General Info

[Dickhead]

Neither my purchases nor my cash withdrawals ever show up in Schwab until the next business day, and seem to be handled the exact same way. Although, I make few purchases with it.

[Kazeu]

I suspect a cash withdrawl is a different transaction type than a purchase and handled differently. My ATM withdrawals are always reflected very fast, whereas purchases can take a little while.

Huh. That's odd. That happens to me with E-Trade, but with Schwab there is always a delay of at least one full business day. I bought a boat ticket Friday night and it hasn't shown up yet, Sunday early afternoon. Last Sunday I took cash out at the airport and it showed up Tuesday morning. The transaction history even says, '2/13 as of 2/11. '.

I guess it must depend on the precise type of account? Or something. Because you are saying it hits right away, I am experiencing a one business day delay, and others are saying they don't get the ATM fees back until the end of the month. Strange.

But anyway, it's a hella good deal regardless. ATM fees suck and are illegal in the country where I am now.

[Dickhead]

When I take money out with the Schwab card, the transaction has always shown by the time I return to the apartment, within 30 minutes. I haven't had a delay since I have been using the card, more than three years now.

Huh. That's odd. That happens to me with E-Trade, but with Schwab there is always a delay of at least one full business day. I bought a boat ticket Friday night and it hasn't shown up yet, Sunday early afternoon. Last Sunday I took cash out at the airport and it showed up Tuesday morning. The transaction history even says, '2/13 as of 2/11. '.

I guess it must depend on the precise type of account? Or something. Because you are saying it hits right away, I am experiencing a one business day delay, and others are saying they don't get the ATM fees back until the end of the month. Strange.

But anyway, it's a hella good deal regardless. ATM fees suck and are illegal in the country where I am now.

[Dickhead]

Curious about using the Cap1 card overseas. Every time I tried using my card outside of the US, Cap1 declined it. That happened even though I have called them in advance and told them dates where I would be in various countries. Now I haven't traveled much in the last few years, but Cap1 has had a perfect track record of being a pain in the ass for my foreign travel.

Up until maybe a year ago, Capital One required you to go on-line and post a travel notification. That was indeed a pain in the ass, because the system only accepted a single country. So, every time you changed countries, you had to go in and delete Country A and replace with Country be. Now that the cards have chips, that has all gone away and no more notification is required. There have been maybe four or five times where they have e-mailed me and asked about a charge, usually large charges in strange countries. I go to a lot of strange countries and often reserve apartments, where the charges are as high as $2,500. But they don't immediately decline the charges. I am sure they have some time frame, but I check my e-mail almost every day, and have not had any issues. No phony charges have showed up on that card, although I am careful about where I use CCs. I have never had a F2 F charge declined, which would be embarrassing, and would lead me to whip out my Schwab card and lose the 1. 5% cash bonus from Capital One. I just looked and I have over $100 in cash bonuses just since July.

[Dccpa]

Schwab reimburses me the same day they post the charge, which is the next business day. E-Trade posts the charge and the refund instantly. Capital One credit card charges no foreign currency exchange fees AND gives me 1. 5% cash back. Bank of America credit card gives me 2% back on groceries and 3% on gas and restaurant meals (1% on everything else so I use Capital One instead), but does charge 3% forex fee, so I only use it in the Yew Ess.

So with those four accounts, I am good to go! Beware that E-Trade DOES charge a forex fee if purchases are made with their debit card. Schwab does not. But why would I use a debit card for purchases when the CCs give me cash back? Very occasionally I run across a site like RENFE, the Spanish train company, that will not take US credit cards, only debit cards.

Curious about using the Cap1 card overseas. Every time I tried using my card outside of the US, Cap1 declined it. That happened even though I have called them in advance and told them dates where I would be in various countries. Now I haven't traveled much in the last few years, but Cap1 has had a perfect track record of being a pain in the ass for my foreign travel.

[Fun Luvr]

...We live in an impatient world and sometimes when I take cash out of CS at an ATM on a Thursday night, the transaction does not show up until Monday.
...

BTW I recently found out that if you have a platinum AMEX, that gets you into Delta lounges even if you are flying coach on Delta. Wish I had known that about twenty years earlier.

When I take money out with the Schwab card, the transaction has always shown by the time I return to the apartment, within 30 minutes. I haven't had a delay since I have been using the card, more than three years now.

If you get a Chase Sapphire Reserve card, you get membership in Priority Pass club, which gives you and a guest access to almost all the airport clubs. The card costs $450 a year, but you get $350 to use for travel. There are many other perks that more than cover the remaining $100.

[Dickhead]

I transfer money from E-Trade to Schwab or vv a couple of times a year. They always tell me it will be 'up to five business days. ' It never is, but ET is definitely quicker than CS by one or two days. We live in an impatient world and sometimes when I take cash out of CS at an ATM on a Thursday night, the transaction does not show up until Monday. So, I don't know the precise exchange rate for a couple of days. This makes absolutely no actual difference at all, but I do like using the ET card at an ATM and seeing the results in five seconds.

I don't see how either of these firms makes any money off of me. I only place two or three trades total per year and I use the snot out of my ATM cards with them. I guess they make it up with all the market timing geniuses running around trading all the time. I just looked and when I was in Central America, I withdrew cash from ATMs 21 times in 89 days, so that cost Schwab about $115. They probably get half the bid / ask spread, and that is kind of wide with Central Américan currencies.

Where I am now, I use very little cash but wear the numbers off of my Capital One card. I never carry a balance on that card, so I don't see how they make any money off of me either. Every nine months or so, I request a credit limit increase, just because I can and because it lowers the balance-to-utilization ratio, which is a factor in credit scores. I think I have about $150 k in total credit available on my various cards, and I have no independent income or job. But, I have a 40 year history of no late payments. I guess they factor all that in.

BTW I recently found out that if you have a platinum AMEX, that gets you into Delta lounges even if you are flying coach on Delta. Wish I had known that about twenty years earlier.

[Mr Enternational]

One thing to note, if you transfer money from another bank to Schwab, it will be four business days until the money is available to withdraw.

Might be your other bank. Mine is usually there in 2 days.

[Fun Luvr]

I just got a schwab card since Stupid Chase charges ATM fees AND foreign transaction fees. Does the Schwab card work at other ATMs?

The Schwab card works at every other bank I tried, just not Banco Caja Social. I think you will be happy with the Schwab card. One thing to note, if you transfer money from another bank to Schwab, it will be four business days until the money is available to withdraw.

[Oil Stain]

Schwab reimburses me the same day they post the charge, which is the next business day. E-Trade posts the charge and the refund instantly. Capital One credit card charges no foreign currency exchange fees AND gives me 1. 5% cash back. Bank of America credit card gives me 2% back on groceries and 3% on gas and restaurant meals (1% on everything else so I use Capital One instead), but does charge 3% forex fee, so I only use it in the Yew Ess.

So with those four accounts, I am good to go! Beware that E-Trade DOES charge a forex fee if purchases are made with their debit card. Schwab does not. But why would I use a debit card for purchases when the CCs give me cash back? Very occasionally I run across a site like RENFE, the Spanish train company, that will not take US credit cards, only debit cards.

My schwab card reimburses me at the end of the month. How do you tell in advance when using a ATM card in Bogota what the exchange rate will be? I only get the options for how much cash I want to withdraw.

[Dickhead]

Yes, and at the end of the month they will reimburse all ATM charges incurred..

Schwab reimburses me the same day they post the charge, which is the next business day. E-Trade posts the charge and the refund instantly. Capital One credit card charges no foreign currency exchange fees AND gives me 1. 5% cash back. Bank of America credit card gives me 2% back on groceries and 3% on gas and restaurant meals (1% on everything else so I use Capital One instead), but does charge 3% forex fee, so I only use it in the Yew Ess.

So with those four accounts, I am good to go! Beware that E-Trade DOES charge a forex fee if purchases are made with their debit card. Schwab does not. But why would I use a debit card for purchases when the CCs give me cash back? Very occasionally I run across a site like RENFE, the Spanish train company, that will not take US credit cards, only debit cards.

[Mr Enternational]

I just got a schwab card since Stupid Chase charges ATM fees AND foreign transaction fees. Does the Schwab card work at other ATMs?

One of the main reasons for having it is because it reimburses ATM fees of other banks.

[PaisaPorFavor]

Yes, and at the end of the month they will reimburse all ATM charges incurred.

I just got a schwab card since Stupid Chase charges ATM fees AND foreign transaction fees. Does the Schwab card work at other ATMs?

.

[Jbj64]

I just got a schwab card since Stupid Chase charges ATM fees AND foreign transaction fees. Does the Schwab card work at other ATMs?

I tried Banco Caja Social on two occasions today with my Schwab card. I was not successful getting money either time. It acted almost identical to when Bancolombia was not accepting the Schwab card. You go through the complete procedure and it displays that the transaction cannot be completed. Up to that point, it had not displayed any charges, so maybe there is no charge.

[Fun Luvr]

...FYI from my experience Banco Caja Social does not charge a fee and neither does Colpatria.

I tried Banco Caja Social on two occasions today with my Schwab card. I was not successful getting money either time. It acted almost identical to when Bancolombia was not accepting the Schwab card. You go through the complete procedure and it displays that the transaction cannot be completed. Up to that point, it had not displayed any charges, so maybe there is no charge.