Originally Posted by
KOStradivarius
In other news, I received this email from Citibank:
"Effective January 26th, 2008 we will impose a fee equal to 2% of the transaction amount (including credits or reversals) on all ATM and/or POS Debit Card transactions (U.S. or foreign currency) that you conduct outside the 50 United States or Puerto Rico. This fee will apply to transactions made at Citibank and Non-Citibank ATMs."
I have not yet received the email but that is a big disappointment as Citi has convenient ATMs in many major European cities including London and Paris. Citi just reported a 56% profit drop so I guess they need to increase revenues any way they can
Since 2% is too much for me to stomach - and I really don't want to open any more bank accounts - I am probably going to go with Fidelity (1% with no per-use surcharge) in places where BofA partners are unavailable. Schwab has a similar option.
For those who don't want to open new bank or broker accounts which might have minimum deposit requirements and other hassles, another good option is paypal which charges $1 + 1%, though effectively you are paying 2% on a $100 withdrawal. But there is no minimum balance (mine is currently zero
) no monthly fees and easy to transfer money once you have set it up.
Final note: Although it isn't a foreign country to US nationals, Hawaii has few if any surcharge-free ATMs and the big US banks do not have a presence there. As discussed in the Hawaii forum, the best option (for those who don't get ATM fees reimbursed) is to use your debit card to get cash at Safeway. Or simply charge everything except tips, which is what we did
