Best bank account to have for international traveling?

[fuzzybabybunny]

I'm going to be doing a lot of international traveling this year and I'm wondering if there's a certain bank that's just good for travelers. I want to be able to withdrawn from any ATM in any country, preferably with decently low fees.

Anyone?

 

[Crono]

Citi or HSBC, they seem to have a lot of international branches/locations.

 

[SKORPI0]

Citibank.

 

[Rumpltzer]

Not Citi. Not HSBC. If one of those two, then you might as well have pretty much any bank account because they'll ream you on the exchange fees and charges.

Citi use to be decent if you used a Citi ATM overseas, but they now (for like 6 years) charge a conversion percentage even on Citi ATMs. WTF, right?


What you want is Charles Schwab Bank. No ATM fees. None. I fill that account with sweet, sweet Murican monies, and then I take it out in whatever filthy non-Murican denomination they use in other countries. I can do that at ANY ATM that I happen to see. No fees, no conversion percentages, no charges at all.

The fees that the non-Murican ATM charges me, Schwab refunds it to my account at the end of the month. I don't even have to call or write or ask them; they just give it back to me.

But if I did need to call them, guess what happens when the phone rings? Someone picks up on the other end. A person. Not a computer; a genuine, fucking live body! And we're not talking about some overseas, non-person... I'm talking about a jen-you-wine goddam Murican person who speaks Murican to me because they know that I'm a Murican!!!

FUCK YEAH!




Seriously. Schwab. Awesome. Check it out. Don't tell the poor people. They ruin everything.

 

[Dr. Zaus]

This post breaks the camel's back.. I swear to GOD FBB is a freeking international drug smuggler!

 

[DaWhim]

i use schwab here too and travel alot. spent 6 months down in south america last year, they saved me around $150 in ATM fees alone. argentine/chile ATM withdrawal charge is $4-7usd PER withdrawal.

I lost my card at the beginning of my trip in peru. they overnighted it to me in 5 business days! service is top notch.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Not Citi. Not HSBC. If one of those two, then you might as well have pretty much any bank account because they'll ream you on the exchange fees and charges.

Citi use to be decent if you used a Citi ATM overseas, but they now (for like 6 years) charge a conversion percentage even on Citi ATMs. WTF, right?


What you want is Charles Schwab Bank. No ATM fees. None. I fill that account with sweet, sweet Murican monies, and then I take it out in whatever filthy non-Murican denomination they use in other countries. I can do that at ANY ATM that I happen to see. No fees, no conversion percentages, no charges at all.

The fees that the non-Murican ATM charges me, Schwab refunds it to my account at the end of the month. I don't even have to call or write or ask them; they just give it back to me.

But if I did need to call them, guess what happens when the phone rings? Someone picks up on the other end. A person. Not a computer; a genuine, fucking live body! And we're not talking about some overseas, non-person... I'm talking about a jen-you-wine goddam Murican person who speaks Murican to me because they know that I'm a Murican!!!

FUCK YEAH!




Seriously. Schwab. Awesome. Check it out. Don't tell the poor people. They ruin everything.

Nice! Thank you!

It's the "High Yield Investor Checking Account with Charles Schwab" right?

I'm looking at the details.

Seriously, even for normal banking needs, is there ANY reason to go with other banks such as Chase?

Charles Schwab:

1. Can function as a brokerage account and you can buy stocks with it.
2. No international ATM fees at all.
3. Mobile app allows taking a picture of a check for deposit.
4. Allows Deposit by Mail - you just tell someone to mail the check to CS and they deposit it for you.
5. Apparently there's a CS credit card with 2% cashback on all purchases and *also* no international fees?

Seems like a super bank. Are there any cons at all?

EDIT: Even though they have no ATM fees and international fees, do they have higher than normal exchange rates? That's an easy way for them to dick you over.

 

[Rumpltzer]

Nice! Thank you!

It's the "High Yield Investor Checking Account with Charles Schwab" right?

I'm looking at the details.

Seriously, even for normal banking needs, is there ANY reason to go with other banks such as Chase?

Charles Schwab:

1. Can function as a brokerage account and you can buy stocks with it.
2. No international ATM fees at all.
3. Mobile app allows taking a picture of a check for deposit.
4. Allows Deposit by Mail - you just tell someone to mail the check to CS and they deposit it for you.
5. Apparently there's a CS credit card with 2% cashback on all purchases and *also* no international fees?

Seems like a super bank. Are there any cons at all?

EDIT: Even though they have no ATM fees and international fees, do they have higher than normal exchange rates? That's an easy way for them to dick you over.

You need to plan ahead. You can't just walk into a branch and sign up. I mean, you can walk into a branch and they'll do the paperwork and stuff, but then they still mail it in to some other location.

They don't screw with you on the exchange rate.

They've been refunding me ~US$12 a month in ATM fees for about 3 years... while paying me (a tiny) interest on a checking account.

What's not to like?


I do do direct deposit to the account, and I do keep well over $10K in the account (I'm an international drug runner too), and I've had no issues.

I read (once) about Schwab closing some dude's low-balance account and he put up a tantrum thread. It's the only complaint I've ever heard.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

You need to plan ahead. You can't just walk into a branch and sign up. I mean, you can walk into a branch and they'll do the paperwork and stuff, but then they still mail it in to some other location.

They don't screw with you on the exchange rate.

They've been refunding me ~US$12 a month in ATM fees for about 3 years... while paying me (a tiny) interest on a checking account.

What's not to like?


I do do direct deposit to the account, and I do keep well over $10K in the account (I'm an international drug runner too), and I've had no issues.

I read (once) about Schwab closing some dude's low-balance account and he put up a tantrum thread. It's the only complaint I've ever heard.

God dammit. I'm leaving for China on Monday >< So I'm screwed?

But it should be the best bank hands down for anyone, huh?

 

[Rumpltzer]

God dammit. I'm leaving for China on Monday >< So I'm screwed?

But it should be the best bank hands down for anyone, huh?

Screw the ATMs.

Take an iPhone 5 with you. Walk into Tiananmen Square. Hold phone above head. Cash offers on the spot.

 

[Svnla]

When I was in Asia, I saw HSBC and Citi branches.

 

[Rumpltzer]

When I was in Oregon, I saw BofA branches. When I moved to Californigan, I was told that they weren't the same BofA. Was advised to close the account and open a new one.

I see an assload of Citi and HSBC branches in the countries where I smuggle human cargo too... but the 3% foreign transaction fee sucks. SUCKS! SUCKS!



I think I just finished.

 

[andylawcc]

i have Bofa, and have no problem extracting local currency when i traveled to Malaysia, Inodnesia, Thailand, and Hong Kong with favorable exchange rate at the local ATM.

okay, that was a mouthful. here's the breakdown

1) I used a US-issused Bofa ATM card
2) I went to all those aforementioned countries
3) i used it to withdraw cash in ANY ATM by major banks (HSBC happened to be my favorite)
4) I get local currency, in decent-to-favorable exchange rate. Sure, i get 5 bucks foreign transaction fee, but the rate is still good enough to offset that 5 bucks.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

imo, use credit whenever possible. none of cap1 cards charge international fees, plus you get rewards. will get the days best exchange rate, very fair.

of course you need cash too. i really really hated my experience with schwab so i wont recommend them, but it does sound like they have the features you want

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

imo, use credit whenever possible. none of cap1 cards charge international fees, plus you get rewards. will get the days best exchange rate, very fair.

of course you need cash too. i really really hated my experience with schwab so i wont recommend them, but it does sound like they have the features you want

Why did you hate your experience with Charles Schwab?

 

[ElFenix]

God dammit. I'm leaving for China on Monday >< So I'm screwed?

But it should be the best bank hands down for anyone, huh?

you ask after the close of bank hours on a friday what the best bank to go overseas is when you're leaving on monday? really?


maybe you should get an account at a chinese bank

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Ok, after doing a bunch of research, it seems that for the United States, the holy grail combination for international travel cards is:

Charles Schwab debit card - no foreign transaction fees, no ATM fees, anywhere in the world. Period.

Capital One credit card (any of them) - no foreign transaction fees, anywhere in the world. Period.

Can anyone confirm?

Also, is there a benefit to getting an airline miles card versus a points or cash back card? Say that you spend $10,000 on the card. Will that get you more value in cash back or more value in airline tickets (ie. spending $10,000 could get you $100 cash back on a typical cash back card (1% is a pretty standard cash back rate) or $400 worth of airline tickets on a mileage card, so the airline miles card is a much better value, but I don't think this exists... usually it's $10,000 = 10,000 miles = $100 airline ticket, right?).

 

[ElFenix]

Also, is there a benefit to getting an airline miles card versus a points or cash back card? Say that you spend $10,000 on the card. Will that get you more value in cash back or more value in airline tickets (ie. spending $10,000 could get you $100 cash back on a typical cash back card (1% is a pretty standard cash back rate) or $400 worth of airline tickets on a mileage card, so the airline miles card is a much better value).

capital one venture card is "double miles" which basically means 2% back as miles points. miles points convert to a penny at their travel site. but you have to use their travel site, and who knows if those prices are any good.

 

[RossMAN]

http://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/top-credit-cards/no-foreign-transaction-fee-credit-card/

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

capital one venture card is "double miles" which basically means 2% back as miles points. miles points convert to a penny at their travel site. but you have to use their travel site, and who knows if those prices are any good.

Venture One Rewards (no annual fee, 1.25 miles / dollar, $100 plane ticket = 10,000 miles, so effectively 1.25%. I have no idea what the rate is for redeeming your miles for cash - they refuse to specify on the site):

http://www.capitalone.com/credit-ca...reOne+Card+Details&referer=www.capitalone.com

Capital One Cash Credit (no annual fee, 1% cash back plus a 50% cash back bonus at the end of every year, so effectively 1.5% cash back. For cash that you can use for anything, not just airline tickets, but probably used to just pay down your credit balance):

http://www.capitalone.com/credit-ca...=Cash+Card+Details&referer=www.capitalone.com

I ignored the 2% Capital One card because there is an annual fee and no 0% intro APR.

From the looks of it, the Cash Credit card gives more back and is more flexible, right?

 

[coxmaster]

Ally isn't too bad.. They don't have any local offices but ATM fees are automatically refunded, regardless of where you are at.

No international fee, no monthly cost, nothing. I'm getting a little over 1.5% right now IIRC and its nice to get atm fees back automatically.

 

[nageov3t]

I've been with Schwab for awhile and have no complaints.

only real downside to traditional banks is if I wanted to get a certified check or withdraw a large amount of cash, neither of which I've ever had to do.

 

[Sinsear]

they overnighted it to me in 5 business days!

 

[Exterous]

Ok, after doing a bunch of research, it seems that for the United States, the holy grail combination for international travel cards is:

Charles Schwab debit card - no foreign transaction fees, no ATM fees, anywhere in the world. Period.

Capital One credit card (any of them) - no foreign transaction fees, anywhere in the world. Period.

Can anyone confirm?

Also, is there a benefit to getting an airline miles card versus a points or cash back card? Say that you spend $10,000 on the card. Will that get you more value in cash back or more value in airline tickets (ie. spending $10,000 could get you $100 cash back on a typical cash back card (1% is a pretty standard cash back rate) or $400 worth of airline tickets on a mileage card, so the airline miles card is a much better value, but I don't think this exists... usually it's $10,000 = 10,000 miles = $100 airline ticket, right?).

Personally I really like the Chase Sapphire Preferred card. While I haven't been to Asia during our trips to Europe I found it the easiest to use. No FTFs. Visa is more accepted than Amex where we were traveling. Amex and Chase involved a 2 minute phone call each to inform them of overseas use. The Capitol One card wanted to know the phone numbers of each hotel along with date of stay and what airports I was going through just so they could allow my card to be used internationally. I told them forget it I had two other cards and I didn't need the hassle so it didn't even make the trip

My Chase card also had a higher lost luggage allowance and trip insurance included than my Amex card. My average wait time when calling Amex was about 1 minute. Someone usually answers the phone by the second ring when calling Chase - I kid you not. No automated menus at all.

When asking about points - it depends. Different sites\cards will have different values for point usage. Thats another reason I like the Chase card. You have three options for using your points on travel:
1. Use their site for booking. Points go 20% further. Flights are sometimes an ok deal but nothing spectacular. I have had much better luck with hotel and car bookings
2. Transfer to partner sites. You have access to about 70 different airlines world wide through their 4 airline partners. Some may have great point values. For our trip next year to England the ticket would have been ~$1100 ea on a traditional travel site, barring a sale. Through Chases website it would have been 210,000 points. No real savings there. British Air? 175,000 points. Somewhat better. United? 120,000 points. Yes please!*
3. Buy the flight\hotel\car on the card and use your points 1:1 to pay for the travel

*From my limited experience points seem to go much farther on international travel than continental US. When looking at flights and rewards tickets most continental rewards flights seem to be in the 0.8:1 1:1 value for your points. In International you can pretty easily get 2:1 and I have seen some first class rewards flights for 5:1

 

[ponyo]

Problem with Chase Sapphire Preferred is the $95 annual fee. That's the instant deal killer for me. No thanks. I'll stick with my free Costco Amex for travel and dining bookings and Capital One Visa for use during international travel.

As for points vs cash, my preference is always cash. Cash never expires and it can be used for anything. Points have restrictions, good and bad.