Quote:
Originally Posted by SebC
If you have an extra 5 grand sitting around, switch to TD's premium account. They'll waive the $25/month fee for the account, and withdrawals are free from any Plus network ATM anywhere, which will also limit the amount of cash you need to have on you at any time. Handy if you're hostelling, because some places only take cash, so you don't want to have a weeks' worth of hostel money on you.
Whatever you do, don't stay with CIBC. Last I checked that had an extra "administration charge" (2.5%?) on currency exchanges that other banks don't, and that includes your CIBC VISA. They rip you off when you're travelling.
|
I used my CIBC VISA and my RBC VISA all the time when I was in Europe and neither of them charged me any "administration charge". It might be specific to the type of card you get. The exchange rates I got with them were pretty good as well. Far better than any of the exchange rates I would get from currency exchange booths.
As for cash I used my debit card to take out cash from any machine that had PLUS whenever I needed too, usually 200-250 euro's at a time. It was little enough so that if it got stolen I wouldn't be totally screwed but enough cash that I only had to take it out once a week at the most. I tried to use my credit card as much as possible. It was a $5 charge but if you only do it 4 times a month its pretty much equal to the TD premium account mentioned above.