Washington Mutual, Platinum Debit Visa

I don't know about that card, but I do know that, in general, if you use a credit card for cash advances then they start charging you interest right away, so that even if you pay the bill in full you will still pay interest. I do know that using the Capital One Visa, there are no extra fees for international charges. Either way, I'm not sure you would be able to get the card in 7 days.

sorry I only have the gold. Just got back and looked at my wamu account. I was charged 2 dollars for a the cash withdrawal fee and 1% conversion fee. The conversion fee was on all purchases. It didn't add up to much at all. I called before I left and asked about the fees and they gave me correct information. So, hopefully you really won't have to pay any fees.

I just called my credit union because I will be in Spain in Sept. I was told Visa would charge me a 1% conversation fee on all ATM w/drawals, purchases, etc. I did get my ATM w/drawal limit raised, too.

You should call back and see if another customer
service rep tells you the same thing. You can
also ask for a statement of charges from them.
Then you will have it in writing.

I agree with the others.. call and double check again. I have WAMU and was told 1% fee for charges, and a fee to withdraw. So I switched to my credit union who doesn't charge me for 3 non C.U. ATM fees, which turned out to be what I needed.

WAMU Platinum Debit cards have more perks that regular WAMU Debit cards.

Thanks for the info. Have called twice, seems the way to go is to net them and get it on paper. Will post when I have it. Gary

Visa and MasterCard charge 1% for foreign-currency transactions.

Most banks take another 2% on for themselves. WaMu is one of the few who doesn't. They told me that they charge only the Visa/MC-imposed 1% on my (non-platinum) card.

I'd be kind of surprised if they cover Visa/MC's 1% for their platinum card customers - but I guess it's possible.

BTW if you don't carry a balance on the card it is easy to avoid the cash advance finance charges.

With a debit card you have to have the money in your checking account before you take it out. Treat the credit card the same way. Make an advance payment to the credit card company of the money you expect to spend. If you don't have an outstanding balance there is no finance charge. And the bonus is that if you find once you're in Europe you need more cash then you expected, then you start borrowing from the card. You can't do that with a checking account; when it's empty it's empty!

Gary,

I would double check that information because I too jsut called in today about my wamu platinum visa and they told me that there is a 1% charge on all transactions.

I've used mine lots in Europe, and each time you do a transaction your account is debited twice. Once for the amount of the ATM withdrawl or charge if used like a Mastercard, and another 1% charge. It's about as good as you're going to get. You can always go online to wamu.com at an internet cafe and see how many dollars were taken out of your account.

I just checked with my wamu bank and was told
that accounts, regular and platinum are charged
a 2.00 fee for withdrawals and a 1% fee that is
charged from m/c.
If you have a free checking account w/o interest
there is't a fee for withdrawals but still the
1% from m/c and I'm sure visa would be the same.
I didn't ask about charges if you use it for
charging things.
I am going in tomorrow and will ask to see it in
writing.

I visited wa/mu yesterday. If you have a free
checking account, meaning no interest, you will
be charged 1% on the amount. No other atm fees.
If you have any other account. there is an exta
$2.00 charge. Go figure. So we opened up a
free checking account.

I should add to my advice above that if you're going to use your credit card to get cash and put some money in the account in advance, make SURE your card doesn't tack on a cash-advance fee! Mine doesn't, but some do which defeats the purpose.

I have called again and the serv. rep. was able to read the info that covered my conserns. Results, 1% on any transaction. Card uses as debit 1%, card used as charge card 1%, card used for cash advance 1%. This does look like a fair fee. Have Capital 1 also. Hope we have no acess problems. We are chomping at the bit to go.

I just got back from Europe, and I used my Capital One Visa exclusively (NO fees whatsoever!!) and I opened a free checking account online with UFB Direct. They charge NO fees and will even reimburse you up to $6 per monthly cycle for other banks' fees! I used the ATM card they gave me for the first time on this trip and had no problems whatsoever!! Their site: www.ufbdirect.com

Mende, was the atm card that you used connected
to MC or Visa or was it a bank/credit card that
can be used as an atm card?