How can you avoid costly foreign banking, transaction, and ATM fees when travelling?

The whole point of traveling is to relax and enjoy the sights. However, this can be quite difficult if you keep asking yourself how much money have you lost with foreign transaction charges and ATM fees. This article is here to teach you how to handle these situations, and avoid unwanted stress.

One option is to carry the cash with you. In this way, you won’t have to worry about the foreign bank charges, and it would make it easier for you to stick to a certain budget. However, this is not an ideal solution, as you will always have to carry all that cash around, and it puts you in a position to get robbed. If you are brave enough, this could be the solution. If not, read these tips below.

What Are My Best Options?

In case you are a US citizen, select Charles Schwab Bank, and you won’t have any problems what so ever. Because they offer some great deals, they gained a loyal customer base, and you'll be able to find a lot of positive reviews online. And what are the advantages? Well, unlike many others, they offer reimbursement of any ATM and foreign exchange rate charges at the end of each month. The best account for you would be the investment account, which doesn’t have any fees. It can be verified with your other accounts, and that makes money transfer easy.

If you live in the United Kingdom, and you consider yourself a world traveler, you might want to consider Halifax Clarity. Even though you pay annual interest on cash withdrawals, which stands around 13%, the positives outweigh the negatives. As any experienced traveler knows, exchange rates are extremely important, and Halifax offers a Mastercard rate, which is always among the very best. If it only had those reward points for spending, that would be awesome. Unfortunately, those are still wishful dreams for now.

Australian banks can be brutal when it comes to withdrawal fees, but Citibank stands out from the competition. Advantages are plenty to be found, including accounts in different currencies and free international money transfer. Not everything is perfect, as the bank won’t reimburse fees coming from foreign ATM charges. The internet banking interface isn’t quite up to the standard, but then again, that is the case with a lot of Australian banks. It wouldn't be bad if it had SMS or email notifications, but I guess that is something for the future.

General Tips And Tricks

Avoid ATMs that can be found in convenient locations. By that we mean airports, hotels or marketplaces. It might sound like a weird tip, but hear us out. They are conveniently located, but that has to be payed, which ultimately means that if you want your money immediately, be prepared to pay some insane ATM fees, and to exchange your money at completely crazy conversion rates.

Don’t exchange money at airports. When you see a bureau at an airport, turn around and walk slowly away from it, without making any sudden moves. We are just joking of course, but in all seriousness, don’t exchange your money here. Airport bureaus never give good exchange rates, and that is understandable. They are so low in the food chain that they don’t have any other option.

Choose a local currency when paying with your credit card. It might seem like a reasonable option to pay with your currency no matter where you are. Be warned, if you do that, you will lose your money faster than you can say ATM. Your bank will always give you a better exchange rate, so stick with that.

To Sum It Up

There are a couple of ways in which you can avoid paying those extra fees. We have named a few banks that offer best deals for travelers, so use that information in your quest to save money. If that is not an option, bring some cash, possibly in the currency of the country you’re visiting, avoid conveniently placed ATMs, don’t exchange money at the airports, and you’ll be good to go.