Those are the dispensing bank charges. Have you checked your BofA statement? They charge $5 for foreign ATMs unless its a partner bank.
FYI no service charges on my BofA ATM for withdrawal, confirmed.
Also used the card for a purchase and it worked as chip and sign. Excellent.
Also updated OP with foreign transaction fees.
Wow, I’m impressed, either a partner bank or a special debit card, as the website is pretty clear .
That’s bizarre. Never had a problem. I easily exchanged some British sterling for euros in Alba in September. Banks typically require a passport for ID for FX transactions, but it shouldn’t be a problem.
Just returned from Sicily and Paris. Used my Capital One card for purchases with no foreign transaction fees. Used my Pnc ATM card 3 times for euros. 3 $ 5.00 fees 2 of which were reversed w/o asking.
One additional thought regarding fees, depending on how many products/size of your relationship with your bank, they may waive all ATM access fees, including international ones. Definitely check with them before going as this might be an unpublished benefit for you.
I also know that to this point this is primarily a Euro-focused thread, but wanted to add that I just returned from Argentina and found it to be a different animal altogether. My lessons learned:
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For tours, wineries, leather goods etc, find out first if they prefer US$ … I found that a 10% discount for paying in US$ cash was not unusual (and in many cases preferred). This has the added ‘excitement’ of needing to manage a large wad of Benjamins. Also be sure to take plenty of small-er denomination bills for gratuities, as I found that US$ were definitely preferred for those.
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Don’t be surprised if you have trouble getting cash out of ATMs, just keep trying. I had to go to about 7 different banks in BA and Mendoza to find ones that worked, even sometimes getting different results out of ATMs at the same bank. ICBC (Thanks China!) worked pretty consistently for me.
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Unlike bringing Euros home, you probably want to spend down every last Peso before you leave. Definitely account for this as you manage what you convert/withraw.
Hope this helps!
Updated BoA hit me $5 for each ATM cash withdrawal
I’d complain. I travelled in three countries in Europe plus Turkey for a total of five weeks between August and January and HSBC never charged me for any ATM transactions.
The system I’ve used for the last 5 years:
Chase Sapphire (now the Reserve) credit card-no FX charges/no longer requires travel notice in advance
Schwab debit card-refunds all ATM fees/no FX charges
Can open the Schwab account concurrently with no fee/no required deposit brokerage account.
I would highly, highly recommend that if you travel internationally with any regularity that you get a Charles Schwab checking account. No foreign transaction fees, no ATM fees at any ATM in the world, and preferential exchange rates. I really couldn’t see why anyone wouldn’t use them. They needn’t even be your primary bank. Also, their customer service and security departments are top notch.
Not only does Schwab not charge for ATM withdrawals, they reimburse you for the dispensing bank’s fees for 4 wutgdrawLs per month.
We use our Capital One Bank debit card routinely at ATMs overseas. No charges for using the ATMs and reimbursement of local bank charges up to $15 per statement cycle. The High Yield Checking account does have a minimum balance (bank, brokerage or mortgage), but it does have numerous benefits and pays above market interest (though “High Yield” in this market is a misnomer).
Capital One, AA Mastercard and Marriott Visa are all chip and sign with no foreign transaction fees and have all worked fine. I guess I travel enough that I no longer have to tell them when I’m traveling and never had anything rejected. As noted above, American Express is not widely accepted in Europe so I never try to use it.
Another fan of Capital One CC and Schwab checking for international travel. We haven’t brought cash abroad in years. For both Asia and Europe we’ve gotten around just fine using ATMs and charging to our card with no transaction fees and conversion rates close to/at spot.
The worst developed country for foreign ATM transactions was Japan. Generally it’s hard to find one that takes foreign cards outside of 7-11 stores.
Wells Fargo and TD are something like $3 per ATM withdrawal and given the amount that I use no FX fee credit cards (regular chip and sign and an Andrews Credit Union chip and pin when needed, say in the Paris metro), one withdrawal usually is enough to get through a trip. I have not been inside a bank for a transaction in literally ten years of multiple trips per year. Every airport I go through has ATMs after you land.
Uber in Paris and London is great but sadly not available in Italy; Amex is so so outside of hotels so I rarely end up using it.
My standard protocol is to use no-fee credit cards, to always pay in local currency when they give you an option, and to withdraw cash (usually the max) at the first airport ATM I see in the new country. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a gateway airport where I couldn’t find one, and it’s usually ~$3. If I have cash left over at the end of the trip I dump it towards the hotel bill or whatever else.
Has anyone been able to check that the credit cards that don’t charge an fx fee don’t operate on a wider spread?
I haven’t run a control experiment, but generally seems like the no-fee Sapphire takes 25-75 bps, but could be intraday movement and still well inside fee cards.
One thing is sure, buying Euro from local US bank prior to leaving imposes as high as 25% more than current exchange rate in their favor, including any/all fees.
Most definitely better off for US-based traveler to use ATM in foreign locale and withdraw as close to max needed as possible, pay up the flat fx fee and with the exchange that’s always very close to current market rate.
I’ve done periodic spot checks on the cards I use and they’ve always been very close to end of day (US) reported rates. I’ve attributed the slight differences to intraday movement.
Hmmm, hadn’t thought about that. We have cards we’ve used for traveling, but they are chip and sign. Going to London in a few months. Guess it would be best to talk to the bank about getting a PIN assigned.