tmiw

Eh, I've never bothered with giving notice for US use for any card, including Schwab's. Haven't had problems.

Yeah, Schwab is way more touchy about international use in my experience. Though perhaps the ATM was chip based and they concluded that the fraud risk was low.

Dovster

Travel notice can be given either by phone or on the Schwab website so it is not a big deal.

joshwex90

State Farm is another option that offers free checking and no fees whatsoever including international fee reimbursement (believe it's capped at $10/month).

Regarding TD, I'm very surprised to hear they reimburse as I've heard from the rep and the website that they don't. Anyone have recent experience being charged a fee and being refunded by TD? (I too have TD Premier and this would be great.)

Can you explain this potential issue?

tmiw

I've heard of it happening mainly in the Netherlands but there could be others as well. Basically a number of stores only accepted Maestro/V PAY because they didn't want to pay the extra fees for "credit card" acceptance (which is what the normal Visa/MC debit cards issued in e.g. the US are considered overseas).

Of course, since the EU capped interchange fees, this might not be nearly as big of an issue now.

Dovster

I have been in small shops in Milan which only accepted Maestro debit cards -- and even then only if they were issued by an Italian bank. They would not accept my German Maestro.

Happy

IIRC, in many locations when using the Schwab checking debit card to withdraw cash, the ATM receipt not just showing the withdrawn amount, but also the account balance. It is not 100% but it is far more often than not.

Personally I dont know why anyone needs to know the account balance real time at the ATM unless one keeps very little money in the account. You can also access the Schwab website to see your account details.

I like to give travel notice to my CC / Debit Card issuers. It does not take much time and I usually do it a couple days before leaving the country. Schwab rep told me that I could set different amount limit for ATM and for purchase. I never use debit card for purchase but it is nice to know that in case the card is stolen / lost, it could not be used as a CC for large amount purchase (thus temporarily drain the available fund until the fraudulent charges are resolved).

kayanco

About TD Bank, from their Account Guide PDF:
"The institution that owns the terminal (or network) may assess
a fee (surcharge) at the time of your transaction, including balance
inquiries. You are reimbursed for this surcharge fee if you maintain your
$2,500 minimum daily balance."

The rep confirmed that they would. See my post if you haven't https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/29014230-post426.html

It would be nice to hear some actual experiences from those who have the TD Bank card.

kayanco

For Capital One debit card, anyone getting reimbursement for international ATM fee (surcharge by other institution)?

Their website isn't too clear:
"For certain banking products we offer, fees assessed at any ATM within the United States and at some ATMs located outside the United States will be reimbursed within 5 business days, up to $15 per statement period."

It's a Mastercard so I'm supposing exchange rate would be better than Schwab?

Happy

While Mastercard has better exchange rate than Visa, based on experiences on the credit card side, the difference is only 0.2 to 0.5% at the most, more like 0.2 to 0.3%. So it is not very meaningful because it means for $100 USD worth, the difference is only between 0.20 or 20 cents to 0.50 or 50 cents.

Unless you are living aboard and incur thousands $ of foreign transactions regularly, I would not use the better exchange rate as a primary criteria to choose a no fee ATM card.

aGeist

I've never set Travel Notices with Schwab and they've never rejected any withdrawal at an international atm.

seawolf

I say Capital One 360 is the way to go except for countries charging ATM operator fees (AFAIK just US and Canada). No need for travel notice. Transaction post immediately and you can easily check on app. Rate has been in sync with xe.com.

With Schwab, I've definitely have been declined multiple times sometimes even if travel notice was set beforehand but all declines occur while in Canada of all places. Took 10-15 minutes on the phone to sort out; which is a pain in foreign countries. Transactions take several days to post.

tmiw

I ran into one or two ATMs in the UK that charged fees when I was there recently. Of course, that's the exception and not the norm.

Happy

You must have not been in very many foreign countries.

I can tell you many ATMs in Thailand and Korea charge ATM fee. 100% of the ATMs at BKK and ICN charge ATM fee. South Africa charges ATM fee both at the airport, and at other places such as a mall where many banks have their ATMs at each end of the mall. ATMs in Turkey also charge fee with many of them actually also try to DCC by asking you whether you want the conversion ...

There are other countries the ATMs have operator fee but those are just off the top of my head in trips the past 2 years.
Also far more often than not, the fee is lumped into the total of amount debited, i.e. the receipt chit you got, does not show ATM fee separately. Somehow Schwab and Fido always are able to ferret it out and reimbursed it accordingly with Schwab at month end and Fido at transaction posting.

Transactions are shown as pending before posting, this has been my experiences with both Schwab and Fido, especially if it is on a Friday. I dont understand the need to know EXACT balance of one's account at all times. Dont people have some cushion in their accounts when traveling?

kayanco

So what's the latest consensus or summary on whether Fidelity and State Farm debit cards charge the 1% FTF on ATM withdrawals or not?

Thanks.

tmiw

To update this, UNFCU tweaked things a bit. They have a "Member Loyalty Rewards" program now where you get the $10/mo if you have $2,500 in your checking account (before, you just had to do a minimum number of transactions with the debit card per month). There are also $25 and $50/mo reimbusement tiers if you additionally have high overall balances in things like share certificates ($50,000 and $250,000, respectively).

On one hand, you don't necessarily have to make them your primary bank to get the benefits. On the other, you do have to have a fair bit of cash tied up with them, so one has to wonder if something like Charles Schwab will be less hassle.