What is the best US bank card for international travel?

[Daddee]

living here now, still accessing my funds by transferring them from my main american bank to my schwab acct... going to get acct with Bangkok Bank eventually, apparently there are ways for me to do so...

 

but the Schwab acct is great.

[Captain Courageous]

Monger Card ?

[Daddee]

yep, don't leave home without it!

[casinoclub]

For getting money from US to Thailand, I haven't seen anything better then the Schwab checking account.

[SemperFiGuy]

Wow.... my firsts trip is coming up in a few days I didn't think of this.  Most US cards don't yet have microchip technology, including penfed.  Is the microchip an absolute must for ATM cash withdrawal in LOS?  Anyone had any problems getting cash with the  mag strip cards.

I have an Bank of America Debit Card (without chip).  When I was in Pattaya last October, I had no trouble using it to withdraw cash from my account from ATMs.

[Daddee]

I have an Bank of America Debit Card (without chip).  When I was in Pattaya last October, I had no trouble using it to withdraw cash from my account from ATMs.

and if it like my wells fargo account, you are not only paying the ATM fee of 180 baht, but another fee from your bank for international, and another one for atm not from BofA, or is BofA better?

[Thomas1501]

I'm a big fan of the Schwab debit card with its refunding of ATM fees.  This card is great and their brokerage services are noteworthy as well.  I have called their customer service (only while stateside) and have been impressed every time; always Americans, very knowledgeable and helpful; no outsourcing here, what a pleasant surprise.

 

Where to get local currency is written about a lot on here and to some degree depends on where you are.  The street side kiosk folks that I tried would only deal with cash, no travelers’ checks.  The condo management people suggested Kasikornbank (the green one) for the travelers’ checks and for cash.  I was staying near Central Festival and there’s a Kasikornbank there.  I had made a couple of color copies of my passport for ID, but had to have the actual passport when changing travelers’ checks.  When changing cash, the color copy was okay.  The limit was changing $1,000 in travelers’ checks at one time.  Fee was 306 Baht.  I used the bank’s ATM with my Schwab debit card.  The limit was 20,000 Baht and the fee showing on the receipt was 180 Baht; which was refunded at the end of the month.  The exchange rates I got on 5/10/15 when I did all 3 methods were 32.9240 on the travelers’ checks, 33.05 on the cash and 33.4330 on the Schwab debit card.

[wisbowmen]

 

I'm a big fan of the Schwab debit card with its refunding of ATM fees.  This card is great and their brokerage services are noteworthy as well.  I have called their customer service (only while stateside) and have been impressed every time; always Americans, very knowledgeable and helpful; no outsourcing here, what a pleasant surprise.

 

Where to get local currency is written about a lot on here and to some degree depends on where you are.  The street side kiosk folks that I tried would only deal with cash, no travelers’ checks.  The condo management people suggested Kasikornbank (the green one) for the travelers’ checks and for cash.  I was staying near Central Festival and there’s a Kasikornbank there.  I had made a couple of color copies of my passport for ID, but had to have the actual passport when changing travelers’ checks.  When changing cash, the color copy was okay.  The limit was changing $1,000 in travelers’ checks at one time.  Fee was 306 Baht.  I used the bank’s ATM with my Schwab debit card.  The limit was 20,000 Baht and the fee showing on the receipt was 180 Baht; which was refunded at the end of the month.  The exchange rates I got on 5/10/15 when I did all 3 methods were 32.9240 on the travelers’ checks, 33.05 on the cash and 33.4330 on the Schwab debit card.

 

 

 

Thanks for this post. I am going to open a Schwab checking account  in the morning just for Thailand. 

[dickslapp]

Ha!  I just opened a Schwab account for this purpose after seeing it was rated extremely well by consumer reports and that they did not hit people up for the 3% visa surcharge. 

 

Now, after seeing your comments, I am glad to see someone is using it successfully in Thailand and that the rates are very good. 

 

I was using a credit union prior to this for my travels.  I have two accounts there.  One account has an ATM card has a non-visa branded card, so no 3% surcharge.  I will need to compare conversion rates. 

[casinoclub]

Ha!  I just opened a Schwab account for this purpose after seeing it was rated extremely well by consumer reports and that they did not hit people up for the 3% visa surcharge. 

 

Now, after seeing your comments, I am glad to see someone is using it successfully in Thailand and that the rates are very good. 

 

I was using a credit union prior to this for my travels.  I have two accounts there.  One account has an ATM card has a non-visa branded card, so no 3% surcharge.  I will need to compare conversion rates. 

 

Just used it about an hour ago.

 

TT exchange rate is 35.56

Schwab exchange rate is 35.63

[philkrenshaw]

On the advice in a different thread here on PA, I got a Schwab account/card before my last trip. It worked as advertised. I used it at one of the banks in Central Festival just in case I had a problem. It turned out, since it was a debit card it would not work if I pressed the "Credit card" option, nor did I have an account at the bank. But when I asked inside they showed me how to simply select "Quick Cash" to bypass the other menu and it worked great.