Originally Posted by
misscara
Oddly (or maybe not so oddly) enough, I contacted ING to ask for information about no foreign transaction fees on their debit cards and was told that MC is still charging a fee. I think the rep had old information but you'd think they'd know about this.
It's pretty common for customer service reps to have no clue about foreign transaction fees.
Originally Posted by
misscara
I also have the Discover More, but I read Discover isn't commonly accepted there. Does this sound like a good plan to anyone who has been there?
With few if any exceptions, Discover is pretty much exclusive to North America and mainland China.
Originally Posted by
Xopher
Thanks. Do foreign ATMs pretty much universally charge fees?
It varies by country. In some countries ATM owner fees are more or less universal. In other countries they're illegal.
Originally Posted by
Xopher
When researching cards I was confused about this as well. Does "no fee" mean no additional fee levied by the card issuer (e.g. ING), but still has a ft fee from the payment network (e.g. MC), or are there bona fide no fee cards out there?
If they say no fee, they mean no fee. Several years ago there was a big class action lawsuit over foreign transaction charges and now the card issuers are required to disclose all fees. They usually don't distinguish between the fees charged by the card issuer and the card network, so a typical 3% FTF usually includes both 1% going to MC/Visa and 2% to the issuing bank.