No Fee Debit Cards

We have a Charles Schwab account and use their no fee debit card in Europe - it works great. Any ATM fees incurred are credited back to your account.

I would look into local credit unions and ask them. They vary of course, but my credit union does not charge any international fee and I've found their exchange rate to be very good.

Capital One money Market. No fee anywhere (not just Europe) charged by them.
And they have a MasterCard not only with no foreign transaction fee, but also 1.25% cashback on all purchases, which you can apply as a statement credit anytime you want and not have to collect $50 in rewards ion order to get a check.

Most of the credit unions have min or no cash exchange/withdrawal charges. The exchange rate is always within one percent of the interbank rate that is the standard. Just a matter making a few calls or checking on the internet.

I have a Capitol One High Yield Money Market Account with an attached ATM. Not really high yield, but they do not charge ATM fee and no foreign transaction fee. You will get full value for your dollar transaction. Only ATM fee will be whatever the local machine charges. In most cases, the banks in Europe do not charge an ATM fee. You can set it up online and use it just for your travel. I can transfer money from my everyday accounts to this account when I need to use it.

If you qualify for a USAA account, their card doesn't charge a fee at any international ATM. My credit union doesn't charge a fee but it is a Visa debit card and Visa charges a fee.

We have found the only non-credit union credit cards to have no transaction fees are Chase and Capital One. There are fees for a cash advance at an ATM, but I just pay them off immediately. We also sent my daughter to Europe with a Bank of America ATM card attached to her savings account - although three people at the bank confirmed it would work at European ATMs, she found out the hard way that ATMs abroad generally do not work with cards attached to savings accounts alone!!! Thank goodness for the Chase Card. With it I set up alerts to tell me when travel purchases are made, so I can keep an eye on spending and know if the number has been compromised.

My small local credit union charges no fees at all my card is a Visa card, but the credit union absorbs the fee). My online bank, Ally, charges 1% (a Mastercard-affiliated card). The two accounts are connected so that i can transfer money between them in case one or the other card doesn't work.

I carry two ATM cards, one from my local credit union and a Banf of America card.

My credit union card gives me 4 no charge withdrawals per month from any ATM and does not chatge me a currency convetrsion fee but does not wave the machine owner's fee.

My B of A card waves the withdrawal fee from partner banks (eg Deutsche Bank I n Germany) but charged me a currency conversion fee during my last trip in January.

Bottom line is there are different kinds of fees.

TD Bank charges no percentage fees for foreign ATM withdrawals. If you have a basic checking account ($100 minimum), they charge $3 per withdrawal; if you have a fancier account ($2500 minimum), there's no fee per withdrawal. (I don't know their fees for savings accounts). I have no connection with them except as a satisfied customer

There are no TD Banks in Richmond; the closest are near DC: http://tinyurl.com/ldz7edc. So, this may not work for you. But if you'll be in the area, you can open an account and get an ATM card at the same time (no waiting like at some other banks).

I've found a bunch of credit unions and smaller banks that charge a flat one percent on your withdrawal so $1 per $100 (I'm at USAA but Navy Federal Credit Union has the same fee). I like that because I don't feel like I have to take fewer, maximum withdrawals to minimize my fees.

Everywhere I've found that charges no fee has other requirements that don't work for me.