www.CostaRicaTicas.com

as i'm preparing for my trip, i called citibank to have my accounts noted that i would be travaling to cr, this is something i do every trip to avoid problems.
from my last couple of visits, there was a international usage charge on my mastercard.
this time when i called to notify citi about my trip, i was told there would be a 3% charge on all atm withdrawals and purchases.
this has got to be something new,

Foreign transaction fees are nothing new for the banking industry. It's just that they are being adopted (and applied!) by more and more banks. It is almost impossible to find a credit card these days that does not have a foreign transaction fee. Some are only 1% but others charge as much as 5%!

If you plan to use a CC a lot outside of the US it might be wise to search for a card with no or a low fee. The card that I use for everything in the US has a 4% fee. I now use my CC from my Credit Union that has a 1% fee when I travel.

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Women are like beers. I've never had one that I didn't like. Just some that I like more than others! --Western

Tourist,

Citi has been charging 2 % Foreign Transaction Fees for reg checking accounts and 1 % for withdrawls on Citi Gold accounts. Things may have recently changed because Upper Management at Citi needs to ensure their bloated compensation and bonuses....

PHX

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Why settle for just one woman when you can enjoy them all?

i have a mand i debit card and if i take monies from my account in colones they charge me 1%, if i take gringo monies no charge, so i get my gringo money and then just exchange it for colones at the bank...
just an idea, i hate giving people a cut of my money...

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I know nothing, nothing!

I'm pretty certain Capital One has no foreign transaction fees.

Does anyone have a savings account with HSBC? I opened one of those online savings accounts to try and cut out the fees. I am hoping that by using the HSBC ATM they won't charge me.