BoA at Barclay's ATM in London

I haven't used a Barclays ATM recently. However, I was speaking to my BofA banker just last week, and he said to be sure to use Barclays ATMs in London in order to avoid the $5 "other bank" fee. There is still a 1% fee for withdrawals, but you'll be avoiding the flat, per-transaction fee. You can also check this on BofA's website, though it may take some digging.

Yes, your B of A card will work fine at any ATM, but you will get the best rate and lowest fees from there. I used my B of A Debit and Travel Credit card at Barclay's just six weeks ago, always works fine. Just tell the bank you are going, and you may want to ask for a withdrawal limit increase.

Thanks. I did finally find it on the website, and it looks like 1% for ATM withdrawals and 3% for purchases. Looks like we will use Barclay's to get cash.

We switched to Capitol One years ago for travel outside the US. A few years ago, in Paris, BofA denied us withdrawal(and we have had BofA account for 25 yrs & notified them we were going to be in Europe) and luckily we had CO as well.

The thing to remember is that your card issuer determines ALL of your fees. The bank owned ATMs in Europe and that includes England do not charge for using their ATMs. You will always get within 1% of the interbank exchange rate because all credit and debit cards use networks. Cirrus for Visa for example. A network does not charge a bank one rate and another bank another rate. It is all the same.

Since Barclay's is a partner of BofA, its not just in London or England that you will avoid the $5 fee. We've used the ATM at a Barclay's in Madrid, for example, with the same result.

One of the main reasons we switched to BofA was the world wide acceptance of our ATM card. The fees at nonpartner banks are minimal but the bottom line is we have used it in faraway places in small towns and large cities without a hitch across Asia, Africa, and Europe. The only problem we've had was at our hometown bank ATM eating our card. :-(

I've used my BoA card many times in many locations in the UK with no problems. It's a bit less expensive if you use a Barclay's machine. Be sure to call BoA and tell them when and where you will be using the card out of the country, lest their systems flag the first UK transactions as fraud and disable your account. Don't talk to your local bank to get this done. Just call the 800-number on the card. They should also be able to answer your questions about rates, Barclay's, etc. I tend to use a Capitol One card for hotels, tickets, rental cars, and other big expenditures, and grab some spending cash every few days with the BoA card.

Thanks, J.C., that's my plan.