cethen

While reviewing my December statement, I was surprised to find a charge labeled "International Transaction." We frequently travel to Canada and this was the first time I had ever seen this fee. It was based on charges made for one night's hotel room and dinner in YVR.

I called Bank of America and was told by the CSR that this fee was added in January '05 and she was surprised that I had not been charged it before. She went back through my previous statements and verified that this was the first time.

After some discussion, she offered to remove this month's charge as a courtesy. But this is one fee that will add up real fast for me, so I have been shopping around for a different card to use for international travel.

Just my .02 (.0232 CDN)

SEA_Tigger

This may be standard across most of BofA's cards, as my debit card (which I used a bit in BCN) generated $2.65 in international transaction fees. Also, does not VISA impose a 1% fee or some such, regardless of issuing entity?

greybeardy

Visa does impose a 1% international fee on all transactions. Bank of America and numerous other banks add an additional 2 - 4% "gouge the customer" fee. There are some banks though that don't charge beyond the Visa 1%.

channa

No, this changed within the past six months or so. For credit cards, Visa and MC used to charge 1%, but that was ruled illegal, and any surcharges must be itemized out. Instead, Visa/MC decided to stop charging it, at which time banks decided ot increase their "gouge charge" by 1%.

For debit cards, though, I believe Visa/MC do charge the 1% fee and itemize it on the bill.

For BofA banking customers, BofA is part of a Global ATM Alliance, and you can withdraw cash from your BofA account at Scotiabank ATMs in Canada for no fees or charges whatsoever. This is the absolute cheapest way I'm aware of to access money abroad.

PowerLu

I just got charged that too on my trip to Canada. I have used my BOA card all over Europe earlier this year and got no such fees. I'm going to Brazil this week and now I can't use my card there because of these ridiculous fees? how ridiculous. I guess i'll just take cash and exchange there, but this is super lame, I hate carrying loads of cash around anywhere, esp abroad.



ps- I just called BOA and they said Credit or Checking all of bank of america as of October 2005 are now charging this 3% transaction fees. She also mentioned as far as she knows all cards do it except American Express. Well, I guess I'm getting an American Express to use overseas. I think Delta Skymiles does american express cards. This is so lame.

channa

Amex charges 2%. And exchanging cash often results in a less-than-stellar exchange rate.

As I mentioned, the cheapest way I found to exchange money is to debit cash from an ATM using your BofA checking acct., and the Global ATM Alliance (if you're in a partner country). Other than that, check with your bank/CU about ATM cash debits internationally, if it's no-fee or only a minor fee, it's a fair exchange rate.

There are other ways to avoid int'l transaction fees. One example is to pre-pay your hotel through a U.S. point of sale, such as Travelocity. You pay in US Dollars, and that's it.

See http://www.frommers.com/articles/3231.html for more info.

zurbec

I opened a credit union visa credit and visa debit accounts after this fee "exposed". I did some research trying to find a bank that didn't tack on 2-3% in addition to Visa's 1% fee, but the credit union turned out to be the best deal. The other thing that bothers me is that Visa doesn't use a published interbank rate, but rather unnamed wholesale market rates of it's choosing and not necessarily the rates Visa used to convert your transaction between banks.

The other new fee that really gets me is the one levied on savings accounts with less than a $2500 balance. At $1 per withdrawl, this could really add up for some folks depending on what their ATM habits are. I felt this fee was excessively targeted at low income and poor customers who wishfully deposit parts of their paycheck into a savings account hoping not to touch it and then end up needing to withdraw it before the next paycheck.

BW Flyer

I think most credit card companies charge these international transaction fees nowadays. Just another way the banks can gouge their customers. I think my CU Visa does not charge international fees, but I will find out very soon.

BW

DCA-SEA

Couple of tips I've discovered:

E*Trade's accounts (checking, money market, etc.) do not charge a fee for non-E*Trade ATM withdrawals, domestic or international.

Interestingly, whomever issues the Macy's Visa card only charges the Visa 1% fee.

For the insurance on a rental car on a recent trip to Germany, the 3% fee on the AS B of A Visa was worth it.