In post #1382 above, ajnaro provides an excellent test: he used his Schwab and his Fidelity ATM cards both, one after the other, at the same ATM machine in Brazil to withdraw identical amounts. He then says, "each account was charged exactly the same amount in USD."

Ajnaro says that the Fidelity rep told him there is a 1% VISA (the Plus system is owned by VISA) fee for foreign currency transactions, while Schwab's rep told him "that Schwab had a 'special arrangement' with VISA for a zero fee."

So, the implication is that one of these two is giving out the wrong info, intentionally or not. Otherwise, to state the obvious, the amount charged to the Fidelity account should have been 1% more than the charge to the Schwab account.

Checking the fine print at Schwab's website, at High Yield Investor Checking FAQ, there is in footnote #1 this phrase: "ATM fee rebates do not include currency exchange fees."

Nowhere there do I see a statement that Schwab has a "special arrangement with VISA for a zero fee."

All this bullies me to concluding that a 1% fee is indeed added to foreign transactions with a Schwab ATM card, and this fee is not refunded by Schwab.