My WaMu accounts charge a flat $3.00 for the personal account and $2.00 for the business account. Since I usually take out large amounts of foreign cash, these are both better than the percentage-based accounts. Cap1's $1.50 fee looks even better.

Ill be needing to take out say $20 worth of US currency in 3 different currencies. In BUD and PRG you need to use their local currency for public transport. So $1.50 for $20 via Cap1 is alot

Ill call again tommorrow to my WaMu branch and get the name of the person who tells me its 1%, that way if you are correct and its $3 for a $20 withdrawl I will expect a refund of what WaMu charges over the 1%. Id still be ahead if its 3% as long as its not a fixed $ amount 3% of $20 = .60 cents while Cap1 will be $1.50

Are those actually bank operated ATM's or provided by some private vendor?

Can't you open a Schwab account and get their debit card? No fees. On 7/25 I withdrew CAD100 at YVR. My money market account was charged $99 and they rebated $4, so I only paid US$95 net.

Great exchange rate on my CapOne cash back card, too.

from Cap1s 'Schedule of Fees & Charges for 50+ Free Interest Checking NY,NJ,CT'

note #1 :" At certain ATMs owned and operated by Capital One Bank in gaming establishments and at certain other non-branch locations having no Capital One signage, you may be charged a fee up to $4.99 for each cash withdrawl. The amount of the fee varies by location and will be displayed on the ATM screen. You will be given an opportunity to cancel the transaction before the fee is imposed".

the question is on 7/25 what was $100 Canadian worth in US? if say $93 then it cost you $2 or 2+% if $95 then it cost you nothing.

So w/o knowing what the rates were on 7/25 theres no way for me to say if you got a good deal or not. the fact that you were charged $95 net net doesnt mean anything w/o actually knowing what the rates in affect were on 7/25.

cant tell you how many when traveling with friends they told me how they found a great rate, that was till I told them had you gone to this other place you would have paid $5 less for the same amount of Local Currency. So the rate they found true was better then most places but still not the best they could have gotten.

My Pt was the WiKi says that Cap1 debit doesnt charge anything and they sure do, was told its $3 per transaction if you withdraw the funds from your Cap1 savings acct, so $1.50 out of checking is less but still more then $0.

Honestly, do you think I am a moron? According to Oanda, exchange rate on 7/25 was 0.98936 US Dollar.

I dont really think you want me to answer that:rolleyes:


Hey when we arrived at Kelti Train Station(BUD) from VIE the Change place had a nice line where people were buying the Font, at the rate of 122 per US$. The Forex rate was 155 and all over Town you got 153. Yet for those who didnt see the ATM by the bank, or know any better and needed the Fonts they changed their $$ or whatever money.Are they morons? I wouldnt say Yes, unless they knew the score and didnt care. Till I saw the bank I was afraid I was gonna have to go that way myself, as the only other option was at the tkt window which had at least an hour wait. Needing $5 in local money to pay for public transport to the Hotel, I too would have exchanged at the Rip-off rate of 122 then waste an hr waiting on the tkt line.

Scwarb aint bad then, Im not with Scwarb nor do I plan to be. If WaMu remains at 1% thats perfect for me, as I cant remember the last time I changed even $100 US, its usually $20 as everything goes onto my Cap1 Visa or Amex, if a place doesnt take Visa or Amex, I simply walk out w/o buying anything

Yes. Normal people (non-morons) check the forex rate for places they are headed. And whether there are ATM's etc. And if they were all in Canada with me (family reunion) they knew to get CapOne Visa and Schwab or other acceptable debit card before they left.

Wow, you don't spend much time in the third world, do you? But this is a travel board and many of us do and need local currency.

deleted as I dont want to Highjack the thread from its intended Theme

(Bolding mine).

Capital One Bank has different fees schedule according to your checking account types and residing states. For example, in Texas, there will be no ATM fee for the free checking accounts with account balance more than $1K. The banker told me the fees will be reimbursed automatically once the $1K requirement is met.

I would have to look it up to make sure about non-branch ATMs & international withdrawals.

as for non-foreign withdrawls from an ATM, even NY acct holders arent charged.

But this thread is about Best card for Foreign Exchange, so I didnt mention that.

I use and love Schwab, with their atm fee refunds. There's a problem, though, in countries where the fee is added as a "convenience fee" and it looks like I'm withdrawing the total of my amount and fee. Schwab doesn't catch these, and I have to call them when I get back to the U.S. Never a problem in having them manually process the rebate.

This always happens in Brasil.

Here’s just one more data point on American Express. On July 30 2008 I had a charge of AUD 840 posted to my Starwood AMEX card. According to XE.COM, the exchange rate on that day was 0.9430486333. Multiplying by 840, this gives an equivalent of USD 792.16 (rounded to the nearest cent). Adding AMEX’s 2% fee, the USD amount charged by AMEX should have been $808.00, while the amount actually charged was $812.16. In a two-minute call to AMEX on a Sunday morning the representative quickly agreed to refund $4.16 without doing any calculations or checking any data. This is fine as far as it goes, but it suggests that I now have to recheck all of my many AMEX charges for the last few years. It also confirms that AMEX does indeed sometimes use inflated exchange rates. Based on their readiness to rectify the charge, it would seem that AMEX is fully aware of the situation. Although not strictly relevant, I should add that I have never found a significant difference in exchange rates with CapitalOne VISA charges.

keep in mind most CCs dont use the Rate from the date of the charge but the Rate from the date that the charge Posts (is received by them). Which usually is not the same day as the charge was made. So you would really have to 1st find out the date the charge posts to your acct and then firgure out if they overcharged you