And the winner is….

The Charles Schwab High Yield Investor Checking Account

This is the card I switched to a little while back after having used my debit card from a local credit union that only charged 1% foreign transaction fees. Until a good friend of mine told me about the Charles Schwab debit card.

Why is it the best debit card for international travel?

It has no foreign transaction fees!! None! Most cards I’ve found charge around 3%. While 3% doesn’t sound like much, it does start to add up.

The next thing on the list that makes this card a winner is the fact that there is no international ATM withdraw fee. You will be initially charged the ATM’s withdraw fee, but Charles Schwab will rebate the money back to you account.

The final thing to love about this card is the security on it, and I can vouch for this from personal experience. When I was in Thailand earlier this year, my card was skimmed. They waited about 2 months before trying to withdraw money. Within a few hours of the attempts I received a phone call asking to verify charges. They had tried to withdraw varying amount of money, starting with about $600 and working their way finally to $29. None of the transactions went through except the final one for $29. They locked my account and issued a new card to me within a week. And the awesome thing that I didn’t expect? Charles Schwab refunded the $29 that was withdrawn.

So with awesome security features, and no foreign transaction or ATM withdraw fees this card is a hard one to match.

Here are a few other handy pieces of advice regarding international travel and finances:

Always have at least two debit cards (and two credit cards is helpful) on different networks.


One a Mastercard and the other one a Visa. (The Charles Schwab High Yield Investor Checking Account is a Visa). Sometimes foreign ATMs will only take one kind of card and not the other. It’s always good to have a backup.

Call your credit and debit card providers and let them know where you’ll be and for how long.


If you live in one country and travel to another and don’t call your card providers they will most likely freeze your accounts. So don’t get stuck with a virtually useless card. I have had instances of my card being temporarily frozen even when I’d called. Like when I broke my camera on day one in Cambodia and went to the camera shop to purchase a new one, or when I bought myself an overdue new wardrobe one year in Sweden. I was able to call my card and have it unlocked, but it’s a hassle.

Keep you backup cards locked up safe back in your room.


Don’t carry all your cards on you when you’re out and about.. You know, along the lines of don’t keep all your eggs in one basket. So in the event that you do get mugged or pickpocketed at least you still have access to money.

Don’t keep all your money in one account.


The accounts that the vast majority of my money is in? Those cards don’t travel with me. They stay home. I keep the amount of money I need for the trip divvied up between the debit cards I am traveling with. That way if I found myself destitute and had literally everything taken from me while traveling at least they wouldn’t make off with all my life savings.

Have someone back home that you can call in the event of a financial emergency.


My Grandma was my go to until she passed away and then my parents took over this duty after they moved back to Alaska. If I did wind up destitute in another country I know I can call them have them send some money to me, you know like Western Union or one of those things. Plus, if you have your lifesavings account safe, like how I mentioned in the previous paragraph, you can pay them back right away upon arrival back home, because the thieves didn’t wipe you out completely. That people, is called collateral.

Do bring some cash with you.


US dollars and Euros seem to be the preferred foreign currency in most places. Just in case you find yourself unable to retrieve anything from an ATM or you end up broke down somewhere where there is no ATM available. I like to carry at least $100 cash on me, that way you can exchange it or do something to get yourself out.

Do you have any cards to recommend?

I don’t have any experience or much knowledge on what cards are available to citizens in other countries, so some insight would be nice to hear.

You can go to Charles Schwab’s site and get more information on the High Yield checking account here.

• ATM card
• Automated teller machine
• Credit card
• Debit card
• travel