Fidelity Cash Management Debit Card/ATM Forex: Real-World Experience?
Oct 16, 2014, 11:54 pm
#16
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: SF
Programs: UA, VX, QF, EY, VA
Posts: 756
You are being misinformed. There is no 1% transaction fee on ATM withdrawal, but there is a 1% Visa NETWORK FEE, and is not charged by Fido, but the bank which ATM you use if the bank decides to recoup this from Visa.
My card is from the Cash Management Account which I turned off the linkage to the brokerage account that can have its own ATM card - regardless which account your ATM card is from, it does not matter - they function the SAME and are subject to the same terms.
Truth be told, the 1% is truly up to the bank whether it is charged or not.
Of the 5 or 6 years we use FIDO's card, we were charge 1% only ONCE, at a BNP branch in Aix-en-Provence. I took 100 euro, and there is a 1 euro separately listed, as "Purchase". That was the 1%. BNP in Paris does not charge that fee btw.
All other times, from all over the world, including BNPs in various places, there is never a 1% separate line. The exchange rates do have small variances to the XC site's historical rates of intra-day Avg bank rates, but the variances were within 0.03% or below, so I conclude they are truly due to rate fluctuation during the day, and not anything being padded.
One thing I do notice is, you would get a slightly worse rate if your withdrawals were made preceding a US Bank closing days, like weekend or holidays and the transactions would not post until next business day after the bank closure. Again, unless you are taking a large sum out, for the couple hundred bucks withdrawals, I would not get all worked up by that.
If you are bothered by the 1% charge potential, get the Schwab's Investor Checking account and its ATM card. Schwab has its own bank and the daily limit is a high $2K that could be raised temporary if you need that. No fee whatsoever, and they reimburse ATM fee on a monthly basis, versus Fido reimburses it immediately after each occurrence.
My card is from the Cash Management Account which I turned off the linkage to the brokerage account that can have its own ATM card - regardless which account your ATM card is from, it does not matter - they function the SAME and are subject to the same terms.
Truth be told, the 1% is truly up to the bank whether it is charged or not.
Of the 5 or 6 years we use FIDO's card, we were charge 1% only ONCE, at a BNP branch in Aix-en-Provence. I took 100 euro, and there is a 1 euro separately listed, as "Purchase". That was the 1%. BNP in Paris does not charge that fee btw.
All other times, from all over the world, including BNPs in various places, there is never a 1% separate line. The exchange rates do have small variances to the XC site's historical rates of intra-day Avg bank rates, but the variances were within 0.03% or below, so I conclude they are truly due to rate fluctuation during the day, and not anything being padded.
One thing I do notice is, you would get a slightly worse rate if your withdrawals were made preceding a US Bank closing days, like weekend or holidays and the transactions would not post until next business day after the bank closure. Again, unless you are taking a large sum out, for the couple hundred bucks withdrawals, I would not get all worked up by that.
If you are bothered by the 1% charge potential, get the Schwab's Investor Checking account and its ATM card. Schwab has its own bank and the daily limit is a high $2K that could be raised temporary if you need that. No fee whatsoever, and they reimburse ATM fee on a monthly basis, versus Fido reimburses it immediately after each occurrence.
* Hard pull to establish a checking account.
* Mobile deposits also a hard pull and not guaranteed approval.
* Slow ACH.
* ATM reimbursement is hit and miss.
The upsides:
* Real bank with routing number.
* Card looks nice (compared to Fidelity).
Pretty similar offerings really...
Oct 17, 2014, 1:17 am
#17
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Hawai'i Nei
Programs: Au: UA, Marriott, Hilton; GE
Posts: 7,132
Oct 17, 2014, 2:05 am
#18
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: HNL
Programs: AA Citi Visa and Amex, Citi AA Biz, SPG, Amex Green, Zync, Discover It (Starbucks Gold) HHonors Gold
Posts: 268
I also have a FCM account and this past summer I visited Japan and was able to use my Debit card at various ATM without being charge a fee. The 7-11 ATM and the ATM's at the post office seemed to be the best choice for obtaining cash.
Oct 17, 2014, 12:30 pm
#19
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Hawai'i Nei
Programs: Au: UA, Marriott, Hilton; GE
Posts: 7,132
Thanks!
Oct 18, 2014, 12:38 am
#20
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,740
The downsides to Schwab are:
* Hard pull to establish a checking account.
* Mobile deposits also a hard pull and not guaranteed approval.
* Slow ACH.
* ATM reimbursement is hit and miss.
The upsides:
* Real bank with routing number.
* Card looks nice (compared to Fidelity).
Pretty similar offerings really...
* Hard pull to establish a checking account.
* Mobile deposits also a hard pull and not guaranteed approval.
* Slow ACH.
* ATM reimbursement is hit and miss.
The upsides:
* Real bank with routing number.
* Card looks nice (compared to Fidelity).
Pretty similar offerings really...
Hard pull is again, what is the big deal? Unless you are churning 20 cards a year, what difference one extra HP would make?
Dont use Mobile deposit. No idea that even requires approval.
My usage for both Schwab and Fido cards is always ACH in a lump sum pre-trip. Often we hardly use 30% of that but again, in today's interest rate, a few thousands sit idle does not cost you a whole lot. We like to have a readily available cash reserve while on a long trip in case we need to tap on it in an emergency.
The reimbursement of ATM fee DEPENDS ON the ATM fee being separately charged. If it is NOT, then neither Schwab nor Fido would reimburse you without a fight. Period.
The routing number is NOT for your account only, it is for a master account that handles many many many other accounts including yours. There are multiple master accounts in place. Also ACH and Wire would use different routing number. If you do a wire transfer, the instruction would be 2 lines - 1st is to Fido's master account, 2nd is "for the benefit of your account number".
Have you ever click open the account information to see how your balance is allocated among 5 to 7 banks?
Ours has Fifththird being the primary, holds about 93% of the account balance, and 4 other banks share the remaining 7%. Why is that? Dont ask me but this is how Fido operates. I dont really care as long as the ATM card functions as I expect it to function.
Oh, I always TEST my ATM cards a couple weeks before a trip at the local ATMs to make sure they work. Because of this habit, I discovered we did not receive the renewal cards from Schwab earlier this year. Called Schwab and was told that they would not send out renewal cards to dormant accounts unless customers call to request. They then overnighted the renewal cards to us after the call.
On this past Sept trip, the FIDO card did not charge me ATM fee when I took $10 from PNC locally as a Test. This puzzled me as PNC is not one of the assigned bank - it turned out PNC bought RBC which is one of the 4 banks share that 7% of our account balance, so the withdrawal is considered made at the bank's network, hence no ATM fee. Complicated, huh? But that is how banking network works.
Last edited by Happy; Oct 18, 2014 at 12:50 am
Oct 18, 2014, 2:20 am
#22
Join Date: Aug 2008
Programs: HHonors Gold, Marriott Lifetime Gold, IHG Gold, OZ*G, AA Gold, AS MVP
Posts: 1,874
Most ATMs in Japan don't take foreign Visa/MC debit cards. It's pretty much 7-Eleven, the post office, or Citi. 7-Eleven machines are convenient and 24-hour but they only dispense 10000-yen bills. Post office machines dispense smaller denominations but have limited (9-5 usually) hours. Citi dispenses smaller amounts and ATMs are open late but they're few and far between.
Oct 18, 2014, 2:35 am
#23
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Hawai'i Nei
Programs: Au: UA, Marriott, Hilton; GE
Posts: 7,132
Most ATMs in Japan don't take foreign Visa/MC debit cards. It's pretty much 7-Eleven, the post office, or Citi. 7-Eleven machines are convenient and 24-hour but they only dispense 10000-yen bills. Post office machines dispense smaller denominations but have limited (9-5 usually) hours. Citi dispenses smaller amounts and ATMs are open late but they're few and far between.
Oct 18, 2014, 10:50 am
#24
Join Date: Aug 2008
Programs: HHonors Gold, Marriott Lifetime Gold, IHG Gold, OZ*G, AA Gold, AS MVP
Posts: 1,874
Yeah, it just spits out the card and says it's not accepted. If you can get a UnionPay card then you'll find acceptance to be far wider but those are nowhere to be found in the US.
Oct 18, 2014, 11:58 am
#25
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: SF
Programs: UA, VX, QF, EY, VA
Posts: 756
Oct 19, 2014, 3:30 pm
#26
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,740
Most ATMs in Japan don't take foreign Visa/MC debit cards. It's pretty much 7-Eleven, the post office, or Citi. 7-Eleven machines are convenient and 24-hour but they only dispense 10000-yen bills. Post office machines dispense smaller denominations but have limited (9-5 usually) hours. Citi dispenses smaller amounts and ATMs are open late but they're few and far between.
If you visit the basement supermarkets that are the fixture of all big department stores (and have great selection of ready to eat foods, as well as heavily discounted sashimi starting 1 to 1.5 hour towards store closes), you can pay any purchase with your foreign CC no matter how small the amount.
In Tokyo proper, Citi has machines at Ginza, Shinjuku and may even be at Roppongi. 7-11 on the other hand, are very easy to spot. I have found Post Office machines are not as easy to use.
What you need to watch for is, when your card works, and the machine only gives you X seconds to remove your card, from a hard to remove slot (some machines only have enough space for half of your thumb and index finger to grab the card...), and you fail to remove it in time, then the machine would "eat" your card by force. This happened to me at the BNP at Aix-en-Provence, France. I have noticed in recent years more and more banks have installed this newer type of machines.
Because of the pitfall of the above, I always try to take cash out from an ATM that is at a bank, and not a standing alone ATM if I can avoid it. The staff at the bank could help to return your card on the spot (though not immediately, still some things to involve), you would have to call if a stand-alone machine eats your card... Imagine the hassle when that happens.
Last edited by Happy; Oct 19, 2014 at 3:36 pm
Oct 19, 2014, 3:43 pm
#27
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Hawai'i Nei
Programs: Au: UA, Marriott, Hilton; GE
Posts: 7,132
Citi has ATM at NRT arrival hall along may be 5 to 7 other banks including AMEX and major Japanese banks. Not an easy to find place but I am sure if OP visits the Japan forum or asks questions at TripAdvisor, there would be plenty enough info for the direction on how to find the group of ATMs. I usually get 50K Yen right at the airport in trips made years past. However these days the acceptance of credit cards are greatly improved, so there is no more need to get large amount of cash at arrival.
If you visit the basement supermarkets that are the fixture of all big department stores (and have great selection of ready to eat foods, as well as heavily discounted sashimi starting 1 to 1.5 hour towards store closes), you can pay any purchase with your foreign CC no matter how small the amount.
In Tokyo proper, Citi has machines at Ginza, Shinjuku and may even be at Roppongi. 7-11 on the other hand, are very easy to spot. I have found Post Office machines are not as easy to use.
If your ATM card is not accepted by the machine, it would spit the card out - this is virtually an universal practice all over the world.
What you need to watch for is, when your card works, and the machine only gives you X seconds to remove your card, from a hard to remove slot (some machines only have enough space for half of your thumb and index finger to grab the card...), and you fail to remove it in time, then the machine would "eat" your card by force. This happened to me at the BNP at Aix-en-Provence, France. I have noticed in recent years more and more banks have installed this newer type of machines.
Because of the pitfall of the above, I always try to take cash out from an ATM that is at a bank, and not a standing alone ATM if I can avoid it. The staff at the bank could help to return your card on the spot (though not immediately, still some things to involve), you would have to call if a stand-alone machine eats your card... Imagine the hassle when that happens.
If you visit the basement supermarkets that are the fixture of all big department stores (and have great selection of ready to eat foods, as well as heavily discounted sashimi starting 1 to 1.5 hour towards store closes), you can pay any purchase with your foreign CC no matter how small the amount.
In Tokyo proper, Citi has machines at Ginza, Shinjuku and may even be at Roppongi. 7-11 on the other hand, are very easy to spot. I have found Post Office machines are not as easy to use.
If your ATM card is not accepted by the machine, it would spit the card out - this is virtually an universal practice all over the world.
What you need to watch for is, when your card works, and the machine only gives you X seconds to remove your card, from a hard to remove slot (some machines only have enough space for half of your thumb and index finger to grab the card...), and you fail to remove it in time, then the machine would "eat" your card by force. This happened to me at the BNP at Aix-en-Provence, France. I have noticed in recent years more and more banks have installed this newer type of machines.
Because of the pitfall of the above, I always try to take cash out from an ATM that is at a bank, and not a standing alone ATM if I can avoid it. The staff at the bank could help to return your card on the spot (though not immediately, still some things to involve), you would have to call if a stand-alone machine eats your card... Imagine the hassle when that happens.
Oct 21, 2014, 8:17 pm
#28
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Berkeley
Programs: Hilton, Marriott
Posts: 144
...
On this past Sept trip, the FIDO card did not charge me ATM fee when I took $10 from PNC locally as a Test. This puzzled me as PNC is not one of the assigned bank - it turned out PNC bought RBC which is one of the 4 banks share that 7% of our account balance, so the withdrawal is considered made at the bank's network, hence no ATM fee. Complicated, huh? But that is how banking network works.
On this past Sept trip, the FIDO card did not charge me ATM fee when I took $10 from PNC locally as a Test. This puzzled me as PNC is not one of the assigned bank - it turned out PNC bought RBC which is one of the 4 banks share that 7% of our account balance, so the withdrawal is considered made at the bank's network, hence no ATM fee. Complicated, huh? But that is how banking network works.
Oct 21, 2014, 11:52 pm
#29
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: SF
Programs: UA, VX, QF, EY, VA
Posts: 756
Citi has ATM at NRT arrival hall along may be 5 to 7 other banks including AMEX and major Japanese banks. Not an easy to find place but I am sure if OP visits the Japan forum or asks questions at TripAdvisor, there would be plenty enough info for the direction on how to find the group of ATMs. I usually get 50K Yen right at the airport in trips made years past. However these days the acceptance of credit cards are greatly improved, so there is no more need to get large amount of cash at arrival.
If you visit the basement supermarkets that are the fixture of all big department stores (and have great selection of ready to eat foods, as well as heavily discounted sashimi starting 1 to 1.5 hour towards store closes), you can pay any purchase with your foreign CC no matter how small the amount.
In Tokyo proper, Citi has machines at Ginza, Shinjuku and may even be at Roppongi. 7-11 on the other hand, are very easy to spot. I have found Post Office machines are not as easy to use.
If your ATM card is not accepted by the machine, it would spit the card out - this is virtually an universal practice all over the world.
What you need to watch for is, when your card works, and the machine only gives you X seconds to remove your card, from a hard to remove slot (some machines only have enough space for half of your thumb and index finger to grab the card...), and you fail to remove it in time, then the machine would "eat" your card by force. This happened to me at the BNP at Aix-en-Provence, France. I have noticed in recent years more and more banks have installed this newer type of machines.
Because of the pitfall of the above, I always try to take cash out from an ATM that is at a bank, and not a standing alone ATM if I can avoid it. The staff at the bank could help to return your card on the spot (though not immediately, still some things to involve), you would have to call if a stand-alone machine eats your card... Imagine the hassle when that happens.
If you visit the basement supermarkets that are the fixture of all big department stores (and have great selection of ready to eat foods, as well as heavily discounted sashimi starting 1 to 1.5 hour towards store closes), you can pay any purchase with your foreign CC no matter how small the amount.
In Tokyo proper, Citi has machines at Ginza, Shinjuku and may even be at Roppongi. 7-11 on the other hand, are very easy to spot. I have found Post Office machines are not as easy to use.
If your ATM card is not accepted by the machine, it would spit the card out - this is virtually an universal practice all over the world.
What you need to watch for is, when your card works, and the machine only gives you X seconds to remove your card, from a hard to remove slot (some machines only have enough space for half of your thumb and index finger to grab the card...), and you fail to remove it in time, then the machine would "eat" your card by force. This happened to me at the BNP at Aix-en-Provence, France. I have noticed in recent years more and more banks have installed this newer type of machines.
Because of the pitfall of the above, I always try to take cash out from an ATM that is at a bank, and not a standing alone ATM if I can avoid it. The staff at the bank could help to return your card on the spot (though not immediately, still some things to involve), you would have to call if a stand-alone machine eats your card... Imagine the hassle when that happens.
Not such a big deal now that 7-11 takes foreign cards, but just something to be aware of.
Oct 22, 2014, 10:06 am
#30
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,740
The start of 7-11 ATMs take foreign cards was an arrangement with Citi bank long long long time ago but since then Citi was no longer in the picture. So yes, as long as 7-11 continues its ATM features, that is "business as usual".
Unless you are using a lot of tiny Mom and Pop merchants outside metropolitan areas of Japan, credit cards now are widely accepted. There really is no more need to carry much cash around. I find cash is hard to keep track of and much prefer to use CC. This is true everywhere not just for traveling in Japan.