tip on ATM fees - bank affiliations

Thanks James. Bank of America offers a credit card with no foreign transaction fees. Also, there is and no annual fee. I typically use cash for virtually all transactions when in Europe, but for us thrifty travelers, this is worth noting.

A better arrangement is use a bank/credit union that does not charge fees so you do not have to go looking for affiliations. One less thing to worry about.

Both options are valid and worthy. But most people are not going to change banks or spend the time to set up new accounts just for a 2 week trip to Europe. If your bank does have an affiliate, it isn't hard to find those ATM machines, especially in this digital age. And even if you do pay your bank's ATM fees, it is still the cheapest method of obtaining foreign cash.

Yeah - when you are spending sooo much to travel, what's a few more dollars? ;)

Nicole, we just moved to Scotiabank from RBC and discussed at length with their rep about this as we travel a lot. He had a whole list of banks that they are affiliated with, not just Barclays, across Europe. I remember DeutscheBank being one of them. Not sure if that's applicable to your trip if you are going to UK only, but I thought I'd pass that on anyway.

On that trip, we went to UK, France and Italy, but it'll be good to check with them again next time we go back over...

I do believe, as someone else has mentioned, that people can obsess unnecessarily over those annoying fees. For a 2 or 3 week trip they won't amount to all that much, especially if one withdraws the maximum each time. That being said, if it's convenient, I would use a bank where I didn't incur a fee. As I recall from the days when I had a Bank of America (now switched to a bank that never charges fees for any withdrawal, anywhere), they, Scotia Bank, Barclays, BNL in Italy, BNP in France, Deutsche Bank (but only in Germany), some bank in Mexico (name eludes me), and perhaps one in Spain are all affiliated and charge no fees to each others' card-holders.

You can still get cards and ATM cards that don't have fees at BoA. You have to join their Preferred list I believe. Still $5 fee on a $200 ATM withdraw, or 3% on a credit card isn't that awful especially after you spent $2500 on air fare another $2000 on hotel rooms, and you eating dinner every night in a Prague Old Town tourist trap restaurant. If you are doing europe on $50 a day, then thats another issue.

I guess folks can do as they wish with respect to their choice of banking institution, but doesn't it bother you doing business with a corporation (BoA) that mismanaged itself totally and then took $45 billion in taxpayer welfare? Then, they laid off 30,000 of your neighbors just to go on a huge outsourcing and hiring spree in the Philippines (average yearly wage around $5000). Then, they finally get caught for mortgage fraud and are being sued by the feds for $1 billion. I'm probably missing a few things. Why not use an ethical bank instead, or better yet, a credit union? You'll save on all of the typical bank fees all year long with a credit union...not just on vacation (that's my tip)! Back to the topic at hand...I don't worry too much about ATM fees when on vacation in Europe. They're relatively low and not a real concern for me when taking out large sums and only using ATMs a few times on a trip. I also don't worry about international transaction fees on my credit cards...I use them sparingly if at all. If I were to use them a lot, I would feel differently and would look for a card with no fees. One really can't avoid the huge banks when it comes to credit cards...even the credit union cards are really issued by the big banks. Still, one could do a hell of a lot better than doing business with BoA.

"even the credit union cards are really issued by the big banks" Perhaps some are, but mine, from a small, local credit union, is issued by - the small, local credit union. No other affiliations (except VISA). Customer service is handled by the credit union, too - no calling the Phillipines or elsewhere, if I have a question.

That's good to know. The VISA credit card I have through my small, local credit union looks like it's issued only by them at first blush. It has their name on the front, but it's actually issued by Elan Financial Services, a part of US Bancorp (one of the biggest banks in the U.S.). The credit union outsources this so they don't have to manage the cost, the infrastructure, the risk, the compliance, etc. A credit union with a self-administered credit card is a great thing! And my apologies for the socialist rant above...I can't help myself sometimes.