# no ATM usage



## DslDwg (Apr 29, 2012)

Never had a problem. Mainly stick to the ol' AmEx but never had a problem getting cash from ATM's. 

The only place I have issues with CC's is some of the gas stations and some of toll roads. 

I found Germany and France very AmEx friendly but Italy less so. 

I would advise to always have a couple hundred Euro in your wallet just in case your cards don't work.


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## Wine-O (Feb 17, 2010)

woron said:


> Bank of America is the member of the Global ATM Alliance. There are no fees when using BofA debit card in Deutsche Bank ATMs. I've used it Germany and other countries before and did not pay any extra fees.


BofA is probably one of the worst with regard to conversion and transaction fees. Besides, who want to travel around Europe looking for a Deutsche Bank ATM, when any bank ATM will due?


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## SamS (Jan 17, 2011)

griddle said:


> I always use my Chase Sapphire credit card at European ATMs. Chase charges it as a cash advance with a slight interest mark up -- but I pay it off as soon as I'm home so it is minimal. I prefer to pay the small interest for cash advances as Chase affords identity theft protection on the charges. They also provide no foreign transaction fees if I'm running the card as credit!


Can you tell me more? Everywhere I look, this card wants to change 5%+ for ATM withdrawals overseas. I used this card for credit transactions during my last ED, and now it seems BofA wants to charge 3% for ATM, so I want to find a better way to get cash.


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## Lionnutz (Jul 24, 2014)

SamS said:


> Can you tell me more? Everywhere I look, this card wants to change 5%+ for ATM withdrawals overseas. I used this card for credit transactions during my last ED, and now it seems BofA wants to charge 3% for ATM, so I want to find a better way to get cash.


Just get a Charles Schwab checking account. Account is free, no minimum balances, no atm fees anywhere in the world and no conversion fee for foreign currency. It's the best account to travel with for withdrawing local currency.

Forget about the other ones with any amount of fees. Even if it's 3 bucks it'd be 3 bucks saved for gelato in Italy.


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## SamS (Jan 17, 2011)

Lionnutz said:


> Just get a Charles Schwab checking account. Account is free, no minimum balances, no atm fees anywhere in the world and no conversion fee for foreign currency. It's the best account to travel with for withdrawing local currency.
> 
> Forget about the other ones with any amount of fees. Even if it's 3 bucks it'd be 3 bucks saved for gelato in Italy.


Looks like you need a CS brokerage account in order to get the checking account you're describing.


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## woron (Dec 13, 2011)

Me530 said:


> Even the wiki you mentioned mentioned the ATM fee's for BofA:
> For each ATM cash withdrawal, this International Transaction Fee is 3% of the U.S. dollar amount (as of November 8, 2013), and for each purchase, this International Transaction Fee is 3% of the U.S. dollar amount.


Greedy bastards. Last time I've used them was in August'13, and they did not charge anything.


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## Gluhwein (Aug 21, 2011)

Cash is king. Either bring over money you exchanged back here in the States or make sure you use ATMs that share in your own bank's network. Withdraw the max whenever you take money out just in case that bank or your own charges a fee. Never use a charge to buy anything overseas unless you absolutely have to. There are just too many stupid little rules and hidden costs the credit card companies try to nail you with. Learn from my recent mistakes - One day we were low on cash so I had the hotel charge my credit union credit card. On my recent statement I had a 3% fee even though they assured me that there wouldn't be one. I thought about fighting it, but $7 isn't work the time and effort. I'm just glad I didn't decide to charge all the hotels in advance. That's one of many reasons I swear by Booking.com - even though you give your card number to hold the room reservation the hotel doesn't actually charge your card unless you request they do so. Pay cash.


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## Gary J (Dec 18, 2013)

Gluhwein said:


> There are just too many stupid little rules and hidden costs the credit card companies try to nail you with.


That's going a bit overboard. Carrying cash can be dangerous while liability can be limited with cards. Just make sure about charges with one or two - that is not a big task. For example with any level AMEX Delta Skymiles card there are no Forex charges and better protection than what can go wrong with carrying cash.


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## Wine-O (Feb 17, 2010)

Gluhwein said:


> Cash is king. Either bring over money you exchanged back here in the States or make sure you use ATMs that share in your own bank's network. Withdraw the max whenever you take money out just in case that bank or your own charges a fee. Never use a charge to buy anything overseas unless you absolutely have to. There are just too many stupid little rules and hidden costs the credit card companies try to nail you with. Learn from my recent mistakes - One day we were low on cash so I had the hotel charge my credit union credit card. On my recent statement I had a 3% fee even though they assured me that there wouldn't be one. I thought about fighting it, but $7 isn't work the time and effort. I'm just glad I didn't decide to charge all the hotels in advance. That's one of many reasons I swear by Booking.com - even though you give your card number to hold the room reservation the hotel doesn't actually charge your card unless you request they do so. Pay cash.


You probably were a victim of DCC -- Dynamic Currency Conversion. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_currency_conversion

Never let the vendor make the conversion for you. Always charge your credit card purchases in the local currency and let your bank do the conversion. It's a big scan in Europe as far as I'm concerned. Sometimes merchants won't ask and automatically do the conversion for you.


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## scarhill (Dec 29, 2014)

SamS said:


> Looks like you need a CS brokerage account in order to get the checking account you're describing.


I signed up for it. They create a brokerage account for you, but you don't have to fund it. I did just the checking account and got the card which has a chip, so should be good to go in Europe.


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## Lionnutz (Jul 24, 2014)

SamS said:


> Looks like you need a CS brokerage account in order to get the checking account you're describing.


The brokerage account is also no cost and is linked to ur checking account. U don't need to actively use or fund the brokerage account. I don't use or fund the brokerage account but use the checking account when I travel.

The brokerage account is handy when u want to make a deposit from a Charles Schwab location. They r not actually bank locations so they deposit it through ur brokerage account and automatically transfer it to ur checking account.

Charles Schwab bank has no physical locations, just brokerages which r not the same. Hence the free atm withdrawal fees


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## Gotcha640 (Apr 27, 2014)

Depending on your style, you might be able to avoid a few more fees and cash transactions by paying online. We travelled all over Europe last year, and a lot of places, from big hotels to airbnb apartments take payment on the website. You enter your US card info on the US site, pay in dollars, and they get paid in euros or dirham or yen. You can also arrange all inclusive trips the same way, so all you need cash for would be souvenirs and tips.


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## Gotcha640 (Apr 27, 2014)

Also, my company has people traveling all the time all over, and I've known people to get a traveler to exchange cash for them to avoid the fees (expense reports!)


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