BootsnAll Travel Community

Hey everyone!
In several months I will be traveling to Guatemala and staying there between 8 and 12 months and then traveling around the rest of C.A. for another several months.

I'm currently shopping around for banks which will give me good rates on ATM withdrawals. I have found one which has a program where not only do they not charge you for international withdrawals, but they also refund the other banks' fees. The only catch is you have to sign into your online account once a month (easy) and you have to make 1 debit card purchase (I don't think it can be an online purchase either) per month. If you dont then you lose all of the program benefits and they start charging fees. This is a bit tricky. How widespread is debit card usage in C.A.? What about big grocery stores and stuff?

I might have to looking into getting a joint account w/ a family member so that they can use my debit card once a month in the states.

Thanks for any help/advice

If the bank you choose doesn't change the rules on you, a debit card works beautifully in Central America, except in very small villages.

When we began using a debit card from Wachovia Bank, a little over four years ago, they had no charge for international use and would let it be used outside the U.S. for approximately 6 months at a time without our having to call them to verify that the usage in Guatemala, Honduras, etc. was legitimate.

After about a year and a half they began to charge 1% for international use. Last year the international fee went up to 2%. Since they have lost so much money on bad real estate loans and are scared to death of loosing money on any other type transactions, they will now only guarantee 72 hours use without verifying that we are the ones using our card. Last month one call to re-activate our card cost us $38.00 U.S. due too it taking almost an hour on the phone to jump through all the security hoops.

Please let us know what bank is offering you this good deal. We are looking into Charles Schwab Bank. Their promises are good, but we have had no experience with them yet.

One thing to be sure to do is to put a reasonable daily limit on what can be put on your debit card. There are some very sophisticated thieves down here who can empty your account within hours, if you are not very careful.

http://www.summitcommunitybank.com/

It's a local bank here in the Virginia/West Virginia area

Juan (or anyone else)-
I realize this depends on the individual, but how much would you say is a reasonable limit for daily withdrawals? I'm just one person, so you think like $500? $1000? I really have no frame of reference for this...
Thanks!

Shmeeeee,

Thanks for the information.

escapadora,

If you are a backpacker, you will be hard pressed to spend $500.00 in three or four days in Central America, so I would think a limit of $500.00 per day would be quite adequate.

Washington Mutual used to have the best terms for using your ATM overseas. I say used to since over the weekend I read that they had just instituted some new fees. A call WM proved to be a waste since I couldn't find any details. I'll put it off to the holiday weekend. Presumeably their next statement will have details. Bank of America is horrible. Lots of fees, tight restrictions and even when you do everything they ask their computer run security program will automatically shut you down. A possible bright hope.. Paypal. I've used it the past couple of years for every type of business transaction from art galleries in Paris to sweat shops in China. I've just got one of their ATM cards. Anyone used one overseas? I will on my next trip and will report back. Advantage.. Paypal has a great firewall. The card is linked both to my bank account and credit card but the person I deal with never sees that info. Paypal guarantees my purchase. My only beef is that all communication is done via email.

Keep us posted - hadn't thought of a Paypal ATM (I'm a Bank of America customer).