We are planning a vacation in England and Northern Europe this summer. My research indicated that most of the Visa/MC providers have increased their foriegn exchange fee to 3% across the board. While there may be some stragglers, the trend is to 3%. I've seen posts on other forums/message boards where MBNA card holders have received the 3% notice.

At this point (less than 30 days from departure) the best credit card deal I've got in my pocket is my DL Amex card which charges me 2% for transctions in currencies other than dollars. Be careful on this last point "other than dollars". It is possible to have hotels settle your charges in dollars (rather than the local currancy). It may seem like a deal and that the hotel is doing you a big favor. They most likely are not (see Starwood forum), since they will be using a foreign exchange rate to is much worse that what you would get if you settled in the local currancy and took the 2% Amex fee.

The best ATM card deal I've found is Bank of America using their affiliation with the Global ATM alliance (DeutcheBank, et al) to avoid foreign ATM fees of up to $8-10 per transaction. It is possible to have foreign ATM fees waived in some instances. For example, Wells Fargo has a $5 foreign ATM fee. I went to the local branch and suggested that I would be moving to BofA if the fees were not waived. Wells agreed to waive their $5 fee. I imagine that I'll still be dinged for the $1-2 fee charged by the foreign ATM machine operator.

Also, be wary of using the visa or mastercard debit card function on your ATM card. I've seen some discussion that this will incurr the 3% surcharge by visa/MC and possibly another charge by each bank involved.

MO