This post goes out to the $100 dollars I lost in ATM fees on my recent trip to Japan.
Apparently the Japanese don’t accept credit cards as universally as you would think, so I ended up having to withdraw cash countless times which accrued international ATM withdrawal fees in addition to international exchange rate fees. Once I got home I thought to myself there has to be a better solution and started to research if some type of legitimate banking product existed… and it did!
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="2983.0"]
THE FEE FREE CHARLES SCHWAB DEBIT CARD [/caption] The Charles Schwab High Yield Checking Account
Charles Schwab, which is primarily known for their investment products, offers a free checking product (along with a debit card) that has relatively amazing benefits at absolutely no cost to you.
Pros
- No minimum to open your account
- No monthly minimum balance required
- Charles Schwab will not charge you an ATM fee for withdrawing at any ATM (including those around the world!)
- You get paid back at the end of each month for fees that the ATM owner charges you (You read that right... even if you get charged a $5.99 fee at a place like a casino, you'll get paid back!)
Cons
- The checking account automatically comes with a brokerage account (that you don’t have to fund); however you’ll get a bunch of follow up calls from Schwab trying to convince you to switch over to their investment products. I wouldn’t suggest it, with myself being loyal to Betterment and Vanguard, but in the end it’s just pretty annoying to have to field the calls.
- Adding an authorized user to an account required me to print out a bunch of forms and either mail them in or bring them into to a physical Schwab branch. Nothing but a small inconvenience but I would have loved to have been able to do this online.
You can apply for an account here. (Not an affiliate link)
Let’s Hope It Lasts
This isn’t the first time a product like this existed. Back in the day I had a TD Bank card that has the exact same benefits, but they soon started to add minimum balance requirements and monthly fee requirements. Hopefully that won't happen this time around!
Other Bank ATM Fees for Comparison
Here’s a small list of some of the biggest American banks and their ATM fees. Note that some fees are not charged for premium customers or those that maintain a high balance. Charles Schwab doesn’t require any type of minimum.
The biggest banks (including Chase, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo) all roughly charge the following fees:
- $2.50 surcharge by your bank for a withdrawel from a bank that’s not in your network
- $5 dollar international withdrawel fee + 3% Transaction fee
- Plus any amount charged by the ATM owner
How I Use It Today
The Charles Schwab debit card has replaced my primary banking debit card altogether. Whether it's a domestic withdrawal or an international one, I can count on never having to go out of my way to find a fee free ATM as Schwab will cover all fees associated with the transaction and not charge me any fees on their side.
Fingers crossed that they won’t change their policy (or require funding of an investment account) any time soon!
The Runner Up
I think it's worth mentioning that I briefly considered CapitalOne 360 (different from the Capital One brick and mortar bank. CapitalOne 360 doesn't charge fees IF you seek out an ATM in their network. Something that I would never want to think about when I need something fast or in a foreign country. CapitalOne 360 does offer a higher interest rate, but with today’s rates of close to 0%, it doesn’t stick out as a reason to choose them over Charles Schwab.
Other Low Cost Options
Other benefit rich low cost options exist with Fidelity and E-Trade, but don’t win out on any level when compared to Charles Schwab.
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