No foreign fee, reimburse atm fee cards besides Schwab?

[ebeb]

Bank of America may be the worst, not only do they not reimburse international ATM fees, they charge $5 fee to just check your account balance abroad

[seawolf21]

We have both Schwab and Fidelity accounts, primarily for the no foreign transactions fees on ATM withdrawals and refunding of ATM fees worldwide.

While Fidelity does charge 1% on foreign purchases (not ATM withdrawals), I don't use our debit cards for purchases, just for getting cash. We usually take both the Fidelity and Schwab debit cards with us when traveling just so that if something happens with one card (or you hit your max ATM withdrawal limit for the day and need more), we have another option.

The one drawback to Schwab's account is they put a 4-day hold on incoming ACH transfers, so if you move money into your account just to use on vacation, you need to plan at least 4 business days in advance. Fidelity does not put a hold on incoming ACH transfers.

Regardless of what debit card you use for ATM withdrawals, I'd highly recommend holding onto the ATM receipts until the ATM fees are reimbursed. We recently had an international trip where there were 2 ATM withdrawals that didn't have fees reimbursed. When I called Schwab, they said that the withdrawal transactions did not have the fees separated from the withdrawals, so they asked if I still had the receipts, which unfortunately I did not, so we lost out on about $10 in fees

Fido puts hold on incoming ACH from another financial institution (incoming as in initiated by Fido as a pull). All banks do.

Fido will let you buy securities instantly but you will not be able to withdraw the incoming amount until the funds availability period has past. So if you have $1 million in securities and $300 in cash and then have Fido transfer in $200 from another bank, you can buy $500 securities but you can only withdraw $300 as the $200 will be not available for withdrawal. I’m assuming you do not have margin setup.

If the ACH is pushed to Fido/Schwab both firms and most if not all financial institutions will make it available immediately.

[barreg]

Fido puts hold on incoming ACH from another financial institution (incoming as in initiated by Fido as a pull). All banks do.

Fido will let you buy securities instantly but you will not be able to withdraw the incoming amount until the funds availability period has past. So if you have $1 million in securities and $300 in cash and then have Fido transfer in $200 from another bank, you can buy $500 securities but you can only withdraw $300 as the $200 will be not available for withdrawal. I’m assuming you do not have margin setup.

If the ACH is pushed to Fido/Schwab both firms and most if not all financial institutions will make it available immediately.

My experience has been that Schwab puts a 4 day hold on all incoming ACH transfers, regardless of where they were initiated. That's not the case at Fido (or most banks)

[seawolf21]

Fido puts hold on incoming ACH from another financial institution (incoming as in initiated by Fido as a pull). All banks do.

Fido will let you buy securities instantly but you will not be able to withdraw the incoming amount until the funds availability period has past. So if you have $1 million in securities and $300 in cash and then have Fido transfer in $200 from another bank, you can buy $500 securities but you can only withdraw $300 as the $200 will be not available for withdrawal. I’m assuming you do not have margin setup.

If the ACH is pushed to Fido/Schwab both firms and most if not all financial institutions will make it available immediately.

My experience has been that Schwab puts a 4 day hold on all incoming ACH transfers, regardless of where they were initiated. That's not the case at Fido (or most banks)

Maybe specific with your account? When I do make an overseas trip, I push extra funds from checking to Schwab via ACH and it's been available for withdrawal 1 day or 2 afterwards. The Schwab agreement mentions Free Credit Balance and deposits (other than checks) should be available one business day after Schwab receives it.