At the moment I'm researching credit cards and bank cards, trying to find ones with minimal currency conversion fees. I found a couple great articles on Bankrate.com. Thought they might be useful.

This explains the scam:

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/cc/20050624a1.asp

And this explains the best ways to avoid it:
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/cc/20050624b1.asp

Looks like Capital One is a good deal.

Capital One is good for a credit card. Wells Fargo (surprisingly) seems good. They charge the foreign ATM fee ($5), but not another conversion fee on top of that. Bank of America charges BOTH a currency conversion fee AND a foreign ATM fee.

Bank of America's fees have been a constant thorn in my side during my RTW. I am switching banks as soon as I get home.

My Capial one card seems to offer a very good rate, and only charges fees for cash advances. Regular purchases have no fees. So I basically just put everything on the Capital one, and pay it off over the internet.

It is definitely worth it to switch banks before a RTW if you can find one that will give you an account without a foreign ATM fee.

I use BofA in Europe; they don't charge ATM fees for withdrawals from several major European banks. They still have a 2 or 3% currency conversion fee. I think all debit cards charge at least 1%, if only because visa and mastercard automatically charge that amount for currency conversion.

All my research had pointed me to HSBC being the best option for the banking side. Unfortunately after I opened the account, I learned they have no ATMs in Switzerland or Italy, so now I'm nervous about getting hit with the other bank's fees. HSBC charges $1.50 per withdrawal, bud does anyone know how much most banks will charge for using their ATM if you don't bank with them?

So any idea which banks don't charge a conversion fee on debit cards?

Fudd - They all seem to charge the MC/Visa 1%. Some charge more than that, though. I know offhand HSBC only charges the 1%.

quote:

Originally posted by Fudd:
So any idea which banks don't charge a conversion fee on debit cards?

Best bet is to use the CapitalOne credit card and then pay it off over the interent.

Check out credit unions! I have a visa credit card as well as a visa debit/ATM card through mine. You get a better deal when some major corporation doesn't benefit from charging you! I haven't been charged any sort of withdrawl fee or had trouble accessing my money in any of the 17 countries I've used my card in. (and they weren't all in Europe, either!) Some credit unions are only open to certain groups of people, but others are open to the public.

Bideshi is right on. I called my CU this morning and I wont be charged any fee for currency conversion either. Only the local branches non-member atm fees apply. One less thing to worry about.

Credit Unions are the way to go. Mine charges me only a $1 per transaction foreign ATM fee if I use my ATM card. If I use my debit card, Visa also charges a separate 1% fee whether I use it for an ATM or for purchases, so I've switched to carrying my ATM card as well. One MC credit card I have charges 3%... so I don't use that one abroad, but you should check with your banks to be sure of their fees.

As for no HSBC's in Switzerland or Italy, I haven't made it there yet so I don't know for sure, but I've never had a European ATM charge any extra fees. I heard something about there being laws against it, but I don't know that for sure. So, you should just have to worry about the $1.50 HSBC will charge you for using a foreign ATM.

I just called Bank of America last night and asked them if they could waive my foriegn ATM charges for the 6 months I will be away and they told me no. Then I asked if I could be transferred to the retention department to close my account. I told them my situation and that I really enjoyed doing business with them but if they can't accomodate me I have to switch to a competitor that has already agreed to offer me free ATM withdraw on other ATM's. Well, she immediately said "hold on let me see what I can do" and within minutes told me from 12/5/06 to 12/5/07 foreign ATM charges have been waived from my account.

So, try this. It actually works.

Someone else on the board posted a thread about it but I couldn't find it.

There U go Joey with K4

If you live in the UK NationWide don't charge you for taking your money out abroad...

I don't have an account yet, but I'm certainly going to get one before I go on my RTW!!

im sorry BOA sucks...they kill you with 5 dollar fees from taking out money...they do have a deal with barclays where they dont charge you and some other banks in europe...I used to have independance bank, which got bought by soverign and they only charged me 1 dollar per transaction...

also most credit cards charge between 1-3 percent, some do it per transaction some do it per bill