Originally Posted by
awayIgo
The rate of exchange paid at an ATM has to do with YOUR bank, not the Israeli bank. Same as the rate of exchange offered by credit cards. I have used two different cards, in rapid succession and gotten two different rates. Especially when cards do the transaction for "no fee" --the "fee" is the difference between the commercial rate and what they are paying you.
Well, that was kind of the point I was making from my experience.
I have had accounts at Bank of Tokyo (now BOTM), Citibank, B of A and JPM Chase over the last 25 years, and have never gotten an exchange rate as good as I have gotten at the discount currency brokers in Tokyo, Hong Kong, and especially Thailand, where the spread is very thin. So thin that you can do a double conversion (e.g. Yen to Baht to AUD) and still beat the best debit ATM rate by at least two points.