Money
 

What is the best way to carry your money? Everywhere I read it's
"You get the best rate with your ATM card"
Yet when I went back to London in 2006 Bank of America charged me 25% in their exchange rate. The exchange rate was $1.80 to the pound, BofA charged me $2.25. Plus $3 for every transaction, even one that didn't go through. I might add that no Brit ATM charged me a penny for using their system. I'll be taking cash obviously, but don't want to take thousands. I've always previously used Travelers cheques, but that appears to get the worst rate. I'm heading down south from San Diego by the way.
Any thoughts . . . ?

I'd be asking the Bank of America questions!!!

Some banks give better 'service' in terms of the charges they make .. either as a percentage and/or set fees. You should try to select the best oneS (yes - use more than one bank). Select one for smaller transactions - paying for a meal, over night accommodation, a tank of fuel. Select another for large things - e.g. shipping the bike. If one of them fails to work .. use the other one.

Bank of America ... their page on their ATM charges...
https://www.bankofamerica.com/deposi...ling-abroad.go

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Cash conversion rates are also taking a percentage. They usually state a buy and sell rate. You should take that into account when evaluation the ATM conversion rate too.

We've been using preloaded cards (fairfx etc) for the last five years or so and found them pretty good.

They give a decent exchange rate and if you don't want to load them with all your money at once (we don't) we've had someone at home top them up when we text / call. It's slightly awkward and dependant on communications but at least you only stand to lose whatever's on the card at that time if the worst happens.

We carry Visa credit cards but rarely use them. Normally we use a Visa Cash Card issued by our credit union that is always at a good conversion rate, but they charge a flat AU$4 per transaction so we always withdraw the maximum allowed amount of cash out of ATMs and pay everything with cash. Fine if the ATMs dispense something close to the normal limit of $1000, but many countries has silly low limits of a couple of hundred dollars a time so that makes the $4 fee relatively more expensive. Some ATM operators also charge around $3 to $5 withdrawal fee, but there is usually one around that doesn't charge.

If Argentina is on our itinerary, we try to leave home with enough US$ to cover that part of the trip so we can take advantage of the black market rate which is about 60% better than official rate.

If you can, try to use a no FX credit card instead of continually withdrawing cash. It's cheaper and less hassle in the long run *if* you are in a country that accepts credit cards.

We use the Chase Canada Amazon.ca Visa card, which uses the bank's listed foreign exchange rate with no additional surcharge or commission. Normal credit cards will charge you upwards of 2.5% commission on the listed rate, which adds up to a lot over time.

charles schwab card online banking charges zero fees for withdrawal or transaction and give wholesale rates...i have used it in 78 countries RTW so far no issues