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I am living abroad and one tip I got was to get a Charles Schwab checking account as they reimburse international ATM fees.‎ I checked my account and didn't see reimbursements,‎ and so I contacted support,‎ and they said the reason I haven't gotten reimbursements is that I haven't gotten any ATM fees,‎ and that their experience is that ATM withdraws of one currency in another currency often don't have fees.‎ Does that sound right?‎ Any idea why that might be?‎

DavidRecallsMonica
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ak0000
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    Every bank its one rules. If you think you have been charged a fee due to an international transaction (often in the form a slight lower exchange rate), you should be able to demonstrate that from information provided by your bank. It's probably accesible online if you just dig a bit into those particular transaction details. – ouflak Oct 17 '20 at 10:54

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I can confirm that there are no fees charged (8 years with CS). It may be because the Visa network uses a differential in the exchange rate to make their money. It’s not CS that does the currency conversion, it’s Visa.

StillJustJames
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    The 'fees' are likely hidden in that different exchange rate. This way they can still claim to charge no fees. It's an established tactic. – ouflak Oct 17 '20 at 10:56
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From schwab.com (mirror) regarding the Charles Schwab debit card:

ATM surcharge rebates do not apply to any fees other than surcharges assessed for using an ATM to withdraw cash in local currency from your Schwab Bank account.

So you may have gotten a fee that doesn't fall into that definition.

Also, as ouflak mentioned, the conversion rate by Visa has a hidden fee, since it's ~0.3% above the mid-market rate. From nomadgate.com:

Visa is on average 0.30% more expensive than the mid-market rate, while Mastercard averages 0.21% above mid-market.

Franck Dernoncourt
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