Comments on: How to Access International ATMs

By: shirley robinson

shirley robinson — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 20:18:46 +0000

I am going to south africa. Is there a Barclays atm machine there? Or who could I use to get best rates?

By: AverageJoe

AverageJoe — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 03:21:13 +0000

Very Important–Always tell your bank when and where you are traveling, so the fraud department doesn’t cancel your card for “suspicious activity”

And I can vouch for TD Bank’s policy–First, they absorb the 1% currency exchange fee, do NOT pass it on to the customer. Second, they also DO NOT charge a fee to their cardholder for accessing a non-TD ATM. Third, if your account has a minimum daily balance of $2,500…they will REFUND your foreign ATM fees charged by the banks that own the ATMs you’ve used throughout the month.

Hard to beat that deal……..

By: Lazy Man and Money

Lazy Man and Money — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 23:02:53 +0000

If you can get an account at USAA (requires some military connection usually), I highly recommend it. We go to any country and never worry about International ATMs or fees associated with them.

By: Gates VP

Gates VP — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 21:59:31 +0000

For anyone planning to visit Canada, there are like 5 banks. Scotiabank and TD (Toronto Dominion) are available pretty much everywhere. As are the other 3: Bank of Montreal (BMO), Royal Bank (RBC) and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC).

With so few banks, they all tend to cluster in major commercial regions, so if you have access to one while visiting Canada you’ll be just fine.

By: Eric N.

Eric N. — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:37:49 +0000

Yeah I never saw the 1% explicitly so it must have been built into the exchange rate. Regardless it came in handy immensely in Australia.

By: jim

jim — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:25:45 +0000

We’ll be staying with friends and they said they have Barclays ATMs nearby.

By: Elyssa

Elyssa — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:07:33 +0000

I lived in Australia and used my BofA debit card constantly with the Westpac Alliance. I avoided all ATM fees and the 1% fee was barely noticed. It’s important to look up ATM locations in the vicinity of your hotel, because if it is not easily accessible this another key factor to the amount taken out.

By: Phil

Phil — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:26:37 +0000

I’m in London right now for 6 months and don’t have BoA. I had Commerce Bank which was bought by TD Bank. Neither Commerce or TD has ever charged any fees and checking the exchange rates online it seems to be %.5 or less from the previous day rates.

Sadly, some of the ATMs charge fees. Barclay’s or any other bank generally won’t but the street corner ATMs can charge up to $10.

Because of my length of time I now have a Barclay’s account but their charges are horrible. Even in the Global Alliance they can charge 3-5%, outside they charge even more. They do have amazing interest rates though, anywhere from 3.5-5%.

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:19:36 +0000

While in Vienna, Prague and Budapest I was able to use none of the above partners, I have BOA, and the key was to make sure you know whether to take out cash and pay the ATM/exchange fee, or to use your credit card and pay that exchange fee.

Lots of basic math comes in handy.

By: Scott

Scott — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:58:03 +0000

Hmm, I’ve never seen a fee (not even 1%) when using my BofA card inside the Global ATM Alliance in the UK, Germany, or China. But maybe it was built into the exchange rate, although I thought I was getting a pretty good rate while I was there (not that 1% really shows up that much). And if I used a non-alliance ATM I would see two fees hit my checking account ($5 plus 1%) but saw no fees hit when using an alliance ATM. Regardless, 1% (worst case) is really good.

As a quick addon to what Jim wrote above, it should be noted that while certain alliance banks like Scotiabank have ATMs in many countries, only the ATMs in Canada qualify for no fees (the alliance is specific to the countries listed).