Has it ever happened that Schwab credits you the wrong amount (because the fees were included in the total and they couldn't possibly figure it out)?

Also, how much is the charge if ATM does charge you in China?

They credit me between 20 cents and $2.50 per withdrawal, and it takes them 2-3 days to do this. Sometimes their system doesn't catch the fees, but if I cared, I could press them on it.

So it's not a accurate calculation?

Again, I don't care what the amount is because I get it reimbursed 95% of the time. I could press for reimbursements during the remaining 5%, but that's not my style (Schwab is a very nice bank).

I've never had any Chinese ATM charging me a fee when getting money with my German DKB card (similar to your US-american card, worldwide free ATM usage, and they also refund, should there be a local fee slapped on you), which banks ATM did this happened to you? Interested, as I'll go to China next week again, and want to be prepared on it.

I am very interested in getting rid of my BoA card and move the account to Schwab. I just wanna know whether it is like they reimburse $2 for a $4 fee every time, so to speak...

If the total is almost even, I am definitely in. I am just curious how they determine how much to refund.

So when having Schwab, you don't care about which ATM to go to when being abroad, right? Nice!

You can use any ATM in the world, and they will cover the fees. The reason I don't hound them over the 5% of withdrawals that evade their radar is that I often pull out Y100 at a time, and feel guilty that the transaction cost could be as mush as 30% of the total.

While things may have changed that I don't know about, it is my understanding or at least it was my understanding that cirrus and plus regulations regarding shared teller network withdrawals prohibit a bank from charging a fee on withdrawals made using an ATM/debit card from outside the country where the machine is maintained. Hence, British banks who clear transactions through these networks cannot add fees to American debit cards and vice versa i.e. American banks cannot add fees to withdrawals made with UK cards. Nothing prohibits a bank from placing a fee on withdrawals using its card in any machine anywhere.

Now I used to say that and Canadians, for example, would jump in and tell me I was wrong and that often they made withdrawals say in the USA were nailed for these asinine fees. Or if you don't go to a bank say in the UK but a private machine you get nailed for the fee. I don't understand how that works. I think machines can use other debit networks (say like NYCE or Pulse in the USA) for Canadian withdrawals which do not have this consumer protection.

The Schwab card, the USAA card, the Fidelity card (debit cards I mean) all have policies of reimbursing some of these fees if not all. There might be a one billing cycle restriction on the total amount on each of them; check with the individual institution.

Also, there is nothing that keeps you from using a different debit card from one of these banks even without changing your main banks. Philosophically, I wouldn't use my main account for cash withdrawals even if I spend cash which I almost never do but with the amount of fraud around, I wouldn't want the inconvenience of having my main account hacked and having to change say my direct deposit set ups. I maintain a Schwab account with $1.01 in it (they don't require a minimum balance) and before leavng on a trip, I electronically transfer say $500 to the account and use only that account for cash withdrawals. When I return, I electronically transfer the excess over $1.01 back to my main account. Simple to do and a wise precaution in this day and age of hacking, that's for sure.

I will try Schwab as soon as possible. Looks like if you wanna have its checking account, you have to open a investment account at the same time. Although, it looks like the only problem is the wasting of time, since both accounts don't have minimum balance.

Before, I was thinking about getting a Private Client Account with Chase to get their black debit card with no FTF... That comes with a price (deposit) of $250000. Making all that money just stay in an account in return for no FTF is quite a steep cost.

Now Schwab does it without the $250000, nice!

Fidelity also does full reimbursement of ATM operator fees with the debit card that comes with the Cash Management Account, and there is a 0% exchange fee. The Cash Management Account also doesn't require a minimum balance. I've posted before that the original reason I stumbled upon FlyerTalk was looking for ways to avoid FTF when traveling overseas. I just calculated on a 4-week trip in 2008, and I spent about $24 on 3% exchange fees plus $20 due to four separate $5 international withdrawal fees from my bank at the time. If you take the $44 in fees over $800 equivalent in cash withdrawals, that's a 5.5% effective fee on getting money overseas. You live and learn.

A downside with Chase Private Client is that I think even though non-Chase ATM operator fees are waived that you would still pay a 3% exchange rate on foreign currency withdrawals.

Actually no. I currently have a Premier Checking with Chase ($15000 combined assets), and I don't pay the $5 for the first 6 out-of-network withdraws (both domestic and international). I only pay the 3%.

The list of benefits of the Private Client black debit card clearly has "no FTF" in it. But having $250000 with Chase still doesn't get you reimbursement to the fees charged by the ATMs...

Does Norwegian Air charge DCC?
 

Has anybody purchased from Norwegian Air and looked for DCC? Their website shows you can purchase in NOK or USD or a handful of other currencies. I'm in the US - if I choose anything other than NOK will I hit DCC?

[Feel free to point me elsewhere for this question - I searched this thread for Norwegian, and the Budget European Airlines forum for DCC, and didn't see it answered.]

I think we both made a mistake here based on the listed benefits:

• Chase fees charged at a non-Chase ATM
• Fees charged by the other bank for ATM access are refunded by Chase up to 5 times per statement cycle
• No Chase exchange rate adjustment fees for debit card usage or ATM withdrawals abroad

ATM operator fees are reimbursed up to five times per month, and there isn't an exchange fee of 3%. CPC is likely not worth it when Schwab and Fidelity provide the same thing with practically no minimum deposit.

This would be the correct thread. Perhaps someone else can chime in with direct experience, but it seems like you might try to be hit with DCC when booking on Norwegian Air Shuttle according to this source. When you go to purchase the ticket you would be able to see the denomination of the transaction. I suspect the native currency would be NOK, and I would decline any attempts to "lock in" or "guarantee" the exchange rate. This is just a marketing scam to force you into accepting DCC.

DCC with some of these low priced value airlines can be a very tricky business. For example, in March, I was trying to purchase an Easy Jet ticket from Copenhagen to London (Gatwick). The price was quoted in DKK. Out came my trust currency calculaator and I tried it in USD and in GBP (Easy Jet is, of course, based in Great Britain). It turned out in this case the fee in DKK was the cheapest although the spread wasn't really all that much. The two issues with any of these purchases are whether dcc is involved and if you are using a credit card with a ftf just where the transaction is processed. Sometimes the later isn't clear (just ask the number of people in the example I cited above i.e. people who buy tickets from Orbitz denominated in USD on a foreign airline and then get nailed with a ftf). Happens every day of the week and twice on Sunday unfortunately.