Low Fee Debit Cards

I would believe them. We have a Capital One Money Market account that we use for foreign ATM withdrawals. There are no transaction fees and no foreign exchange fees. I've heard that CapOne no longer offers those, but we were grandfathered in.

Check with local credit unions but Milford may be a little small for a choice of credit unions. Seward is not much bigger so you may have to go to Lincoln. Also some of the on-line banks, like Ally, have low fee debit cards so you just have to check around. Schwab is true if you have the account.

I agree with Frank, check out credit unions. My credit union had no fees for withdrawals. And when I checked my rate versus the current exchange rate, it appeared like the one I had received was right at the exchange rate or occasionally lower. Great to travel on.

Vic,
This may help http://flyerguide.com/wiki/index.php/Credit/Debit/ATM_Cards_and_Foreign_Exchange

Vic, for us, the Charles Schwab claim is true. We've been using our Schwab debit/Visa card for almost two years. All fees have been rebated at the end of the month. We have never received a monthly Visa bill as the Visa feature is tied directly to our Schwab checking account. The only limit on your Visa charges is how much you have in your account. We've paid $1,200 hotel bills in Barcelona and Paris without a problem. You can't do that with typical debit/Visa cards that restrict your charges to your daily withdrawl limit.

I don't cherish using my debit card in foreign lands except to withdraw cash for day to day expenses like food and entrance into tourists sights. And I only use the ATM card at a bank ATM machine. You always pay dearly on transaction fees and exchange rate at any place there's a human conducting business. Hotels, rental cars, transportation and some restaurants are charged to my Capital One Visa account of which I get travel miles. Capital One is one of the few charge cards that doesn't rip you off on the exchange rate. You also have some rights (with your credit card company) by using credit cards that you don't have with an ATM card. Secondary physical damage insurance on a rental car with a Visa Gold is also a savings.
Have a good trip!

Just to be clear. No credit card rips you off on the exchange rate. And no credit card or debit card has better exchange rate. All credit cards using the same network (Plus or Cirrus for Visa and Mastercard) will get absolute the same rate at the same time. It is the networks that sets the exchange rate. The exchange rate will vary during the rate but it is constant for all cards on that network. What does vary is the fees that are attached to the usage of the credit card BY THE CARD ISSUER. That can vary greatly from nothing to three or four percent. Those fees are controlled by the card issuer so call and ask lots of questions. None of it is a rip off, there are just costs associated with during business and companies get their fees in different ways.

My debit card is with Bank of America and I pay no fees for the card because I have one direct deposit per month. When in Italy, I use BNL bank ATM's and there is no fee. I can withdraw up to 600 euros per day.

BNL d'Italia is a member of the Bank of America Global Alliance. No fees to use your BofA ATM card this bank's ATM machines in Italy. Likewise, the Italian traveler can use his or her BNL ATM card in BofA machines in the USA. However, if you use your BofA ATM card in any other bank's ATM machine in Italy, you will pay fees. But, BNL is just fine.

The Schwab deal does seem to good to be true, but it is true. I always use a Schwab Visa Debit card as the primary ATM cash card when traveling anywhere. Schwab never charges a fee, and if the bank that owns the ATM charges a fee, then a credit will appear by the end of the month. To get the card, you must have a Schwab brokerage account tied into a Schwab checking account. This can be done by mail.
So right now, I think this is a really good deal. If they start charging fees, then all bets are off.