Originally Posted by
zyxlsy
Before, I was thinking about getting a Private Client Account with Chase to get their black debit card with no FTF... That comes with a price (deposit) of $250000. Making all that money just stay in an account in return for no FTF is quite a steep cost.
Now Schwab does it without the $250000, nice!
Fidelity also does full reimbursement of ATM operator fees with the debit card that comes with the Cash Management Account, and there is a 0% exchange fee. The Cash Management Account also doesn't require a minimum balance. I've posted before that the original reason I stumbled upon FlyerTalk was looking for ways to avoid FTF when traveling overseas. I just calculated on a 4-week trip in 2008, and I spent about $24 on 3% exchange fees plus $20 due to four separate $5 international withdrawal fees from my bank at the time. If you take the $44 in fees over $800 equivalent in cash withdrawals, that's a 5.5% effective fee on getting money overseas. You live and learn.
A downside with Chase Private Client is that I think even though non-Chase ATM operator fees are waived that you would still pay a 3% exchange rate on foreign currency withdrawals.