There were reports that withdrawals from Scotia in Mexico did not incur fee.

Worth to experiment, especially there is no affliate bank in Spain to begin with.

Yes I received the new terms and conditions a few months ago and my statement just arrived showing the 3% surcharges to all my foreign transactions from last month. This really blows. Time to cancel this card and try to find a better one.

Does anyone knows if the Merrill+ card still have 0% surcharge?

The MERRILL+ Visa charges 2% now.

Here is an article on some new high-end cards. Maybe they will waive the surcharges?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1181...l_journal_left

HI ALL,
we are traveling to these countries next month and would like to know if anyone has any good tips on handling THE MONEY PART..which bank to deal with ? atm's? which credit card etc has the least fees these days?
Thank you in advance.

some people have reported getting charged 2% from BMW visa but on trips to Europe and Asia this year I've had no FETF using this card.

Please read our wiki. It has the answers.

Just got back from Rome, Paris, and London. I obtained a capital one card with 1% cash back based on reading this thread. The card worked perfectly. There was no currency exchange fee and capital one used the big bank exchange rate for each transaction. On top of all that, they gave me back 1%. We stopped in Canada on the way to Europe and even got the positive exchange rate there.

Overall, I was thrilled with the card. No fees, correct exchange rate, and 1% cash back. Can't get much better than that.

By the way, my ATM card also worked perfectly with no fees on either end.

sdflyer

I know it's been said before, but this wiki is WONDERFUL. Thank you!

Just returned from a trip to Rome, Florence, Venice and Vienna. I used my Amex Plat and did not encure any fees and the exchange rate was par with what was being quoted on the currency exchange boards. I used my personal bank's Visa ATM card for cash withdrawals with the same results; no fees and current exchange rates. I found myself using cash more than cards because of taxi, bus, admissions, quick snacks, etc.

You incurred a 2% foreign currency transaction fee. American Express, unlike some other card issuers, incorporates the fee into the dollar amount of each transaction. This will be clearly indicated on your statement.

Well put. Every experience I've had with my Capital One card has been similar.. and great. I would definitely say they are the best. I've made exact $ transactions on the same day with my Amex and Cap One and Cap One was atleast 2% less in USD. Similar experience with my Citibank and MBNA cards, Cap One was definitely leaps and bounds ahead.

Sorry if this is slightly off-topic, but I'm guessing that someone who subscribes to this thread will know the answer, since we're all currency-exchange-minimizing obsessed...

I'm headed for Aruba tomorrow, and I've heard that a lot of places will accept USD cash for payment. I'm guessing that the places that do this will not be giving out favorable exchange rates, so that I should get a chunk of Aruban cash out of an ATM as soon as I land. Am I right about that?

I'll be primarily using my Washington Mutual ATM card and my Capital One Platinum Mastercard - I assume Cap1 is still my best option for foreign CC spending, and sadly I don't have any ATM cards that give no forex fee, so I think WaMu (1% + $2 or $3 according to the wiki) is better than BofA (1% + $5) or Merrill Lynch (wiki doesn't say, but I seem to remember flat 2%).

Let me know if anyone has experience with Aruba...

-huge

Use the Capital One card whenever you can. Don't be so sure you will get rate-robbed by people. My experience (in many countries) is that many smaller vendors don't do an exact exchange rate, and that often you can get automatically or negotiate a BETTER than fair exchange rate for them to get your business. Just be rate aware.

You can also often charge some things to your hotel room. If their rate is good, go for it. We often do taxi to&from the airport, tours, etc this way.

Otherwise, use the ATM once at the beginning of the trip. But don't take so much that you get robbed again with leftover currency at the end.