Originally Posted by themicah
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.
I have had Citibank accounts for years and have never noticed an explicit charge, either for using an ATM or for foreign exchange. By phone Citibank claims that there is never an ATM usage charge for US Citibank account holders at any Citibank ATM anywhere in the world. At other banks there is no ATM charge by Citibank if the account has a combined balance of USD 6,000 or more. There may be a charge by the other bank, however. There is always a 1% foreign exchange fee (but they prefer some other name). The 3% foreign exchange fee applies only to Citi credit cards, not ATM transactions. Or at least that is the information they give out by phone.