches!

Alex09, Shanghai was one of the originating cities for HSBC (Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Company). According to the website, those branches along with ones in Beijing have become part of the local incorporation. Not sure any of this info helps either of us, since I still don't know how well the ATMs will work! Here's the English-language website if you haven't seen it already:
http://www.hsbc.com.cn/1/2/home.

mcnyc, I don't incur any charges with HSBC. Maybe it's the type of account you have? I switched to them years ago after being nickel-and-dimed to death by Chase, charged for so much as even thinking about my account! From what I've seen, Commerce has a lot of fees, too (look carefully at the fine print on things like that "save the change" campaign they have).

I had some problems with HSBC on my last trip to Paris last week. I use their Online Savings Account and figured their ATMs are all over Paris, I would have no problem. It seems that if you do not alert HSBC that you are traveling abroad they do not allow foreign ATM use, including their own ATMs. Never had this issue come up with an ATM card.

On the positive note, I used my Commerce Bank account and it worked beautifully. No fees whatsoever to use it in the ATM. Just paid the straight conversion rate of the day. If you're in DC, PA, or FL where Commerce is, definitely check them out.

My impression was that European ATMs would not access savings accounts, just checking accounts, AST13. Perhaps that was your problem.

Glad you had a second card, and didn't get stuck with no access to funds at all. I carry a BofA card, as a backup, but would only use it in a dire emergency, as they are bandits on foreign exchange, IMO.

:-)

nukesafe, that's my understanding as well. I've never had to notify HSBC of my travel plans to Europe, and my checking ATM card always works in their ATM machines. (I did just notify them of my upcoming trip to China - but that's another situation entirely!)

Capital one cards---read all the small print on the application as you may see some charges that most of these blogs never mention.Read the fine prnt.

bookmarking

An update: Just got a mailing yesterday that HSBC is raising it foreign ATM/debit conversioncharge from 1% to 3%. They still don't add on a fee for non-affiliated ATMs.

Yeah, I'd been reading about that on the Asia boards. I guess one of the issues mentioned on that thread was that HSBC hadn't been very upfront about telling customers of the change - so I'm glad you got notification! I haven't yet... So much for "the world's local bank"! :(

bookmarking

Since MOST credit cards already add 3% for foreign transactions, I've been waiting to see how soon most banks would follow suit for their ATM withdrawals. It looks like it's started to happen.

But I was surprised by Wachovia being in the original post for one of the "good cards". When I checked with them (convenient for me and a nice bank), I found that they already were charging 3% for their foreign ATM withdrawals. Or was that another case of the bank officer being wrong?

Hi Patrick--
As I was the OP I wanted to check back in. It's definitely a time for an update to that article. As you know, banks change these policies, it feels like, all the time. I think you're right too to wonder if the official you speak to is even telling you the right thing.

I helped with some of the fact checking on this article and actually did go into the Wachovia near our office (after being unsatisfied with the uncertain response I received over the phone) and was told they do not.

This was of course several months ago; which is why updates here in the Forums are really helpful. I pretty much plan to call my credit card/bank before every trip abroad to be sure.

Well, actually I'm going back nearly two years ago which is when I was told at Wachovia that they charge 3% for foreign ATM withdrawals. I doubt that they've decreased it, so probably it WAS another case of the bank official not knowing. I'm amazed how many times here people have said they've checked with BofA to be told that they DO charge 3% for ATM withdrawals, when in fact they don't -- only 1% (plus generally a fee). Clearly some officials seem to get their credit card facts mixed up with their ATM facts.

I went to the Wachovia website and looked up the Check Card FAQ - it says:

Can I use my Check Card in foreign countries?
You can use your Check Card to make purchases at millions of locations all over the world. You can also withdraw money at more than 1 million ATMs in 162 countries. Money will be dispensed in local currency. An International Service Assessment (ISA) fee of <b>2%</b> will be applied to each international transaction. To learn more about currency conversion or to use Visa's exchange rate calculator, please visit Visa's currency exchange Web site†.
http://www.wachovia.com/personal/page/0,,657_2167^2151,00.html

On a <b> Credit Card</b>, the ATM withdrawal (cash advance) fee is 3%; maybe that's what the banker was thinking. HOWEVER, on the foreign currency conversion, the Rates and Fees doc. says:

Currency Exchange fee: 1% of the U.S. dollar amount of the transaction.
http://www.wachovia.com/personal/onl.../0,,13,00.html

Ooops. No, Travelnut, if I'm reading what you said right, they DO charge 2% of the amount for &quot;International Service Assessment&quot; on ATM withdrawals. Apparently that is what THEY charge. If you go to that VISA link you gave, you'll find that VISA adds a 1% currency exchange fee. I'm good enough at math to figure out that the two added up equals 3%. NO????

Now that I think about it, that is what the bank official told me -- that they charge 2%, but that VISA which handles all their foreign transactions also adds 1%. Looks to me like those statements you just gave do confirm that.

ok, true. It's never clear whether the fee quoted INCLUDES the Visa 1% or not.

Last time I had a Compass Bank check card, it was 1% for ATM, and 2% for purchases (total, don't add another 1% for Visa).

Next trip, I'm using a Capital One check card - I'm not totally sure what it's going to cost. It might cost $1.50 atm charge and no foreign curr fee. We'll see. (the disclosure does not mention any foreign trans fees, so I'm hoping that means 'none' like the credit card does).