Looking for bank with NO foreign transaction fee ATM
 

I currently have accounts at TD Bank (as part of my 6-figure investment portfolio at TD Ameritrade), but as I would like to keep that as "separate" in a community-property state, I'm looking elsewhere to have my checking account & debit/ATM card (this will also be where my pension & stimulus checks are deposited, since they are "community").

These are the places I've read about, and why they don't work for me:

- Schawb: merging with TD Bank.

- CapitalOne 360: even with multiple accounts, it only allows a SINGLE ATM (I like to have a few just in case I lose them on an extended trip abroad).

- SoFi: I can't get past the damn ID screen, as whatever photos I use for the ID aren't accepted, and it seems that the system is run on AI with no humans who want or care to look into it.

- Fidelity: seems to charge 1%.

- Discover: if trying to use abroad, BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

Everyone else wants to charge 3-5%, which is OUTRAGEOUS.

Where else should I look?

In my understanding, Charles Schwab bought TD Ameritrade from TD Bank, but I don't think there is any merger between Schwab and TD Bank.

So what you're saying is that if I had my separate assets at TD Bank and community assets at Schwab, they would be distinct enough, legally, to not have a beady-eyed divorce lawyer say they were co-mingled?

I am using my TD Ameritrade debit card for oversea ATM withdrawal, no FTF and the exchange rate is good.
,
I did quite a bit of research last year for no FTF bank and do come across institution like Betterment, T-mobile Money, Needham Bank etc, you may want to research yourself
to see if that is what you wanted.

Allow me to make it simple for you. In short - you should do everything in reverse.

Schwab's checking is known to be unbeatable. So moving there will be the right choice. I understand your commingling concern. To avoid this, you should give up your "soon-to-be Schwab" TD Ameritrade account and move your 6-figure investment elsewhere, such as Fidelity. Any benefits you get from TD Bank via TD Ameritrade would be soon to be history.

FWIW - unless your spouse signs a release on your certain assets, any divorce lawyers will make a fuzz no matter how well you arrange your assets, which is their job. A release is the only way to close this door forever.

While you want a bank with no foreign transaction fees you do not/will not what Forex rate the bank will use. Forex rates are variable between different banks/financial institutions:- not a fixed rate

I don't have a problem with the exchange rate having some slack. I suppose that if a bank used the exact exchange rate with no slack, but then added a 1% fee, that would be OK.

I'm currently unmarried, so this is something for "a future possibility".

I really like TD Ameritrade's system and selection of ETFs, which include some leveraged ones in my portfolio from time to time.

What the...? If you are really unmarried, then all of your worry are totally meaningless, i.e. community property has no meaning to you. When it is your time to tie the knot, think about a prenup.

Whether this will be still available in the future remains unknown, depending on Schwab's actual takeover. So it isn't a bad idea to try an alternative.

You want MULTIPLE ATM cards, right? So that's your problem with Capital One? (And I'm not sure what account they offer that has a zero transaction fee ATM card--I just know about their no-forex credit cards.)

I use the Fidelity 1% when overseas. It's hardly noticeable, and it's worked perfectly (unlike my Ally Bank ATM card, which was a nightmare). I would get one of these as your backup, if you already have a Fidelity account.

I've been collecting bank bonuses the past couple of years and trying various banks. I haven't tried PNC yet, but they are next on my list because from what I can tell, you CAN get an effective 0% transaction fee, depending on the specific kind of account you have. Their top two consumer checking brands charge flat fees rather than percentages, but a certain number of those fees are waived each month, including foreign ones. There IS a percentage charged for debit purchases as opposed to cash withdrawals.

This feature alone has made PNC seem very attractive to me, and I'm going to try them out when their SUBs go back up. As far as verification, a friend has PNC and she says she doesn't recall being charged anything for her foreign ATM transactions (but she's not as into this stuff as we Flyertalkers are, so may not have been paying especially close attention).

Capital One has no ATM fee if you use its own, MoneyPass, or Allpoint ATM network.

Hardly noticeable does not mean none.

Yes, my problem with CapitalOne is that they only allow a customer a SINGLE ATM card. Lose it? To quote Dirty Harry, "you're out of luck".

I have decided on FBKC, which seems to have been a floundering old school bank that was bought up with the intent to turn it into an internet bank (SoFI had similarly bought Bank of Missouri to do so), and had NO PROBLEM getting my ID checked out, unlike for SoFi. Once I get 1 account up & running, I'll get the 6 others going easily.

For the record, I will have 7 accounts as:

[0]: main one used for auto-pay, regular-pay & ATM
[1]: account for receiving ACH transfers done by this bank
[2]: account for receiving ACH transfers done from sending bank
[3],[4],[5]: spare accounts for when the debit card for [0] is lost
[6]: empty account to be used when businesses I don't completely trust need an account (e.g., Paypal, since they have been known in the past to automatically try debiting a checking account instead of using a credit card)

Now all I need is a credit card that has NO membership fee, NO foreign fee, pays a decent cash-back, and gives me a $2K limit (I'll be getting a Russian dentist to replace my dental implant, and that will cost a little over $1K - and which I am sure an American dentist wouldn't touch for under $5K). I have CapitalOne Quicksilver, and it seems that they just don't want to increase the limit from the initial $1K for anyone. I have already been declined For BankOfAmerica's, and I couldn't get past the stupid ID check for SoFi (just like for their checking account). I don't think there are any other credit cards out there that will do this.

Fidelity's 1% fee is for purchases not ATM withdrawals.

I did not say anything...

Why do you need so many accounts?

N26
 

Not sure of the current status but the N26 (a German bank) may be useful.

Anyone know if they are still affiliated with the US bank AXOS?


Their mobile app has some nice features.