Frist time travel to Europe - payments

Anyway you can get a Capital One Venture Card mailed to your home overnight. No foreign transaction fees with that card.

It sounds like your credit card adds foreign transaction fees. Too late to do much about that, but in the future if you plan to travel abroad again, you should look into CCs that waive foreign transaction fees.

Even with transaction fees on ATM withdrawals and CC usage, it will be less costly than trying to obtain cash by any other means abroad (like cambio or exchange place at the airport). Since each time you use an ATM abroad you will be assessed fees, you should at least try to maximize the cash you anticipate you will need in each country and get that amount out in one transaction. The only issue I see is you will be in countries with different currencies - Austria and Italy will be euros, but Denmark and Poland have their own currencies. If you were only traveling in countries on the euro, you could have avoided multiple ATM transactions.

Finally, I have a BofA checking account, and I can obtain foreign currency at a money center branch bank. Your type of account (the status) can confer greater savings on these transactions, but without knowing your situation, you may find it is not worth it...still, you should inquire at the bank.

Using your CC and getting cash from an ATM is still going to be your best bet at this point.
The one thing you can still do to avoid extra charges is to ALWAYS insist on being charged in the local currency. ATMs and merchants may try to convince you that dollars are the way to go. They will charge for the "convenience."

With only 1 business day, or 2 days assuming your flight is early on the 11th before you leave, you’re kind of stuck using what you have. Do you have other credit cards with lower fees? My BAC travel Rewards CC and BAC Premium Rewards CC do not have foreign transaction fees, nor does my Fidelity CC. I just bought Euros from BAC because I need to land with cash for my B&B. I thought this year’s rate was a bit higher than in the past but as a premium client I got a small discount. I use a Fidelity debit card, no foreign transaction fee, ATM fees reimbursed.
Fees at a foreign exchange will be high.

I have a Bank of America CC that has no international transaction fees. It's an Alaska AirMiles card, which maybe makes a difference. I would call up BoA and "threaten" to move your CC business if they don't waive the fees for this trip. I don't believe you would need cash in Denmark or Austria and would be well served by a CC with no fees. On my recent trip, I did not need to use the PIN, but you should make sure you have a PIN assigned to your CC in case you encounter a machine that requires one. I was able to set mine up through BoA online banking. Good luck to you!

If the BoA cards are all you have, then that is what you use, and it is really your best option, it is just that, with planning, you could have done better, but you simply do not have the time.

Use your credit card for as much as possible. Yes, you will pay a Foreign Transaction Fee (FTF), it will be 3%. This means if you have dinner, and it costs 50 euro, it is really costing you 51.50 euro. This is not a deal breaker, you will still have a great time, it will be fine.

For cash, you really would not need much. Maybe get $100 to $200 equivalent in euro at the first opportunity from an ATM. For that, you can expect to pay a $5 fee, plus 3% of the amount, so if you get $200 worth, BoA will charge you $200 + $5 + $6 (3%) or $211, which is a 5.5% markup, not great, but you will have cash in pocket.

If you get cash here, or exchange there, it will likely cost you at least the 5.5%, or more, so there is no advantage in changing cash, plus, you would need to carry large sums of cash, a dangerous proposition.

As a previous poster mentioned, watch out for DCC. You will be asked if you want to do the transaction in Dollars, you do not, decline, choose euros (well except Poland, then Zloty). They will often follow up with a dire warning that you will not know what the exchange rate will be (true, but it will be way better than theirs), choose to proceed without conversion.

Find a new bank? Seriously there’s a reason I no longer bank with Bank of America and it was their greed and fees and incompetent service. Three strikes was plenty.

Do you have a credit card that is not issued by this bank that doesn’t charge transaction fees because that’s what you’ll be using mostly.

I recently got a Capital one and when I was online to sign up for it, they volunteered to FedEx it to me the next day so you might try calling Chase or Capital One and saying if you can get me a credit card by Saturday you got a customer It’s worth trying.

Do not use your credit card to get cash from an ATM. Use your debit card for that. If you use your credit card you will trigger a cash advance....very pricy!

BofA has "partner" banks that do not trigger a fee for using a non BofA ATM. In France it is BNP Paribas. They have reciprocal agreements to treat each others' customers as if they were their own, at least regarding cash ATM withdrawals with a Debit Card. Idon't know about the countries you will be in, but maybe a phone call or web search on B of A site will help. I can't check right now, but will try to find out for you.

Have B of A upgrade you to a credit card with no foreign transaction fee, then have them add it to your apple pay, which they can do quickly since your trip is now. Then you don't need to actually possess the card on your trip; and since you will have your old credit card (obviously a different acct) you can use that as back up on your trip.

Just back from a two week trip to the Netherlands (the Euro) and Norway (the krone).

I had no need to EVER spend any paper money across dozens and dozens of transactions from small (1 euro for public toilet) to large (nice dinners or hotels). I do have Euros that I bring with me, but those are regularly returning with me too (some likely gotten via BoA's partner ATMs as mentioned by Judy).

For a CC, yes, find a card - from BoA or other (Capital One, Chase, etc) that has no foreign transaction fees and go with that. Generally, a "travel" or "airline" rewards card is going to be the ones with those no fee options. Well worth having one (or more) of those if planning on regular international travel. The "rush" service from Capital One mentioned above seems like a reasonable option.

I wanted to mention that using a credit card at an atm or bank is always the choice of last resort. Cash advances through a credit card incur immediate interest charges. There is not the usual billing cycle grace period. Using a debit card is a much better choice at an ATM.

sgade2, you just have to accept that anytime you buy (exchange is a misnomer) foreign currency, somebody has to make money on the transaction. It costs the service provider money just to be there. Yes you can do this at airports or street exchanges, but these will usually be at very unfavorable rates. You can get some currency ahead of time from your bank or AAA, but also at an unfavorable rate and with fees.

Nevertheless, my advice is to focus on the convenience. The cost of doing business is minor compared to the cost of your trip. Spending hours looking for just the right ATM is a waste of precious time. My bank charges a flat fee for ATM transactions, so I will take out the max each time. And some foreign banks will also charge a fee. You'll soon get a feel for how much cash you are spending vs cards.

I know a lot of people feel comfortable getting multiple bank cards all the time, but for my one trip abroad a year, I stick with my hometown bank of 50+ years. Especially if a new card with no foreign transaction fees, costs you an annual fee.

PS Austria and Italy both use the euro, so only three different currencies. What I would do, is use any leftover euro to buy Polish zlotys when you get there.

Thank you everyone for your inputs! As per the suggestions by everyone, I decided not to take cash with me and will use my cards. I called BofA and told them I would close my credit card if they couldn't waive the foreign transaction fees. Not surprisingly, they didn't care about it and were happy to proceed with it. But it was worth a try...

So....add "find a new credit card" to your To-Do list for September after you return from your trip and have re-entered your non-vacation world, lol!

For myself, I have a Chase VISA, a Citibank VISA and an American Express card plus 2 debit cards - one from my credit union and one from my brokerage account.

You might see if adding your card to your Apple or Google wallets makes a difference in fees charged? You might also be able to get an Apple card....I do NOT have one but it might be something you can get right away since it's digital (I think??).