[reposted WITHOUT permission of the author, Durant Imboden of "Europe for Visitors" at About.com, as he posted today in the rec.travel.europe newsgroup...]

Some banks are now charging "conversion fees" on foreign-currency cash withdrawals from ATMs. Wells Fargo, for example, recently imposed a 2% fee.

These are hidden surcharges, so you won't know if you're paying them unless you've read the fine print in your bank's legal boilerplate.

To make matters worse, these hidden surcharges are *in addition* to any per-transaction fees that your bank may charge on transactions at other banks' ATMs, and they're also on top of the Visa/Mastercard clearinghouse's wholesale currency-exchange commission of 1%. The bottom line is that a $100 cash withdrawal overseas with a Wells Fargo ATM card can cost you $5.

For an article with more details, see "ATM Conversion Fees" on Europe for Visitors at: http://goeurope.about.com/library/weekly/aa010219a.htm

Note: These ATM "conversion fees" shouldn't be confused with the hidden surcharges of up to 5% that some credit-card companies impose on foreign-currency purchases and cash advances. For an article on that topic, see: http://goeurope.about.com/library/weekly/aa990318.htm

Bottom line: Caveat emptor! With the erosion of profits on travelers' checks, banks and other financial institutions are finding new ways to get revenue (typically through hidden fees) from travelers who go abroad.

Durant Imboden
Europe for Visitors at About.com http://goeurope.about.com

This is looking bleak and complicated. Can we summarize and distill the simplest and most cost effectve scenario in terms of credit card (which and when to use), debit cards (which and when) and check cards (which and when)? When I say which, I mean VISA, M/C, etc, Maestro, Cirrus, etc. and when means like restaurants, clothes, car rentals, etc. Anyone have a bullet list recommendation(s) scenario(s)?

Thanks in advance. :-)

I, too, was all set to charge whatever/wherever I can with my Bank of America Dividend Miles Visa card and use my Wells Fargo ATM card to get cash in pesetas UNTIL I received the notice from Wells regarding the additional 2% currency conversion fee. After reading the above posts, I realize that this is in addition to the transaction fee. What next? I think it can be classified as a major rip-off.