Originally Posted by
Majuki
That sounds like a trip I took in 2008 around Spain. I was paying $5 + 3% for ATM withdrawals and 3% for all of my purchases. I just calculated and paid $137.59 in 3% FTF on my credit card, $22.90 in 3% FTF and $20 in international ATM withdrawals. That was $180.49 thrown away. On the upside, the frustration led me to find FlyerTalk in search of a better way. ^
Same here on finding Flyer Talk. ^^
At the time, my local bank's ATM card would permit $200 per day withdrawal limit, and 3 free draws per month before imposing a small charge per draw (couple bucks, I think). But that was at least reasonable and something you could live with. I later "upgraded" it to a MC debit card just to get the $500/day ATM draw limit and they also dropped all the fees on their end. So that is about the best deal going. For intl. travel, I now pre-spot a bank-owned ATM near our first hotel and draw currency there or wherever is convenient and not charging outrageous fees using this ATM card, and also bring a mix of 0% FTF credit cards for charges.
The one card with a 1% FTF that I have relied on is the USAA MC (old style) for the convenience of offline PIN as first CVM. Sadly, that will drop back to signature-preferred when it renews next Feb, so we'll have to see how well that works. (I think jeff jaguar said his had issues doing transactions he had done successfully before with the old style card.) It was great while it lasted: bought train tickets in Belgium this spring when nobody else's card worked at the kiosk.