Would anyone know which Canadian bank holds the best rate for ATMs in Europe?
I am currently with Scotiabank and know that they have certain global alliances that would grant me free withdrawal from those particular ATMs, although I suspect that they will be few and far in between.
I've found a guide on Wikipedia but was wondering if anyone has any personal experience?
Depends where you're going. The Scotiabank alliance will save you a few bucks in transaction charges for its alliance members in their own countries...eg. using Barclay's Bank in the UK will save you the extra charge, but Barclay's Bank in Spain does not. No other Canadian bank has alliances with overseas banks, so Scotia seems to be the best way to go in my experience.
Rebecca, there's a post here about banking with Charles Schwab. Its an online account (I believe) and there seems to be no fees to withdraw money from any ATM. Would it be worth it to open an account with C.S.? I can't imagine them not allowing you to open one... or cross over to NY?? LOL
Found the post!!
check out this post on ATM/ Charles Schwab:
by clicking here
Rebecca- Just got back from London/Paris. I have Bank of America, which is in alliance with Scotiabank. They both align with BNP Paribas in Paris, Barclays in London, as well as 1 or 2 others in Europe. I found plenty of ATM's throughout both cities, never really had to hunt one down. If you're staying in the big cities, I don't suspect there will be a problem finding an ATM.
Be sure to withdraw larger rather than smaller amounts of cash (stash most in your money belt). This saves you from getting hit with ATM fees every day.
rebecca,
I bank with www.citizensbank.ca out of Vancouver. It's a child of VanCity Credit Union and does not charge any fees for ATMs worldwide. The bank was conceived as an online-only bank. Since they started out, they have built a few brick-and-mortar offices in major Canadian cities. But the bank still doesn't have much overhead and passes the savings of not having to run "real" offices onto the consumer in this way.
That said, some of the other Canadian banks do charge me at their ATMs. But those are charges by the other bank, displayed right with your withdrawal, no additional charges by Citizensbank. In Canada I know I'm always safe with any Credit Union ATM. I've withdrawn cash at different banks in Europe (not limited to Credit Unions) and never paid a fee.
You may also want to check which ATM networks (Cirrus/Star/etc.) your bank is affiliated with. If you use an ATM that does not interface with your network, the cash withdrawal may be taken against your credit card instead of bank account.
Rebecca....unfortunately, the Charles Schwab situation doesn't apply to Canada, nor does the Capital One card you see mentioned from time to time. If yours is a straight debit card, then you won't have to worry about it being charged to your credit card.....that's a much more common setup in the U-S. The credit union idea is a good one, but be careful. Citizens Bank, for example, does charge $3.00 for overseas transactions (although there may be no fees imposed by the local European bank,) and you may be able to reduce that by taking one of their package accounts (see their fee list at https://www.citizensbank.ca/SharedContent/documents/forms/ScheduleOfServiceCharges.pdf). Scotiabank charges $5 per international ATM withdrawal but, as noted, it is waived at ATMs of its overseas affiliates. They also add a charge of 2.5% of the withdrawal as a "conversion fee" which is folded into the exchange rate you see on your account when you get back home. Since you really should carry more than one debit card (in case one is lost, stolen, or won't work), you may want to consider your Scotiabank one for affiliated ATMs and a credit union-type one for others.
