Is that different from the Sapphire Preferred?

Make sure you stop next month. BofA changed the terms and will start charging 3% foreign transactions (:eek: yes, even if you pay in USD outside the US) fee :td:

Yes, it's the Chase Preferred UR Sapphire etc. etc. Visa. And I think what happened was that the forex rate used for my transaction was the highest (i.e., least advantageous to me) of the last 24 hrs, and it was a day when the currency fluctuated a lot. So there wasn't a 1% surcharge as I suspected, but I don't know if it was just bad luck or if the use of the highest forex rate in 24 hrs is part of a systematic approach by Chase. I guess I'll try to have some more transactions and see if I can discern a pattern.

In any case, I won't be using the Schwab card after October (thanks for the warning, we did get a letter), but my Cap1 cards are still in good working order and are an acceptable substitute if nothing else works as well.

The problem with xe.com and oanda.com is that they only give you a single exchange rate for a day.

Ideally you want to get a chart (from a service like Bloomberg, if you have access) of the full trading range for the day on which your POS transaction posts or the day on which your ATM transaction actually occurred.

Still waiting... https://www.ccfsettlement.com/

I was checking a fare on Orbitz and noticed they are advertising an Orbitz card from Capitol 1 with no foreign transaction fee. Might be worth getting before a next European trip. For me, that is.

All Capital One cards have this feature. No need to get an Orbitz branded card (unless you want to).

Discover's supposed to be dropping the forex fee soon, though they're only really good for China-bound travelers (wider acceptance, avoidance of forced DCC).

Discover is supposed to be accepted in Europe where Diners Club International is. When I had a Diners U.S. card it had reasonable acceptance in Europe, but I haven't paid attention since I dropped the Diners card some years ago.

I know about the Schwab Investor Checking no forex/ATM fee rebates, but I wanted to know if that extends to the Schwab Savings account too?

On their website, they state that Schwab Savings account you do get ATM fee rebates from withdrawals, but does anyone know if they have to 0% forex like the Checking account?

Yes, but there is a limit of $500 per day for withdrawals via ATM and six per month via internet

I don't know about that first restriction, but the second one comes from bank law. No one will beat that.

I have a Visa debit card from Ameritrade which I have never used outside of the US and out of curiosity I wrote to them yesterday to ask if it is valid in Europe.

I received the following reply:

PENFED Premium Travel Rewards AMEX, it also has no annual fee.

But difficult to join, if not affiliated with Govt/Military, correct?

Note that the Chase Presidential Plus card now has no forex fees and also covers auto rentals - not sure - just saw it a few days ago: http://www.continental.com/web/en-US...dservices.aspx (I couldn't find the T&Cs stipulating car rental collision cover, but according to FT posts, it does cover it)