Schwab Checking/ATM
-No minimum balance and still earns interest (currently .75% APY)
-Refunds on all ATM fees domestic and international
-No foreign exchange fees (0%)
-Competitive exchange rates that basically mirror the actual rate with no additional fees.
-Visa/Plus network, so access to alot of ATM's worldwide.

The part about "Refunds on all ATM fees domestic and international" isn't really true -- Schwab will only refund ATM fees if they have been PROPERLY reported by the ATM bank and VISA, and that doesn't always happen outside of the USA. For example, Citibank in Brazil charges an ATM fee of over R$ 10 for each withdrawal with a Schwab card but Citibank simply tacks it onto the total and does not report it to VISA. So, if you withdraw R$1000, the Citibank ATM will give you R$1000, but charge your Schwab account the equivalent of R$1010. Even if you present the receipt to Schwab they will not make good on their promise of no ATM fees.

I thought using BofA ATM card at global alliance bank ATMs was supposed to be completely fee-free (and was told as much over the phone when I called BofA before leaving the USA) but I'm clearly getting charged 1% on each ATM transaction. Is that the way it's supposed to be?

Most likely! And you are lucky if BofA charges you only 1%, since the foreign transaction fees are usually higher except with those banks that don't charge one.

Has anyone had experience using their Ally Bank ATM card for foreign exchange? From what I can tell from their website and a Google search, they do not charge any forex fees.

This is true. I used a HSBC in Mexico and the ATM fee was rolled into the withdrawal amount and I never received any rebate for it. Maybe I will call them to find out why? But it was a pretty small amount, $0.75 I think...still beats a Bank of America charging a ridiculous $5 plus 3% in ADDITION to whatever fees the other ATM will charge

although I do understand that what Schwab does is technically against their promise of refunding all ATM fees.

But even so I rate Schwab A+, their customer service is the best!

BofA is splendid in China, as long as you use 建设银行; within 0.25% of official rate.

Good luck! When I called about Citibank Brasil I got transferred around to a dozen different people. Finally a very aggressive lady came on the line, telling me I was damn lucky to be a Schwab client because of the 0% foreign exchange fee and that I should just accept that Schwab doesn't always fulfill it's promise of refunding all ATM fees. She said it was just too much work to attend to every single customer's individual problems and hinted that many of them would not be telling the truth anyway (I suppose she really meant that I could be one of them). She kept insisting that Citibank's fee was for foreign exchange, not use of the ATM. As it happened, I had the receipt the Citibank ATM printed out, clearing specifying the nature of the fee, and I read it to her. She finally gave in, and refunded the fee manually, but said she would note on my account that I had been told that there would be no more refunds of ATM fees under these circumstances.

I can't believe the vitriol and just wrong information about Schwab's policy on ATM fees (and other matters).

Here's their policy: If the fee is separately stated on your ATM receipt, they refund it. If it is not broken out, they do not refund it since there is not a convenient way to figure out what it is.

I have a citigold account with citibank. Using their ATM/debit card - there are no foreign exchange fees. If used at banamax in Mexico, it is considered Citibank, but my account is suppose to waive atm fees but I only took out money once. I got the bank rate for the foreign exchange which was pretty good. I then used the card to actually charge something about an hour after I used the ATM and the exchange rate was actually a tad better - don't know if that has to do with the fluctuation of the Mexican peso to the dollar - if there are fluctuations during the day - or it is consistently higher since I only used my card twice. The money comes out of the checking account which it needs to do for the waiving of the atm fees but I believe the no foreign exchange fees remains true for either kind of account.

I believe that is China Construction Bank, for those who do not read Chinese

I used Fid. debit at several stand alone ATM. Some of them roll the fee into total amount. Fid. refunds all of them (may take couple days) up to this point.

We were just in Buenos Aires and used our HSBC card at HSBC ATMs and despite being told we would only see a 3% exchange fee and no other charges, we got hit with a 15,56 peso fee at every ATM. But from what I could tell, this fee was being imposed on ALL (not just HSBC) ATMs anywhere in the city by BANELCO who appeared to be a third-party ATM servicer. I think it's the way Latin American countries run their ATMs. I did not see this in Singapore when doing the same thing (withdrawing from HSBC ATM with HSBC card).

Are you in France? Otherwise the Global Alliance doesn't technically apply to BNP Paribas.

If one frequently visit certain countries for business/family reason it make sense to have bank card(atm) with local bank in local currency. One can also get credit cards in different currencies. I have AMEX and M/C in CDN, US and HK currencies.

A stash of Ben Franklin portraits is also handy to have.

I believe I got money out of Barclays in Spain and had no charge. Anyone knows if this is true?