Reviewing travel stuff

[explanade]

For international travel we use a credit card that does not charge foreign exchange fees. When using it we always ask for the charge in the local currency, not U.S. dollars. You get a much better exchange rate for charges that way.

I tried 3 different cards during my 2 week trip. They are all suppose to have no FX fees.

But they all charged me at a rate 1-2 cents higher than the wholesale rate shown on XE.com.

I think my debit card also did that as well.

For about half of my trip, the Euro was like 99 cents.

But when I look at my credit card transactions, maybe a half dozen of them reflect an FX rate where the dollar is higher than the Euro.

 

[SecondAttempt]

For that reason, though DW and I each carry a debit card issued by a different bank and we each carry a credit card from a different issuer.

I got burned in Tahiti this summer. We arrived late at night and had a little cash from a previous trip. The next day we found an ATM and I made two withdrawals, one on my Ally ATM card and the other on my ATM card from my bank here in Hawaii. Both withdrawals were for the same amount.

Ally charged me nothing but did not refund the ~$4 charge that the French ATM charged me. My local bank also did not refund the French ATM fee, they also charged me a $6 fee for using a foreign ATM and about $15 in unexplained "international service charge" plus gave me a crappy exchange rate. So it cost me about $25 to withdraw a little under $500 plus the extra few dollars I lost on the exchange rate. That is a pretty steep price.

As I said, I have done this dozens of times over the years in Europe, Japan, Canada, Australia, and a few other places and never expected the extra fees. So if you use a small or unsophisticated bank be forewarned! I blame myself for not checking! My partner did the same thing on her local credit union card but was not charged nearly as much as I was, I think $3 for foreign ATM+$4 by the French ATM but no international service charge. I don't know but doubt she got a good exchange rate.

 

[SecondAttempt]

I used to try to learn a few phrases in the local language but everyone in tourism or even retail speak a little English now.

I am reasonably fluent in Spanish after living in Arizona most of my life and taking 2 years of Spanish in college. I found that in Spain a couple of years ago that I could get by fairly well and I have no doubt if I stayed there for a month or two I would be fluent. And Spanish gives me a pretty good leg up on at least reading French, Italian, Portuguese, Catalan, and even Romanian.

I speak Swedish almost fluently which lets me mostly understand written Norwegian, Danish, and to some extent Icelandic. Spoken Danish and Icelandic are tougher but if I speak Swedish to them then understand and usually modulate their own spoken language to mimic Swedish and it works.
Plus I took German in high school and, while it is not that close to Swedish, especially the grammar, I can mostly read German and get my point across because there are a huge number of cognates. And Swedish+German=Dutch (almost). So I do pretty good in western Europe.

But I always try to learn a few words when I go somewhere - please, thank you, I'm sorry, excuse me, I need help, etc. I try very hard not to be an ugly American and expect others to deal with me in English. Google translate has become an enormous help recently!

I have had some interesting experiences trying to get things done in various countries including finding tools and special hardware in Japan when working on a project there. It never ceases to amaze me how well humans can communicate without language by miming, sketching, and pointing.

 

[athena53]

So if you use a small or unsophisticated bank be forewarned! I blame myself for not checking!

Our guide in E. Europe pointed out a few "generic" ATMS that were not associated with any particular bank, and said they charged really steep fees. You may have encountered those. She told us to look for the ones with the name and logo of an actual bank on them. I'd never heard that before.

 

[braumeister]

Our guide in E. Europe pointed out a few "generic" ATMS that were not associated with any particular bank, and said they charged really steep fees. You may have encountered those. She told us to look for the ones with the name and logo of an actual bank on them. I'd never heard that before.

I've heard about that particular scam, so I try to only use ATMs that are actually inside a bank.

Another thing I've noticed is that ATMs in airports give worse exchange rates than ones downtown.

 

[Sunset]

I got burned in Tahiti this summer. We arrived late at night and had a little cash from a previous trip. The next day we found an ATM and I made two withdrawals, one on my Ally ATM card and the other on my ATM card from my bank here in Hawaii. Both withdrawals were for the same amount.

Ally charged me nothing but did not refund the ~$4 charge that the French ATM charged me. My local bank also did not refund the French ATM fee, they also charged me a $6 fee for using a foreign ATM and about $15 in unexplained "international service charge" plus gave me a crappy exchange rate. So it cost me about $25 to withdraw a little under $500 plus the extra few dollars I lost on the exchange rate. That is a pretty steep price.

As I said, I have done this dozens of times over the years in Europe, Japan, Canada, Australia, and a few other places and never expected the extra fees. So if you use a small or unsophisticated bank be forewarned! I blame myself for not checking! My partner did the same thing on her local credit union card but was not charged nearly as much as I was, I think $3 for foreign ATM+$4 by the French ATM but no international service charge. I don't know but doubt she got a good exchange rate.

This is why I opened a Schwab bank account, and put a few extra thousand $$ in it when we travel, so I don't get charged all the extra fees. Of course due to Covid, I've barely used it

 

[Chuckanut]

I got burned in Tahiti this summer. We arrived late at night and had a little cash from a previous trip. The next day we found an ATM and I made two withdrawals, one on my Ally ATM card and the other on my ATM card from my bank here in Hawaii. Both withdrawals were for the same amount.

Ally charged me nothing but did not refund the ~$4 charge that the French ATM charged me. My local bank also did not refund the French ATM fee, they also charged me a $6 fee for using a foreign ATM and about $15 in unexplained "international service charge" plus gave me a crappy exchange rate. So it cost me about $25 to withdraw a little under $500 plus the extra few dollars I lost on the exchange rate. That is a pretty steep price.

As I said, I have done this dozens of times over the years in Europe, Japan, Canada, Australia, and a few other places and never expected the extra fees. So if you use a small or unsophisticated bank be forewarned! I blame myself for not checking! My partner did the same thing on her local credit union card but was not charged nearly as much as I was, I think $3 for foreign ATM+$4 by the French ATM but no international service charge. I don't know but doubt she got a good exchange rate.

They hit you with what Clark Howard calls ‘junk fees’. Ugh!

 

[SecondAttempt]

Our guide in E. Europe pointed out a few "generic" ATMS that were not associated with any particular bank, and said they charged really steep fees. You may have encountered those. She told us to look for the ones with the name and logo of an actual bank on them. I'd never heard that before.

Nope. The fees from the ATM bank were pretty low. It was my American bank thaat gouged me and I coincidentally found out why today!

There is something called the Visa International Service Assessment. I was charged 3% in addition to ATM fees by MY bank. They disclosed they would be charging 3% on debit card transactions outsside the US in 2020. I just missed it.

My Ally debit card has a Mastercard logo and did not charge any international fee although I understand Mastercard allows banks to charge a similar fee.

I would strongly suggest anyone traveling internationally to find out what their bank will charge for an ATM withdrawal because I paid no such fee in 2019 just before covid. It is not a new thing in terms of banks being allowed to charge this fee but I think it is relatively new that many have started doing so.

 

[SecondAttempt]

I've heard about that particular scam, so I try to only use ATMs that are actually inside a bank.

Another thing I've noticed is that ATMs in airports give worse exchange rates than ones downtown.

Yes, I am careful about that even at home. This was a Bank of Polynesia ATM which is a subsidiary of SocGen. We all know that big does not equal kind on fees but it was not the ATM operator that charged me so much. It was my own bank!

 

[DrRoy]

We were on a Danube cruise this spring, followed by a week and a half in Italy. Used the card for most everything, plus maybe 150 euros in cash.