|
Post by SmokinJayz on Mar 21, 2006 16:43:35 GMT -5
Heyas,
I've emailed my bank in terms of what they're going to charge me for taking out money from European ATM's. They said it would be $3 CAD, for each transaction.
I was just wondering if this is a "normal" rate for overseas ATM charges or if it is exhorbitantly high?
Thanks!
|
|
|
Post by WillTravel on Mar 21, 2006 17:08:11 GMT -5
It's a pretty standard rate. What bank are you using? I'm using TD Canada Trust, and that's what I have to pay. Say I withdraw 200 Euros. I'll have to pay about 1% over the interbank rate (see www.xe.com for that) and I'll also have to pay this $3 CAD fee. So it works out to about a 2% penalty in total.
|
|
|
Post by SmokinJayz on Mar 21, 2006 20:48:22 GMT -5
It's Bank of Montreal.
Yea, I figured it wouldn't be too bad as long as I took out decent sums of Euros at a time.
So, as long as that's standard I won't worry about changing banks, haha.
|
|
|
Post by Jules80 on Mar 21, 2006 23:39:30 GMT -5
scotia bank has agreements with several overseas banks so you get no service charges. so that worked very well for me .
jules
|
|
|
Post by WillTravel on Mar 22, 2006 3:16:16 GMT -5
The unfortunate thing, though, if I understand the Scotia Bank site correctly, is that they charge an exchange rate of 2.5% over the interbank rate, so in most cases you'd end up worse than with the TD rates and fee combo above.
|
|
mish
Junior Travel Member
Posts: 6
|
Post by mish on Mar 22, 2006 10:02:29 GMT -5
Kinda a little off topic, but has to do with ATM's. I was wondering with the ATM machines over seas, do they have a language selection on the first screen as they do in Canada? Or should I learn the words to Chequing, Withdrawl, etc for taking out money while I am over there. I know I've accidently hit french here, but because I know where the buttons are, I can still manage to get my money out of the correct account.
Thanks for the help.
Mish
|
|
|
Post by Kim on Mar 22, 2006 10:22:52 GMT -5
We never had any problem, they usually list multiple languages so it's really easy.
|
|
mish
Junior Travel Member
Posts: 6
|
Post by mish on Mar 22, 2006 11:40:19 GMT -5
Thanks Kim,
Sometimes things come to you as an afterthought, and then you realize it may be important once you are over there.
Mish
|
|
|
Post by WillTravel on Mar 22, 2006 12:00:00 GMT -5
Most do use English, but I did manage to find one only in Italian (and less than three blocks from the Vatican!). I still managed to get money out of it, though.
|
|
|
Post by Jules80 on Mar 22, 2006 18:47:41 GMT -5
i had a hard time finding one in english in sienna... found one eventually tho!
jules
|
|
diana
Full Travel Member
Posts: 16
|
Post by diana on Mar 27, 2006 15:20:09 GMT -5
Actually I justed talked TD Canada Trust and starting on May 1st, the fee for withdrawl from an ATM machine outside of Canada will cost $5 from the TD side and $5 from the international bank side. Therefore, a single withdrawal will cost $10 Cdn!! So does anyone know of the rates other Canadian bank charages?
|
|
|
Post by WillTravel on Mar 27, 2006 15:31:47 GMT -5
Thanks Diana! Yikes. Glad I know that now. I was told a year or two ago that if I switched to a slightly different preferred account (we have lots of accounts with them, so hopefully we are valued customers), I could have such withdrawals for free with my TD card, so I'm going to see if that's still available.
As for a different bank, look at the options Jules mentioned and the Bank of Montreal. I wonder if President's Choice would be reasonable.
|
|
diana
Full Travel Member
Posts: 16
|
Post by diana on Mar 27, 2006 16:01:15 GMT -5
Actually I asked TD if there are a different kind of prefered account I can switch to that will waive the fee for me but she told me there isn't. But I'm going to ask again and see since I find different people at different branch offers different information.
I was hoping my staff account at TD would have waived my fees for me...but no such luck.
Does anyone know how are the exchange rates for travellers cheques?
|
|
|
Post by Jules80 on Mar 27, 2006 19:42:12 GMT -5
travellers cheques are not usually a good way to go, cause there are exchange rates that are crappy plus they usually charge a fee to cash them. its also harder and harder to find places that will even cash them. your best bet is a mix of atm and credit cards which get excellent rates as well.
Jules
|
|
rchua
Senior Travel Member
travel is the spice of life
Posts: 148
|
Post by rchua on Apr 9, 2006 7:40:39 GMT -5
should i buy my euro here in the USA or would it be better over in europe?
|
|