Banks

As you are probably aware, I've been researching banks like crazy. These are my findings so far, and I will be updating this post as I find out more. Please remember that this is as of August 2014. Rates and fees can and will change, especially as the world becomes more and more connected!

Navy Federal

Regular account is nothing special except no fees for having the account open. They do charge a $1 fee for using non-Navy Fed ATMs (and the ATM will charge you some fees), but have only a 1% currency exchange rate.

They also have e-checking and campus checking. These have ATM rebates, but only for the fee Navy Federal charges you, so you're still stuck shelling out cash for using the foreign ATMs, and it is only $20 or $10 rebates per cycle. Also, e-checking has a maintenance fee for having the account unless you have a direct despot going in, and campus checking is only until age 24. So basically, as a non-traditional student who will be 25 in January with no routine income, this did not work out for me.

Note: You or a family member (or maybe just someone in the same household?) must be part of the armed forces.

Bank of America

BoA might be my best bet for the least amount of charges for withdrawals without actually getting a bank account there (I don't even want to think about how much that would cost to transfer!).

Bank of America is part of a global banking alliance with several banks around the globe, including BNP Paraibas, a popular bank in France. Thanks to this alliance, BoA customers can withdrawal money from any BNP Paraibas ATM and will not be charged any fees except for a 3% exchange rate. At least, that's what I understood from their website.

As for their different accounts, I do know that their e-checking has no monthly fees as long as you don't go to one of their locations, essentially keeping it all online. For my first trip to France in 2008, I had a student banking account with Bank of America. That being said, I don't know if they have changed it, and I never paid attention to the fees, if i even used my card! I remember carrying around travelers checks. Let me just say, I'm kind of glad those are becoming obsolete.

Wells Fargo

Still looking into this one. It looks like they have international offices and talk about global things, but otherwise their website doesn't give much about their regular customers using their cards overseas, and the lady my family spoke with at the bank only refered us to their customer service number.

SECU

This bank only applies to North Carolina state employees and their families/roommates. They suckered the boyfriend into getting their Global Cashpoints card, when I am pretty positive that he could have just used his regular visa debit card. But whatever. They also told him that when you transferred the money to the card that you could do it in the currency you needed, which is completely not true. Definitely not my favorite bank, except that they do have amazing discounts on amusement parks.

Well, that's all I have for now! Let me know if there are any other banks that are worth looking into for international travel.

xx

P.S.

Does anyone know if I can get a RIB # for an American bank account?