SPG AMEX does not charge a fee for USD charges made outside of the US. For example, duty free purchases at locations (such as airports) outside of the US charged in USD do not attract a surcharge.

I think Amex levies a fee of only 2% for transactions in a foreign currency on all their cards, vs. 3% for most other cards.

It has been reported that the AMEX SPG card is now 2.7%.

Hilton Amex's disclosure also reports 2.7%.

It is not yet. It will be in January 2009.

The WSJ today reports about a new Schwab Bank Invest First Visa Credit Card that has unlimited 2% cash rebates, no annual fee and no foreign exchange fees. The catch is that you have to open a Schwab One brokerage account (since that's where the cash rebates get deposited), but there are no minimums or fees associated with maintaining a Schwab One account and you can simply withdraw or transfer the cash rebates back out once they're deposited.

As a reminder, Schwab's High Yield Investor Checking is also great, as it has no minimum balance requirement, no foreign exchange fees, and unlimited third-party ATM fee rebates.

No fees plus solid customer service means Schwab is now my first choice for both ATM withdrawals and purchases when traveling overseas (buh-bye CapOne!). That said, I'll continue to carry my Amex and Citi MC cards as backups in case somewhere doesn't accept Visa or the Schwab card otherwise doesn't work for some reason. And I'll continue to carry a backup ATM card from another bank as well just in case.

That SchwabOne brokerage account normally requires a $1000 balance or automatic $100 a month transfers.

They claim if you link this card, they'll waive the balance requirements.

You can get a debit card to draw your rewards money. I would assume they refund all ATM fees all over the world?


I closed my Schwab account years ago because they were taking out big chunks every quarter because of a min. balance requirement. I guess they could change the rules on you after the fact.

I'd consider getting this card and using it primarily in place of the DL Amex (which I will cancel) if it offers the gold/platinum things, like automatic car rental waiver for overseas rentals and buyer's protection on electronics purchases.

wco81, there are no minimums on the SchwabOne accounts when you open them with either a High Yield Investor Checking or the new credit card account. I have the checking account and have never put a penny in my SchwabOne account, nor have I ever been charged anything for it. It just sits there.

Schwab refunds any separately stated ATM fees from any machine worldwide. If the fee is buried in the exchange rate, there's no rebate. This has always proven to be a very efficient way to get cash, in or out of the USA.

If by "change the rules after the fact" you mean without notice to you, then you should have complained to Schwab. I've dealt with them a long time and never had any problems like that. If you mean after they sent you a notice that their fees would change, it might help to read your mail.

Integration of Schwab account with Quicken
 

I am thinking of getting a Scwab account for this credit card.

Can any of you established Schwab users who are also serious Quicken users tell me how tightly their credit cards and brokerage accounts are integrated with Quicken? I am also a heavy quicken user, and would love to hear that the credit card transactions and trades get automatically upoladed into Quicken on a daily basis (as opposed to monthly, and manually driven be me logging in for each account).

Anyone know if there are any promos or offers at present for opening a Schwab One Account? (And yes, I did a search.)

Uh, Cirque du Soleil at the Venetian Macau ? :)

So much for "No Hassle".

I've used my PenFed Visa for transactions in more than 20 countries in over 15 currencies and have yet to have a transaction blocked. I kind of expected some hassles for online charges in MOP. Nope. And I really expected the card to get blocked when attempting to charge UAH purchases in Yalta. But no problems there either.

International Refund of ATM fees
 

I'm using the Schwab debit card when I'm outside the U.S., and likely will apply for the new credit card this week.

I always have trouble with the automatic refund of ATM funds in Brasil, as it gets converted with the fee lumped in with the withdrawal amount. When I call Schwab, they then refund the fees. I assume this will be the case with the credit card too.

Schwab says they are no-fee on foreign. Do they cover the 1% Visa fee as well, or just not add their own?

Don't have a cc but the ATM withdrawals, dividends, stock transactions, etc update ever day assuming you download then.