Using a Debit Card in Europe

First of all, stop guessing about what the bank charges are for your cards. Do actual research with the institutions themselves. You are off to a good start with finding out about Bank of America. Now contact the others. You want to know about two different types of fees. Foreign transaction fees and ATM fees. Also you should know that if you use your credit card in an ATM machine or to get cash, it will be counted as a cash advance and interest will accrue immediately.

Many people will have a fee free debit card that they use when they travel. I use Charles Schwab investor checking debit card which has no foreign transaction fees and any ATM fees are immediately credited back into my account. There are other such cards out there as well.

My credit union charges 1% over the Interbank rate plus a $1 flat fee for using an ATM in Europe. On my last trip to Germany, for three weeks, that amounted to about $40 for the whole trip. There are other banks with 0%/$0 but I'm not going to switch my everyday banking to them for a few dollars every year or so when I go to Europe.

For everyday spending use cash from the ATM with your ATM/debit card. Never use a debit card as a credit card for POS purchases, and never use a credit card for everyday expenses like rooms and meals. Places in Germany that accept credit card charge so much more that you lose far more with a credit card than you save on ATM fees.

And it could be coincidence. I have used by credit card number for dozens of reservations over many years and never had a problem. It is actually very secure until it is in the hands of whoever is on the receiving end. Would not make any difference if you faxed it, phone it or mailed it. The live person on the receiving end is the weak link in the security chain. Were you on the booking.com site. And did you try to book something there? It is possible that you number taken sometime in the past and not yesterday. Often a credit card number will be dominate for period of time after it is taken before being used so that point taken is impossible to detect.

There are a large numbers of banks and especially credit unions that charge no fees or very low like 1%. Just check around. When traveling I would NOT use a debit card for anything other than getting cash from an ATM. Use a no fee credit card. You have more protection.

When was the last time you gave your credit card to a waiter and had them walk away for several minutes. Any idea what they were doing with it besides just running your check?

Point is not to disparage waiters, only to say you never know where or how your credit card gets compromised. It happens. A lot. It's a pain for you but US law protects you the consumer. You can fill out a form online or give all your information over the phone - what would be the difference?

According to BofA's website, its affiliate in Italy is BNL Italia. BofA charges 3% on ATM foreign withdrawals, but using BNL Italia should avoid the $5 out-of-network fee.
Check online for the fees charged by each of your cards before you use them. Often a financial institution may have different cards with different fee schedules, so you need to get information on your specific cards.

My personal preference is Schwab debit card and Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card.

At one time I had a B of A cc. They have affiliates in France and England as well as Italy, but their no charge atm policy is not as good as it sounds. You cannot count on BNL (or any of their other affiliates) being conveniently located near to where you are. If you are in a small town, the nearest may be in the next town. If you are in a city, the nearest may be blocks or miles away.
I would check out the CU charges first of all. CUs tend to have very customer-friendly policies.

I have a Capital One cc which charges no foreign transaction fee. They have lots of different cards, but I think that feature is one of their selling points. Again, the advice is to check with them.
I have one other suggestion. Take a second cc and a second atm card as back-up. Anything can happen with plastic. Some examples that have happened to us are leaving a cc in a restaurant and not realizing it until we were in another town and having an atm card just stop working with no reason that our bank could figure out. If you are traveling solo, keep the second set of cards separate from the ones you will mainly use. If with a partner, each should carry different cards.

Just a note that Italy is not Germany. You can easily use a credit card for hotels and meals (not always at stands or fast food cafes but at sit down restaurants). Having a no-fee credit card and using it for your big expenses is the safest thing IMO. If it’s stolen you can dispute the charges with no liability and you don’t get charged fees. Many big banks have such cards. Mine is Capital One.

In Italy and Spain I actually have run into merchants who prefer credit cards (either with a sign or if I try to use a 50euro bill to pay for a 21euro purchase they don’t want to make change and ask if I have a card)

Use your debit card only to get cash from an ATM. Credit card - no fee - or cash for purchases.

Any thoughts on how to save on these outrageous fees from US banks?

Easy. Stop doing business with them. Get a credit union account (yes, they do charge some minimal percentage of each transaction, but it's more like 1% vs 7%-10% with all fees piled on top).

I would check with your credit card and debit card companies to confirm their fees.

We have been very happy with our Citi/AAdvantage Platinum Select World Elite MasterCard. Admittedly, the name is ridiculous, but there are no foreign transaction fees and we have been impressed with their fraud prevention systems.

For an ATM withdrawal abroad, there are two potential fees. First, there is the flat fee (say, $5), then there is a percentage of the transaction (say, 3%). Many big banks such as Chase and Bank of America charge both. If you use a partner bank for Bank of America, they waive the $5, but not the 3% - that's where they get you.

You don't say where you are, but in addition to the banks and credit unions and credit cards mentioned above, I've been very pleased with TD Bank (only in certain states at this time). My Convenience Checking account costs $3 per foreign withdrawal (no additional percentage like Chase or Bank of America), and has a $100 minimum balance to avoid fees. My Performance Checking account costs nothing for foreign withdrawals, and has a $2500 minimum balance to avoid fees. No connection to TD except as a satisfied customer.

As for how to protect your information, you can't totally protect it. Most card information is hacked online. One of my credit cards was copied and used in the US, while I was in Europe; ironically, the way they caught it was that I had notified them the dates I'd be in Europe (so, use in an other state that I don't live in triggered an alert). I never used the card while in Europe (it has high fees, so it's for back-up only), so that wasn't where they got it. And a friend had his driver's license copied, then used as ID to get credit accounts at two stores. He hadn't actually shown anyone his driver's license in a long time; it just stays in his wallet. Again, who knows how they got it - but they did.

About the problem of getting a website to accept a card: I just had this yesterday. I called the card issuer, who confirmed that they never saw the transaction on their end (so it wasn't them rejecting it). She suggested I try another browser - which worked right away! So, if you keep getting rejected when you know you're putting in the information correctly, try a different browser.

You really need to check with each individual card issuer to see what their fees are. This can be found on their account information brochure (usually available online) or you can call them to get the answers.

As others have mentioned, you can avoid all the foreign usage and exchange fees if you look around for a better bank. Capital One 360 account has a fee free Debit card that is truly 100% no fees for anything. The account is online only, so you open and maintain it online. No minimum balance, no minimum deposit to open. This means you can set up the account to use just for travel if you like and no worries about getting charged fees if you only use it for travel once a year with no need to leave your existing day-to-day bank if you are happy with them in general. (I have had the 360 account for over 15 years now and never had any issues either dealing with the bank or using my Debit card in Europe.)

Same with credit cards. Most card issuers offer no fee cards now (even Bank of America has their Travel Rewards card), you just have to ask for them. Find the one that works best for you (no fee, high rewards, whatever) and enjoy the savings.

It is unfortunate your card info got stolen. But you can't necessarily blame it on any specific web site. It could have just as easily been your favorite restaurant, gas station, grocery store, or anywhere else you might have used it. Glad you caught it early before things got too far out of hand.

...and never use a credit card for everyday expenses like rooms and meals. Places in Germany that accept credit card charge so much more that you lose far more with a credit card than you save on ATM fees.

This all depends on what credit card you have. There are plenty of cards that do not charge foreign transaction fees.

One thing you'll find, at least in Italy, is that if you're going to use a credit card at a restaurant, the waiter will probably bring the credit card machine to you rather than take your card away from the table. It's a security thing.