You may be able to avoid fees on Capital One's side, but this still won't get you away from the usage fee that the foreign ATM owner will charge you, unless Capital One belongs to a "global alliance" like BofA does, and has branches where you'll be traveling.

QFT, I've pointed this out the past couple of pages, but people are like 'blah blah' card has NO fees. Yes there is a fee and this is the fee. Only way to get around it is the situation you pointed above or join an issuer that refunds owner ATM fees.

Like Schwab. Schwab CC plus checking account is a great combo for overseas travel.

I also like using my BofA atm card in China because its partner is the largest bank in the country.

I agree. I use Schwab and it's great. No forex fees + cash back (on the CC) + atm fee rebates. You can't apply for the CC anymore though, can you? I had a friend ask me about CCs w/o forex fees and wanted to recommend the Schwab, but I was pretty sure there was no way to apply for it anymore.

Nope; they aren't excepting new applications. I'm also glad I got one before they pulled the plug; back when this thread started, it was the only sane answer to the title question.

Would a Schwab debit Visa carry the same no-fx fee benefit as the credit card if used for purchases? (I do understand that it's not actually used for "credit" but is a straight withdrawal from checking.)

According to the wiki page http://flyerguide.com/wiki/index.php...reign_Exchange the answer is yes, but I have not tried this myself.

I also noticed that there was a recent edit (May 18) on the wiki on the Capital One CC that says they tack on 3.5% to the forex rate. Can anyone confirm this?

I just called Capital One. The representative confirmed that there is no foreign exchange or out-of-country fee on any Capital One credit card.

Thanks. I saw it on the wiki page, and I couldn't find any mention of it anywhere else, so I thought it must be wrong.

I also called a CapOne rep a few days ago, about the same thing. I wish I had had a way to record it. She kept saying "no" to any "fee" but I kept stressing that I was asking about a hike in the "rate" and not a "fee". She must have left the line 3 times to ask a supervisor but it always came back with "no, we don't add anything". She also couldn't give me the source they use for the exchange rate at the time of the transaction. It seems like it would be pretty easy for them to hide a rate hike in there without anyone being able to detect it right away. The author of the wiki didn't give a source to the info about the 3.5% rate increase but I'd sure be interested in checking it out.

I'm 90% sure CapOne doesn't do the exchange rate conversion themselves--Visa or MC does (although based on references in Visa's and MC's annual reports to investors, it seems they offer conversion as an optional service to issuers, so some issuers may do the conversion themselves). I've tried to find out more about the actual back-end mechanics of currency conversion with credit cards, and have consistently hit brick walls.

Nobody at the banks (certainly not customer service) seem to actually know how the exchange rates are calculated. One friend who works at a major bank actually sought out the head of his bank's credit card division and the head of the division had no idea (and didn't even know whom to ask).

I am the original author of the wiki, but haven't had time to keep up with the changes for the last few months, so it's gotten kind of out of hand. IIRC, the 3.5% thing was added by an anonymous author who didn't cite any basis for it, so I'd ignore it. There is a ton of volatility in exchange rates these days, so it's entirely possible for someone who doesn't really understand this stuff to look at one or two transactions and think they are 3.5% too high even though they're still within the range of currency trading for the day on which the transactions were converted. Unless somebody can give me examples of multiple transactions over a multi-day period ALL of which were jacked up by 3.5%, I don't believe CapOne builds such a fee into their conversion. It would be illegal to do anyway.

I have read elsewhere that BofA is now adding 1% (the vi/mc interbank fee?) to all ATM transactions at its Global Alliance partner ATMs. Can anyone verify based on recent experience?

I have also edited the wiki to beef up discussion about the detriments of VI/MC branded debit cards v. non-debit ATM cards (and also the relative safety of credit cards v. debit cards). From a safety perspective, debit cards are generally a bad choice for anything except ATM withdrawals (where it is far less likely that your account will be compromised).

My most recent experience using BofA at an alliance partner was in March (~10 withdrawals) at China Construction Bank. As of then, no additional fees were added (exchange rate with .25% of xe.com).

Not based on recent experience, but I had a chat with a BofA rep during the same little research session as the chat I had with the CapOne rep. The BofA rep verified that they charge a 1% fee for all ATM and counter transactions, without the $5 per transaction fee they charge at non-Global Alliance institutions.

Thank you for all that. Right now I'm planning to take my Schwab debit card for ATM withdrawals, my Capital One Venture card for purchases, my BofA debit card as a backup for ATMs and my Citi World MC as a backup card for purchases (and Ireland rental car CDW). It seems really stupid to be traveling with so many cards (stashed away in different places, of course), but my take on others' input is that backup cards are almost a necessity - or am I being paranoid?