recomendation for U.S Bank and a rant

[mvweebles]

I have Wise for about 5 years and have often made USD to USD transfers to both US based accounts and MXN accounts held in USD (many MXN businesses prefer USD). Ive also made transfers to UK and EU countries, but mostly MXN. That said, I do recall not being able to make some sort of USD transaction a couple years ago, but for the life of me, can't recall where or why.

I too bank with Schwab and have for years. I do have an investment portfolio with them but can offer no guidance on whether they require one before allowing the other. They waive ATM fees including international ATM which was thr original draw, though I see Chase now has similar, at least for whatever type of account I hold with Chase. I can tell you that disputing a credit card charge with Schwab is futile so I still recommend AmEx if you need any buyer protection. Their car rental insurance was tops when I last compared a couple years ago when I was renting cars almost weekly in both US (business) and Mexico (pleasure).

Finally, I had never heard of the Schwab/BoA connection so I googled. Appears BoA purchased Schwab in 1983 but Schwab purchased themselves back in 1987. In 2007, Schwab sold a small division to BoA. I could find no other connection. Scwab does have affiliates for some services such as actual credit card (vs Visa branded ATM) which may be a concern since you have zero clout with the affiliate CC company.

All I can tell you is Wise has thus far worked well for me. I probably have over 50 transactions with them to a couple dozen recipients in 4 or 5 different countries. ForEx is decent, fees are reasonable. Beats the heck out of bank wire transfers even when the transfer has no fees (ForEx from banks is notoriously lousy).

Good luck

Peter

PS - I see OP asked about exchange rate on Schwab. I have found their ForEx rates go be pretty decent - very close to "spot market" rates. I have only personally checked MXN (pesos), GBP, snd EUR. The exchange rates via ATM has been more favorable than going to a bank.

BTW- when traveling abroad, I use ATM/cash vs CC almost exclusively due to favorable exchange rate and due to risk of CC theft (unfortunately, fairly common in Mexico).

[Dogscout]

Yes I have my investment accounts with schwab and its well over 7 figures. They like me and I like them. My FA is independent but uses schwab for transactions and I like the features of the schwab web site for research and other planning.

Regarding transaction fees. ATM fees are reimbursed. International outgoing wire is $15.00. My Schwab visa transaction to wise is no fee, just a debit transaction. Exchange rates at ATM are equal to the daily market. No surprises from Schwab, but you must pay close attention to the ATM so they (local bank) do not make the currency exchange.

[flightlead404]

Originally Posted by wholybee

I suggest using a credit union, it is generally a much better experience. I used my ATM card for cash and purchases in USVI with no fees. All over the world, in fact.

For transfers or sending/receiving money from a 3rd party, I use wise.

I don't have any issues with BofA. I send/receive wires back and forth from various Asian countries and the UK, and have used my ATM in at least 40 countries without issue or fees.

Haven't tried Panama, but certainly with Belize.

[George_SD]

Like others said - stay away from BofA - worst bank ever.

The reason your accounts get locked is not because Chase is bad bank, but because international transfers like that are often a sign of fraud.

Try an online bank like Ally. I also did hear good things about Wise for money movement.

You could also try to use a credit card with no international fees (Citi or similar)

[s/v Jedi]

I recently did a rather large wire transfer to China for our lithium cells and had no problems… but we made an appointment at the bank to do this in person rather than on-line. This was with BoA, we never had much trouble with them but never tried fixing things over the phone.

In case anyone has dual residency (like we have), you can do a trick with a large investment bank that does business in both countries. We use InterActive Brokers for this. You can link bank accounts from both countries to that same investment account and transfer money that way internationally without any costs. Also, currency conversion you can do yourself as the best rates possible (you trade it yourself on the market).
I don’t think they like me doing it, but not much they can do about it

[goboatingnow]

What exactly is a “ wire “ transfer is this now the swift system.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

What exactly is a “ wire “ transfer is this now the swift system.

Swift, Sepa etc. It is becoming more complicated as new systems arrive.

[Bullshooter]

I opened a Schwab Investment Account solely to get the credit card for accessing funds while travelling internationally. I have not made any investments and just deposited $1500 to link to the credit card account, so it seems that even though it is called an investment account there is no minimum. I leave about $400 in it just so it doesn't close on me and I have it ready for my next vacation.


DON'T TELL ANYONE!!!

[I guess in fairness I should relate a problem I had in Spain with the card. Somehow when I went to an ATM after numerous withdrawals, it said I was out of funds. I was confused because of the exchange rate, but was pretty sure I still had several hundred dollars in the account.

Later after I got the problem sorted I contacted Schwab to find out what had happened. They said that the money in my investment account was somehow not appropriately transferred to the credit card account as it should have been, but were puzzled and could not answer why this happened.]

[rodgoult]

I used a credit union and they were OK. Today I would look very closely at some of the on-line only banks. For international activity, they seem like the most likely to be helpful. Problem I have with all US based banks and CCs is that they want to be told each and every time you are going to be going outside of the USA whereas my UK bank can be told one time that I am frequently in (for example) the USA and once is enough!
Just a thought. Generally, in my experience the US banking system is years behind the Europeans in dealing with foreign travel, currency exchange and even, as you say in your post, 'out of State' travel. And living in the NE, out of state is petty often!!

[mvweebles]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

In case anyone has dual residency (like we have), you can do a trick with a large investment bank that does business in both countries. We use InterActive Brokers for this. You can link bank accounts from both countries to that same investment account and transfer money that way internationally without any costs. :

I tried doing something similar with HSBC a couple years ago to create a single 'master account' accessible in both US and Mexico. Turns out HSBC is still feeling the fall-out from lax controls that facilitated money-laundering activities and are now seriously monitored and flagged. I was unable to run their gauntlets of checks and eventually gave up trying. My takeaway was their barriers are very effective at keeping normal, law-abiding customers at bay. I doubt it's much of a barrier for well-heeled criminals with a phalanx of accountants and lawyers.

Peter

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

Swift, Sepa etc. It is becoming more complicated as new systems arrive.

It’s unlikely to be SEPA !!!

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by mvweebles

I tried doing something similar with HSBC a couple years ago to create a single 'master account' accessible in both US and Mexico. Turns out HSBC is still feeling the fall-out from lax controls that facilitated money-laundering activities and are now seriously monitored and flagged. I was unable to run their gauntlets of checks and eventually gave up trying. My takeaway was their barriers are very effective at keeping normal, law-abiding customers at bay. I doubt it's much of a barrier for well-heeled criminals with a phalanx of accountants and lawyers.

Peter

Yes they make you jump through many hoops. But after we bought some property in Florida it turned out to be as easy as just giving the info they required and I was good to go. We even enjoy the tax treaty between the US and Holland, meaning the US Federal Government withhold tax on dividends we get with (a different) US based investment account but they do the Dutch rate which is lower than the Us rate (which sounds crazy as tax is normally higher in Holland) and we can simply deduct those withhold taxes from our tax payable in Holland.
Key is that you really need to have residency in both countries tomake it through the checks and controls.

[celle2000]

I use both Citi and Schwab. Both have a decent online portal, can provide checks (still sometimes handy), handle international wire transfers, and provide debit and/or credit cards which you can use at ATMs . I would also set up an account with PayPal to use the cards with. Because of security and algorithms that think they understand your spending patterns - all banks can suddenly stop a transaction and it will take a phone call to clear it up - or you can advise Citi Credit card in advance of your travel and they will be less likely to flag a sudden expense in the Bahamas etc. Depending on where you travel still wise to have some cash on hand. If you reside outside the U.S. this can add complications - in "battling" drug cartels and terrorists, the government has added lots of regulations which don't affect drug cartels or terrorists - but do cause problems for the millions of Americans residing overseas. Your credit card will demand a U.S. address - and even though you handle everything paperless and online this will be needed. Good luck - pity but everything international multiplies the bureaucratic hurdles of life.

[s/v Jedi]

I have US issued credit cards from Amex and Capital One, they always work when used in other countries, I never report travel plans and neither charges foreign transaction fees.

There is one problem: when buying things online in Holland and paying with credit card, they assume a Dutch issued card which uses an app with verification codes that don’t work with US issued cards other than Amex. When they don’t accept Amex, I can’t use the Capital One Visa card because of that, so I still have a Dutch issued Visacard or Mastercard (don’t even know for sure which) for that reason alone. I actually have to pay for that card instead of getting cash back on a free card so if you ask me, the US issued cards are better by far.

[celle2000]

Jedi - Yes - that is one reason to also have pay pal account - the card details are already verified by them so seems to avoid that problem of various verification systems. Of course not every purchase can be made through PayPal