Don't Travel Without This Debit Card
The best dive destinations do not have great card infrastructure. Unfortunately, most credit cards do not easily let you do cash withdrawals and even if they do, there will definitely be high interest and fees associated with it.
But did you know that there's a checking account / debit card that gives you 0 exchange rate fees and ALSO free withdrawals in any ATM in the world?
Introducing the Charles Schwab Checking Account
Yup, I couldn't believe it when I first heard about it either. I believe the original purpose of this product was to have a easy to use checking account that was tied with an individual brokerage account. But you don't really have to use any of the brokerage features.
investment account
I've personally used the brokerage since it's actually quite nice, if a bit antiquated compared to app based brokerages, but it's a very solid platform for trading. Their mobile app is good enough and allows you to place trades on the go and check your balance while abroad
- There's also no minimum deposit.
- The customer support is always amazing
- They can ship replacement cards internationally if you lose your card
- Free withdrawals anywhere in the world
No ATM fees means no more having to search around completely unknown banks to see what their fees are. When you arrive at the airport, just pick any available ATM. A lot of times there's one super crowded bank with lower fees and one empty one with higher fees. I can't tell you the number of times I've been able to just withdraw, worry free and skip the crowds.
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How Does it Work?
Schwab will keep track of the fees that you accumulate and then at the end of every month it will give you a deposit automatically back into your account! They are able to do this if the atms are properly transmitting the required information back to your bank.
I just did the math and apparently I've gotten back over $250 in ATM fees in just the last 2 years!
Caveats
I have sometimes found that some ATMs don't communicate the fees correctly. I brought it up with Schwab's customer support once and they wanted to know more info and to see if I got the receipts which unfortuantely I didn't keep. The withdrawals were in foreign currency so it wasn't easy to deduce what the correct charges would've been.
If you really want to be 100% sure, you can take pictures of your receipts and compare them later on, although I've never bothered since the majority of the time it works fine. And Schwab has literaly given me so much over the years that a few bucks here or there is no big deal.
I've found that for the most part, especially with larger, multinational banks like HSBC, Santander, etc then there is never an issue. If you really want to avoid fees, then best stay away from that shady ATM in the back of a liquor store.
