💳Capital One 360? Pros & Cons?

i used it in Paris with no issues.

and ftr, it's not an online only bank, they have actual branches.

I do not trust that company (CapitolOne), I have seen their deceptive, anti-consumer practices enough to steer clear of them. YMMV.

What exactly are you looking to accomplish? If all you are looking for is to beat fees for withdrawing foreign currency from your home account while overseas, there are countless, IMHO better options. Keep it simple.

Remember: there are two places where the fees are charged:

1. The ATM owner controls whether they charge a fee and how much (the fee is a fixed fee, per-use). Your only control there is whether to use that ATM or not. Choose carefully, and pay attention when using it, read and understand what's on the screen (watch out for "dynamic currency conversion" at ATMs, always a scam).

2. Your financial institution will charge some fee (typically expressed as a percentage) for converting your US dollars into a foreign currency (there will be nothing on the ATM screen about that...if you see anything on an ATM screen about offering to convert from dollars to local currency, do NOT OK that, that is the DCC scam). Most banks and credit unions use VISA for this international currency conversion, and VISA charges a flat 1% for that. That's impossible to beat, AFAICT, and a perfectly reasonable rate IMHO. Your financial institution may (or may not) charge some percentage on top of that. Most big name banks do. Some credit unions do not.

I have accounts at several credit unions (local, Seattle-based and some based elsewhere). Most of them charge absolutely nothing -- zero -- except for passing along the 1% conversion fee that VISA charges them. There are plenty of credit unions near where you live that are like that. All you will be charged from them is the 1% foreign transaction fee that VISA passes along to your CU for the service.

You should contact some local credit unions and ask them. The biggest challenge is reaching someone who understands what you're asking and knows the answer to your simple question. Bank CS agents are often woefully ignorant about such things (more than once, the agent I reached didn't even understand that I would be pulling Euros out of the foreign ATM, not US greenbacks). Ask nicely, but if you get a clueless agent, ask to speak to a supervisor.

The key question to ask them is this: "What are all the fees charged *by your bank/CU** for using a foreign ATM to withdraw money (in local currency) from my account at home?"* If they don't seem to understand the question, thank them politely and ask to speak to a supervisor or HUCA.

An alternative to consider is Charles Schwab Investor Checking Account. Never an ATM fee. If a location charges you one at the point of transaction, it is always refunded into you account by Charles Schwab. Also, no foreign transaction fees.

You do need to open an investment account to get the checking account, but you are not required to fund that investment account. It can just sit there with a balance of zero.......

CapitalOne definitely has brick and mortar offices.
We like using their credit card.

I have both (Capitol One and Schwab Bank) and use them often in Europe and the USA. Prefer Schwab as they’ve got great customer service. Cap One isn’t awful but it definitely takes forever to get to the right group and they use some sort of weird VOIP which causes an echo

Hi. I’ve used Capital One 360 for several years in Italy, France, Slovenia. They do not charge ATM fees. Your mission is to not choose Dynamic Currency Conversion which adds to how much it will cost to get Euros. Some countries will phrase this question differently than others. Have a good trip!

I also vote for CapitalOne 360 account for using ATM overseas. They do not charge foreign transaction fees. I've used it in Scotland and Italy with no issues. When I got cash out using it, I then checked what the currency conversion amount would be using the XE app. It was always within about 10 cents what
XE said.
Individual ATMs will charge a fee, which CapitalOne has nothing to do with. Agree with the above poster to make sure you understand the fee that particular ATM is charging. My CapitalOne checking account is only for travel. I also bring the debit card for my main checking account (credit union) with me as a backup; I don't use it unless absolutely necessary since they do charge a 3% fee.

We use our 360 checking debit card almost exclusively for travel, and it has worked seamlessly throughout Europe and Mexico. We replenish the account online from our “regular” checking or savings account as our trip progresses so that we never have a huge balance. I can’t speak to the customer service in the case of a real problem, but we’ve always been exceptionally pleased with the response and help when we’ve contacted them regarding the 360 account (just to get an additional card) and our Capital One Venture Visa. Of course, we take our brick and mortar checking debit card as a backup.

We have used Capital One 360 for travel for many years. No issues. Also use the Capital One Quick Silver credit card. Have always received good customer service when issues crop up.

Like many other posters, I have used the CapitalOne 360 debit card without any problems. My husband and I each have a debit card (separate accounts) and primarily use it for international travel (although we have used it at home in Arizona a couple of times since the pandemic just to keep the account active). We've used it in Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Budapest & haven't had any issues.

🙏🏻Thank you all fellow posters for the enormous feedback!

So far I really like David & Carol now retired’s comments about Schwab & credit unions.

I use Vanguard, T.Rowe Price & UBS and non of those offer the service Schwab does ☹️😞

After listening to all the grand reviews of Capitol One 360 💳you would think it’s the wise choice but have you ever tried calling them? It’s a nightmare. Endless phone tree, closed during the hours I try to call, horrible customer service, etc. I am glad others have had smooth transactions. I do agree with David that beneath it all, they are all pretty evil. Like most big banks & credit card companies. 😂 So opening a checking for travel with Schwab or a credit union them might be a better plan for me.

I’ve never needed to call but I have gone into one of the Capital One cafes a couple of times. Friendly, helpful, quick service on both occasions. Used the debit card last eeek in London. No issues. The HSBC machine did ask about dynamic currency conversion but it was easy to decline.

I’ve had great success using the Charles Schwab Investor Checking Account atm/debit card. They have never charged my account any fees and all fees charged by the foreign banks have been refunded promptly.

We have had our various Capital One accounts since 2010. Hi-Yield Money Market which morphed into the 360, and their credit card- initially it was a card with 1.25% cash back, switched to the 1.5% cash back card sometime before the pandemic. We've yet to ahve any problems. No FTF on debit or credit card. The card with the Money Market was ATM only, we now have full debit cards with the 360, with chips. And all along we each had our own card with different numbers on the bank accounts, so we could each withdraw the daily limit separately. The credit card purchases have converted at interbank posted rate for the day; the ATM/Debit card transactions have varied from .4 to .8 of one percent of the daily rate .

More importantly, I cannot understand where the complaints regarding Capital One's customer service are coming from. we ahve never haas a customer service problem, nor more than a minute or two waiting time to reach a representative.

We also have the Schwab accounts, and their cost of transaction has always been a tad lower.

And we were notified instantly by email regarding possible purchase issues on the card, including where a family member's card and been cloned a year earlier and was now in use fraudulently.

We've used Capital One 360 checking with debit cards exclusively for travel and it has worked perfectly throughout Europe for at least 6 years. We've never had any issues attempting contact with them but usually I can address nearly every issue online. Each of us also maintains separate accounts with other institutions for which we both have debit and credit cards. We're careful to avoid any foreign transaction fees. We believe in debit card redundancy when traveling!

I use the Chase Sapphire card for most purchases. It provides points. We just booked our trip to Italy - $0,00 for flights.

We use the Schwab bank card for cash advances. $0 for ATM transactions.

I’ve been using Capital One debit card for years without any issue. I just opened a 360 checking and have used the card in bank ATMs in Italy and Netherlands with no issues. I also bring backup cards - USAA and a local credit union - both charge no fees. Capital One also no longer needs travel notifications and I’ve never had a problem getting through to them.