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Old May 7, 2009 | 7:55 pm
  #1572  
Happy
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Join Date: Jul 2003
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Originally Posted by busterbaxter
I have not used my Citibank debit card abroad after they upp'ed the forex fee. But I still keep the account active. Reason is that some Citi ATMs in Japan are located indoors and you need to swipe your card to access at night. So even with a no forex fee Cap1 ATM card, I still need to use the Citi card to gain entry.
Have you tried the Cap 1 card on several 7-11 ATMs? Sometimes there may be due to network outage. On our last trip none of the American banks' ATMs at NRT work, but the Japanese big banks ATMs all worked. I took 60,000 Yen out from a Japanese Bank's machine when both the AMEX and Citi were down.

Fidelity's mySmartCash works the same way as Schwab debit card. I opened a Money Market Account inside mySmartCash account which is a checking account. When there is not enough fund inside mySmartCash it would automatically access the MMA. Fido reimburses unlimited ATM fee. This is a liberation such that no more searching for BofA's Global ATM Network member banks when travelling in countries where there are member banks. Now I just bring the Fido card. It worked even in Medeira and Azores, 2 islands in the middle of Atlantic Ocean. The rates were all very competitive when I checked them against the historical rates upon returning home.

Last edited by Happy; May 7, 2009 at 8:12 pm
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