Credit Cards and Debit Cards

Unfortunately BP having tried to find a similar bank here in Australia for the last 12 months or so - I can say that nothing even close exists. I do have a Nationwide account but wanted an Australian account with the same benefits to save transfer fees from Aus - UK when paying off my Nationwide CC or putting funds into my flexaccount. No luck.

ALL Australian accounts charge for using ATM's abroad. This includes international banks like HSBC and Citibank - using an HSBC ATM in Hong Kong still incurs a charge. Totally crap - but you also have to remember that banks in Australia still charge fees to have an account which is almost unheard of in the UK nowadays.

Sorry for the total lack of help with your post.

Im in the US and im about to leave for my 2 year RTW in 3 weeks, and i just switched banks to City Bank. THey seem to be the best for US banks. You can use any other there branches around the world to get money out with no charge and they have a pretty good rewards program. Every dollar spent is 1 point. Good Luck

i would add that for US travellers, citibank cards are fine, except they will charge a 3% (or is it 2%??) fee for foreign transactions, many other bank cards do as well. MBNA cards do not charge this fee, and are also universally accepted.

cheers.

In the US, sometimes credit unions can be a good deal. My husband and I recently completed a RTW and we had an interest-bearing checking account with a VISA check card that doesn't charge anything for ATM withdrawals. We also got free travelers checks before we left. We did have to have a minimum balance in the account.

Having worked at the aforementioned credit union, I know that they didn't even take international ATM withdrawals into consideration when they created this account. In fact, I belong to another credit union and they only charge 75 cents per withdrawal from any ATM, domestic or foreign. Small, local banks and credit unions might be a good option for this kind of thing since 99% of their business is local - they don't worry too much about the international fees.

Oops, a 3% charge on foreign transactions is definitely not a good deal. Often banks use this kind of fee to snare the unaware. Citibank will tell you that you can withdraw from any Citibank in the world, fee free. That is true. However there are no Citibank branches in other than SOME major cities so if you go anywhere other than those major cities you pay a fee per transaction. If you withdraw $100 that would be a $3 fee. You would be better off with a bank that has a fixed fee per transaction and withdrawing the maximum you are allowed to withdraw at one time. Typically, you can withdraw $300-500 per day. So if you withdrew $300 at 3% that would be a $9 fee as opposed to some other bank with a fixed fee of say $2 per withdrawal.

On the US east coast, a poster on another branch has suggested Citizens Bank for fee free ATM withdrawals internationally. So far they are sounding like the best bet for the USA.

In Canada, Scotiabank have a deal where you can use Barclays in the UK and BNP Paribas in France without charge. I'm not sure about other countries but perhaps worth a check to see what other deals they have.

Suncorp Metway used to be the best here in Aus, but unfortunately they changed their conditions recently.

It used to be a $2.50 monthly card fee and a 2.5% currency conversion fee with no overseas ATM charge.

I still get the almost the same deal but new applications get the new conditions.

A 2.5% conversion fee, ouch. Suppose during the course of a year long trip you exchange $20,000. The fees would amount to $530 !!! That hurts. And you say that is the old fee structure chupamipinga. I don't want to know what the new fees are.

It sure sounds like there is scope for an International banking service to cater to the travellers market.

I have posted this on 3 branches and so far no one has come up with a bank anywhere, other than Nationwide in the UK, that provides true fee free use for international travel.

I've just got myself a Nationwide flex in anticipation of my future trip. In practice is it COMPLETELY fee free ? Are there any conversion fees?, Does the ATM provider usally charge ? (big banks, not these ATM's you get on the motorways in the UK which charge you £2 to withdraw any cash !). I just wondered if there was any catch ?