I am in the UK, London. Bank is an Eastern European small bank, not very much known. The bank may be in trouble soon but so far allows me to spend my money using the debit card.

I guess my question really is - can you use a foreign debit card to "defer" spend in the US (or elsewhere but debited in USD) at a low cost.

A benchmark alternative for me is to just get cash from a UK ATM in pounds (it works) but the bank charges me 4% on top of the exchange rate.

I read many posts here and the conclusion I am reaching is that without physically being present in the US, there are no ways to do better.

Thank you for replying and I appreciate any advice.