Also, I have seen different exchange rates on the same day within minutes to hours of each w/d.

Chilean peso withdrawal
 

The plot thickens ….

In the first place, the distance between bid and ask prices for Chilean currency is greater than for many other currencies. For July 20, oanda.com now shows 520.973/568.999 for bid/ask, a difference of over 9%. Perhaps someone more familiar with international finance could explain this for us and also tell us which rate is applicable for ATM transactions.

In the second place, for 20 July, xe.com now shows that the mid-market rate at 12 noon was USD 1 for CLP 539.150. At this rate Viajero Perpetuo’s withdrawal of CLP 107,000 would be equivalent to USD 198.46. Curiously, the amount Citibank charged Viajero Perpetuo, USD 200.46 is exactly 1.007% higher than USD 198.46. (Just as an observation, oanda.com converts CLP 107,000 to USD 205.385 at the interbank rate for 20 July)

I don’t know what to make of this. I also don’t know of any alternative that can be shown to be more favorable than Citibank. Does anyone have any experience with Commerce Bank?

rather than using oanda.com, could i suggest yahoo finance? it seems to work particularly well for latam currencies as i have checked it real-time against a reuters terminal and it was right on while displaying a fairly tight market.

side note: for the major currencies (EUR, JPY, BPD), bloomberg.com is pretty good...only 5-10 minutes delayed!

You're mistaken. Capital One absorbs the fee. It is not rolled into the exchange rate. I have used the cards and compared rates to verify that what Capital One claims is true.

I recently found another one of my cards has a low rate. The ASCE MBNA American Express only charges 1% total. This differs from most AMEX which I believe charge 2%.

Can you post a link to the ASCE MBNA Amex?

Click the AMEX card pictured on this page:
http://www.asce.org/membership/sponsored_benefits.cfm

I applied as a member of ASCE, although I suspect MBNA will approve anyone.

EDITED TO ADD: I haven't used this card much, but you can see the 1% fee paid to AMEX described in the terms of the application.

AAA Diamond Advantage Credit Card
 

Just read in the AAA World magazine an article. This paragraph should help those who want to consider the card, "And while most banks pass on an additional 1-3 percent fee to credit cardholders for purchases outside the U.S. on top of the automatic 1 percent foreign transaction fee, the AAA credit cards issued by BofA don't add any extra charges."

I take it to mean, that you'll only get charged the 1% foreign transaction fee, and nothing else. ^

I can also verify that Capital One does not add any fees, even hidden fees. On 26/07 I made two identical charges of BRL 12.30, one immediately after the other, using Capital One No Hassle Visa and Citibank Hilton HHonors Visa. Both were posted on the same day as identical amounts of USD 5.60. The difference is that Citibank adds in an extra 3% charge of USD 0.16 as a separate charge, making a total of USD 5.76. Capital One adds nothing and provides a 1% rebate eventually. For the 26th, xe.com converts BRL 12.30 to USD 5.59, while oanda.com converts it to USD 5.61.

It occurs to me that presenting a Pentagon Federal Credit Union (penfed.org) credit card for payment might not be the wisest thing to do in some circumstances and non-U.S. locations. That would be true even though non-military people (like me) can get one.

I came to this realization about one minute after completing the online application. :(

Citibank ATM, Data point - Santiago, Chile - July 31
 

xe.com midmarket exchange rate 15 minutes before withdrawal of 246000 Chilean Pesos:

540.600

Total debit USD 460.96

This is 1.28% from xe.com

IME, Citibank is still lying about 1% but it is much closer to 1% now than in April and still not as good as pre- April where I would get a little less than 1%.

Lowest foreign exchange fees
 

After checking with all my credit card companys, with Capital One No Hassle there's O % foreign exchange.

Welcome to Flyertalk. (Trying not to be harsh) One of the first things that is wise to do on here is read, skim, or (best option) search through the thread you are going to post on. You would have seen your comment has been stated many times in this thread, Capital One eats the foreign exchange fee.

Pentagon Credit Card
 

Please elaborate on this.

Thanks
 

I just wanted to thank everybody. Because of the discussions here I got one of those Capital One No Hassles cards. When I went to Canada this summer it seems to have given me a good exchange rate with no commission, as promised. I don't travel abroad constantly, but even two or three times a year makes it worth it, particularly if you put big hotel bills and such on it. I could also use it for overseas mail order. I've put away my Citi card. Eventually I'll cancel it.