Nope. I'm not sure how the bonus 0.25% works (haven't dealt with that yet), but you can request the 1% (no matter how small an amount) just a couple days after your statement issues and have them credit it toward your balance. It posts a couple days later. It's actually extremely convenient.

Cheers, yes was looking for one re being HK resident and travelling abroad.

Oh well...

which 800 number did you call to respond to that campaign? Also, the previous post about a max 15k initial limit might not be accurate. My initial credit limit was/still is 20k.

I have a visa card with Commerce Bank. No charges for foreign purchases and their exchange rate always seems to be good.

Which Commerce Bank? I bank at one in Missouri, and I believe there's another one on the East Coast.

TD Gold to Platinum Travel Card
 

I was heeding the advice of the ever helpful FT community and so while I was on the phone to the TD bank finding out about my rarely used Gold card (that they have apparently mysteriously turned into a platinum card) I asked them to go over their f ex rates regarding purchases and ATM stuff. They informed me that I was to disregard their current info after May 1st because the card will then charge NO currency conversion charge and the ATM charge will be a flat $2.00. I thought I would share this with the Canadians that frequent the site.

Is Citi now charging an FX fee for US Dollars?
 

I heard that Citi is now charging 3% FX fee on all exchanges processed in a foreign country, even if the transaction is in dollars. This would apply in BVI, where the legal currency is US dollars. Others have reported that they get conflicting answers from Citi customer service. Does anyone have a definitive answer?

I recently opened a checking account and got ATM and credit cards with Commerce Bank in NJ. They are also in PA, NJ, DE.
This is the Commerce Bank that I can say first hand does not charge a fee for foreign ATM withdrawals or a conversion fee for foreign currency credit card transactions.

2% fee on all ATM wds outside of US and PR
 

VISA/PLUS exchange ripoff? - Need confirmation from other FTs - also EVERBANK warning
 

Starting from the extreme volatility in the USD/CLP rate a month ago, xe.com no longer is reliable for determining the exchange rate before hitting the bank ATM.

My CITIBANK MC/CIRRUS debit card still seems to consistently give rates approaching the one shown realtime by xe.com but about 1% worse (for many years, xe.com used to be "on the nose") while my EVERBANK VISA/PLUS debit card appears to be in pure rip off mode. Last month it was off by about 3 percentage points making my total hit with their 1% fee nearly 4% from the interbank rate. Yesterday in back to back test between the two cards, I received 447.43 VS. 443.26 - nearly a 1 point difference.

EVERBANK claims that VISA sets the rate.

Anyone else with recent real life realtime testing of the exchange rate given via the VISA/PLUS system?

A friend who went to Argentina a couple weeks ago reported very close to interbank rates with his Commerce Bank (of NJ) Visa/Plus ATM card and his CapOne Visa credit card. He's a trader so he was probably using the rates from his Bloomberg to do the math (not xe or oanda).

I had some oddities a year ago with my CapOne Visa credit card in Hungary, though. Multiple charges all made and posted on the same day sometimes yielded exchange rates that varied by more than 1%--but all of them were within the high/low extremes of trading that day (it was a volatile day).

My guess is that the more highly volatile (and thinly traded) a currency is, the more likely you are to get stuck with an outlier rate. To find out whether you were truly ripped off by Everbank/Visa/Plus, I'd recommend trying to find the high/low rates for the day. As long as you're somewhere in the range, I don't think you were ripped off. If it's significantly outside the range, you may have been.

Beijing advice wanted
 

I am going to Beijing in June arriving at 10PM. What would you all recommend as the best exchange rate to obtain rmb?

Are there ATM machines at the airport?

Do I bring US bills to exchange at the hotel or at the airport?

Do I use my capital One visa which does not appear to tack on a currency conversion charge. My Chase card does so I won't be using that.

Thanks!

Use an ATM card. For information about fees from various US-based banks, see our FAQ.

Thanks - now I will start using the Capital One card. Greedy move on Citi's behalf - charging an fx fee when there is NO exchange!

Does the Capital One credit card (VISA) still have no FX fee added? Afaik, it is the only major bank which does not do so.