Overseas ATM charges

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jpolden
jpolden Posts: 2 Newbie
in Overseas holidays & travel planning
For me the holy grail is to find a credit or debit card I can put into an ATM abroad and receive the local currency at spot rate without charges.
I thought I had found this (thanks to MSE) in the Barclaycard Platinum Credit card and recently road tested it in Chile.
While it worked, all the ATMs I tried added on a charge of 2-3%. Querying this with Barclaycard, they claimed it was nothing to do with them.
I'm soon going to the USA. Does anyone know of any data on local ATM charges or do I have to rock up at each ATM to find out whether they will charge me for the use of this card?
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  • gettingtheresometime
    gettingtheresometime Posts: 6,911 Forumite
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    I think from memory that US ATMs charge regardless of what card is used.


    Is there any reason why you prefer cash over using the card for purchases etc? Obviously its a good idea to have access to some cash but I would have thought using the card was preferably in most instances.
  • northwest1965
    northwest1965 Posts: 2,058 Forumite
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    edited 11 December 2018 at 6:41PM
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    Halifax Clarity or Caxton Card (some banks charge, some don't) We have found if you go in the bank and do a withdrawal over the counter with Caxton, they don't charge
    Loved our trip to the West Coast USA. Death Valley is the place to go!
  • pramsay13
    pramsay13 Posts: 1,952 Forumite
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    There are a few traditional credit cards such as Halifax Clarity, and a few debit cards such as Starling that won't charge you any fees when you take out money or use them abroad.
    That said some banks will charge everyone a fee to use their ATMs so you will just have to find a bank that doesn't charge, although that might not be possible.
  • cubegame
    cubegame Posts: 2,042 Forumite
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    South America is a particularly bad place for charges. Argentina is even worse than Chile and charges about 10%.
  • Neil49
    Neil49 Posts: 3,081 Forumite
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    Most banks that I have recently used in the USA have charged a fee, typically $2 to $3 per transaction. This is a fee imposed by them and there is nothing that UK based card providers can do about it.

    All you can do to minimise it is to get the right cards for overseas use and use them for all your purchases rather than cash withdrawals.
  • benjus
    benjus Posts: 5,433 Forumite
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    There's not really much you can do if all the ATMs in a country charge for withdrawals. As mentioned earlier, South America is not the best place to look for free ATM withdrawals, although it does vary from country to country. Most of Europe is fine, although you still need to avoid certain ATM networks.

    As for the USA, I think there are a few banks that don't charge, but they are not the big ones and don't operate throughout the whole country. TD Bank was one of them I believe, although I don't know if it's still free.

    At least in the USA you don't need cash as much as in many other countries.
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  • Gloomendoom
    Gloomendoom Posts: 16,550 Forumite
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    I seem to remember that Bank of America ATMs were free to use with Barclays cards.

    May be worth checking.
  • Archergirl
    Archergirl Posts: 1,767 Forumite
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    Gesa Bank do not charge but there are not many of them. Do you have a fee free credit card? I always just use my Nationwide credit card to pay for everything and pay it off when I get home. You won't need much cash.
  • izzitme
    izzitme Posts: 410 Forumite
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    Not sure where in the USA you are travelling, or whether they cover the whole country, but WAWA gas stations offer free ATM withdrawals.
    Going down the Oteley Road to see the Shrewsbury aces! :T
  • londoninvestor
    londoninvestor Posts: 1,350 Forumite
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    Gloomendoom wrote: »
    I seem to remember that Bank of America ATMs were free to use with Barclays cards.

    May be worth checking.

    Santander ATMs are free to use with Santander cards, and there are a few of them at least in New York. (Don't know about the rest of the US.)

    Obviously you also want a Santander card which doesn't charge a spread on the FX rate. The Zero Credit Card does the job for this, but not all Santander cards are free of a spread.
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