Originally Posted by Makatikid
I am wondering if the charge is only on the ATM cards which have the Master Card logo and are also usable as debit cards. If so, it would be better to go back to a non-MC ATM card. Does anyone have experience with this?
In my experience it's very difficult to use non-Visa/MC ATM cards overseas. Most of the domestic US ATM networks (Star, Plus, NYCE, Shazam, etc.) don't seem to exist overseas, so unless you have a card with Cirrus, Maestro, Visa, or MC logos on it, you probably won't be able to use it at all once you leave the USA.
Yes, Chase is greedy. So are Citi and many of the other big national banks. Get an account from a small local bank or from one of the internet banks and use that when you're overseas. I use Commerce Bank of NJ (commerceonline.com) and Umbrellabank.com--neither of which levies any fee beyond the 1% Visa fee for purchases or ATM withdrawals.