no fee ATM

Sorry, no experience with those two cards. But I do know that Bank of America has a partnership with bank BNL d'Italia, and if you use your BofAm card at those ATMs, you don't get hit with any fees. Just make sure that you call the BofAm travel desk to let them know your travel dates. You will not be able to use your ATM card oversees, until you do. Ciao, Michael

I am not sure what you are asking. It would help if you explain what you have "heard" about rule changes. People get "told" a lot of things that are not accurate. These has been some discussion about the European chip and pin credit cards but no indication that a chip and pin would be required for debit cards at ATMs. All reports are that the American mag strip cards work just fine in European ATMs. Also, to date, ALL FEEs on debit and credit cards are imposed by your card issuer. There are no fees imposed by local banks in Europe on the usage of their ATMs.

My information came from a friend who lives in Rome I asked her to be more specific about the changes. I could never find any branches of the bank supposedly affiliated with Bank of America while in Florence . Where has anyone located an affiliated bank for Bank of America either in England or Italy? Thanks for all of the information.

Me again. THe bank for Capital One does not charge any fees abroad. I think their credit card also does not charge. I know the Charles Schwab bank never charged any fees abroad and when I used their ATM in the US my account was credited for the fee that the other bank charged. I think I learned about these no fee ATMs from the Rick Steves Travelers Helpline or maybe Trip Advisor.

Mercedes, in response to your comment above, we used our BofA ATM/debit card in England constantly at Barclay's bank, BofA's global partner in England. However, we got 2/3 of our trip in France completed before we spotted our first BofA partner bank. That being said, we used our newer Schwab ATM/debit card in Barcelona and France last fall and every cent of the charges were reversed at the end of the month. No funny business. We also used the Visa feature of the debit card to charge hotel bills and other purchases. Unlike other ATM/Debit cards that limit your purchase to the amount of your daily limit, the limit on the Schwab Visa portion is whatever you have in your checking account. We put $5,000 in our checking account prior to travel and was able to access it wherever we needed. There is a warning here, however. If you lose your Schwab debit card or its stolen, the finder or thief can charge up to the limit on your checking account without a password or pin. The card works just like a Visa card only you are not borrowing from your bank, you are withdrawing from your checking.

I just set up a CapitalOne online checking account to use in Rome. There are no ATM fees and no exchange rate charges. If you incur ATM fees you can submit the receipts and they reimburse. It took about a week to get it set up. I have other CapOne cards and they are great to deal with.

Did anyone ever locate a Bank of America affiliate in Italy? I undertand that if you don;t use a specific bank, BOA charges 3%. Thanks to all.

The associate banks for BOA in Italy is Banca Nazionale De Lavoro ( BNL D'Italia). In France is BNP Paribas. No ATM fee if you use the BOA card. Call the bank to confirm.
FYI, if you use bank DB in Italy. You can only withdraw from your checking account. No option to withdraw from your saving account. This apply to BOA and Schwab Bank cards.

Instructions to get the BofAM partner locations in Italy: 1) Go to www.bankofamerica.com, click on Locations at the top. 2) On the ATM Locations page, click on International locations. 3) In the pop-up box click on the partner bank, BNL d'Italia in this case. 4) A window will open telling you that you are leaving the BofAM site. 5) Click on Continue and the BNL site will open. 6) Click on "Individui e Famiglie" (lower left) 7) On the right hand side about half way down, click on "Trova la filiale" and a new window will open. 8) Select the Region in Italy you will be in. 9) Select the Province in Italy you will be. 10) Select the City you will be in 11) Click on Cerca, and a Google map with the locations will appear. You can move, and zoom in to view the locations.
If you click on the little green pin, it will give you some information on that locations (address and phone number). Ciao, Michael

I've always had issues using B of A cards in Italy. Although we asked at our local branch and checked on-line before leaving home, then used only the banks they told us about, we still racked up charges. I had to call and "discuss" the issues with Cust. Service when we returned home. They did eventually reverse the charges, but only after a very long and tedious "discussion" in which I had to repeat all the hoops I jumped through before we even left home. It turns out the names of the banks they gave us were home based in Germany and France. That information wasn't mentioned at all when we did our research at home. Be very careful and don't take anything at face value. Then be prepared to argue with them when you get home. I just say No to BofA.

The original question and responses are over a year old. Don't know if everything is still current or rehashing old information which may not be relevant.