I noticed some disturbing fine print in my Bank of America credit card statement the other day. As a frequent overseas traveler, I use my BOA credit and debit cards on the road.
It seems they’ve found a good profit center so now they’ve raised the cost of using cards abroad, as much as 3% for purchases or cash advances. Since any credit card purchase, even in the states, is subject to a fee, it gets even worse when this purchase is made abroad…up to $4 in fees for $100. This is on top of whatever the foreign bank hits you in fees just to use their ATM.
What to do? Carry a giant money belt stuffed with euros or pesos? Well one tip provided by Nikki Waller of the Wall St. Journal is to avoid airport currency exchange kiosks. Bank owned currency exchanges are nearly always cheaper.
A worse option is using wire exchanges, these can carry transfer fees of up to $20 per $100 sent.
One useful tip is to tell your local bank that you’ll be traveling with your card on an overseas trip. That way the bank won’t think someone stole your card and is using it overseas, so you don’t get turned down when you try to use it.
