Accessing Cash as an Adventure Traveler

The ATM Machine: Friend & Foe

Access cash overseas. Accessing your cash from a foreign country can be an expensive affair. You can save a fortune, beat the system, and get free access to your money if you just know how.

The ATM is your friend and foe in the game of accessing your money in a foreign country.  But there is a way to use ATM’s all over the world without it costing you a penny. I was fortunate to discover the secret before I started my multi-year journey and I hope you have too. But even if you are just going on a 2 week vacation but you travel overseas more than a few times a year keep on reading. This is for you too!

I saved $712.42 in 3 years of travel!

First things first.  Why using ATM’s is the best way to access cash overseas?  Let’s try to answer that question.  Following are many of the advantages of using ATM’s:

• ATM’s are ubiquitous around the world. The only place I did not find a single ATM was in the tiny island country of Tuvalu in the middle of the South Pacific.
• ATM’s dispense local currency.
• Almost any airport you arrive into a new country at and many land border crossings there are ATM’s available so you can get local currency the instant you exit customs.
• Because ATM’s are ubiquitous you do not have to withdrawal a lot of cash at one time.
• Your transactions appear on your bank statement so it is easy to monitor how much you are spending even when paying with cash.

Traditional problems with using just any Debit Card that may make one think twice about using it:

• ATM’s around the world charge a transaction fee to use them. Almost always these fees are exorbitant.
• Because ATM’s charge a flat rate transaction fee you tend to take the maximum amount of money allowed so as to lower your effective cost of accessing your money. But this means you carry more cash than necessary and it increases your exposure to lose in the event of robbery or just misplacing your wallet.
• ATM’s set a maximum withdrawal amount which is artificially low (sometimes as little as $100 USD per transaction) to maximize their profits at your expense. I have had experiences where I needed to make up to 8 withdrawals in a day to get the cash needed.

A word of warning! And a few other questions about foreign currency exchange answered: (italic)

• Travelex kiosks that you find at North American airports and other major international airports around the world are rip-offs! Stay clear!  They charge a huge fee and their rates suck.  One time in Auckland, NZ I went to the Travelex kiosk at the airport and wanted to exchange the $25 I had leftover.  They told me it would cost me $26!  The gall.
• You don’t need local currency before entering a foreign country. You can always use an ATM to get local currency and it is a much cheaper option. There are a few exceptions to this of course. Iran is one example.  Never you a credit card or ATM card in Iran. Because of US sanctions American banks are not allowed to do business there and just by trying to use your card the banks will block all access to your accounts.  Or so I have been told and I did not want to test it out firsthand.  Take cash if going to Iran.
• In most countries you can go to any currency exchange kiosks where they have fair rates and do not charge a transaction fee. I often changed just $10 or whatever small amount I had at the end of my stay in a country.
• Credit cards are great to use wherever you go. They are widely accepted in a majority of countries.  Many countries you can visit without ever using any hard currency. Foreign currency exchange problem solved.  The word of warning here is to get a credit card that does not charge foreign transaction fees.  You’d be surprised how many cards do charge a fee on foreign transactions. My favorite cards that do not charge a foreign transaction fee are issued by Hyatt and Alaska Airlines.
• The exchange rates used by credit cards and by debit cards is essentially the same in my experience.

The Secret to Saving Big on Accessing Cash Overseas Revealed!

Charles Schwab Debit Card: The Best Way to Access Cash Overseas

I was fortunate to discover the Charles Schwab Checking (Debit) Card before starting my journey around the world.  This Debit Card is the holy grail of Debit Cards!  It is simply this; they rebate all ATM fees you pay anywhere in the world on each monthly statement.  There are no strings attached.  There are no limits to the amount you can get rebated.

How It All Works

Both a Charles Schwab Brokerage & Checking Account Are Required

When you establish an account you first set up a brokerage account.  Along with the brokerage account you will get a separate but linked checking account.  What to know about these accounts:

• A brokerage account is required but there is no minimum balance required in the brokerage account. Despite no minimum balance being required this is where I keep the majority of my travel budget for security (more on this later).
• Although a brokerage account is required there are no requirements to invest any amount of money in financial instruments.
• Connect your current bank’s account to your new Charles Schwab account so that you can transfer funds electronically between the 2 banks.
• Transfers between your current bank (assume it is not Charles Schwab) and your new Charles Schwab account takes between 3 to 5 business days. Thus, I keep a large sum of money in my brokerage account.  Transfers between the brokerage account and checking account are instant.  Thus, you are never stuck for days without access to cash.

The Advantages of the Charles Schwab Checking Card:

• No-limit rebate of ATM fees paid, rebated monthly and automatically
• Because ATM fees are rebated I could freely withdrawal even just $10 and not worry that there was a $7.50 ATM fee. Thus, I could travel with just the right amount of cash for my current situation.  This greatly increased my safety and reduced my exposure to loss.
• You can protect yourself from excessive loss and still have quick access to more money when exposed. I would keep $5,000 in my brokerage account.  I would then keep a much lower balance, say $500 in my checking account.  The money in the brokerage account could not be accessed even if I lost my debit card or it was stolen. However, it was sitting in the same institution as my checking account. Thus, when my checking account got low I could do a simple transfer from the brokerage account to the checking account and within 60 seconds I could withdrawal the money.   I always felt secure knowing I would never lose all the money I had for my travel.
• Charles Schwab has great customer service.

For the skeptic: Proof of actual rebate amounts I received!

Now that you are sold on getting a Charles Schwab Account I am making it easy for you. Click here to get started!

Note: It is free to sign up for this account.  I do not get any compensation for this recommendation.  My enthusiastic recommendation is solely based on my amazing experience with Charles Schwab and the knowledge that it is what every international traveler needs to get access to their own money at a fair rate.