Do all American ATMs charge an extra fee for cash withdrawals on a foreign card?

US banks do not charge a fee because it is a foreign card, they charge a fee because it is not a card issued by that bank. Cardholders of US based banks also pay the ATM fee when they access money at another bank.

About the only way to avoid paying the fee would be if the cardholder’s bank has a fee waiver agreement with specific US banks, something that they would need ask their bank about.

For quite some time California did not allow surcharges on ex-USA cards, but this has changed. Some other states may still have such a rule.

Finding fee-free ATMs is a challenge.

You can use PNC Bank ATMs or go to an Aldi grocery store if you want to withdraw money without the surcharge in the USA.

If you are in the UK you have several options, Barlcays customers are part of an ATM global alliance which includes Bank of America you still pay a 2.99% Non-Sterling Transaction Fee but you don’t have to pay the £1.50 Non-Sterling Cash Fee. If you are lucky enough to have one of the few fee free or low cost cards such as Norwich and Peterborough then your best bet is to look for a credit union or one of the few banks that don’t charge however I admit they are very difficult to find. Another option would be to avoid the fees and get cashback (although do check that your bank does not have a high purchase fee.) Finally you could use Western Union and send money to yourself, if you send online there is no fee (bank transfers only) and you have up to 14 days to collect the money. I use online banking to send myself more money if needed and I avoid having to take out a large sum at once. The exchange rates are competitive and can often work out cheaper when balanced against card fees.

These answers may change with time.

You may have to look for ATMs that don’t charge you fee for withdrawing money but your bank may charge you nontheless. You should probably look for signs that state that there are no surcharge/fees on the ATMs but for example convinience store chain Wawa offers no surcharge ATM in their stores these are provided by PNC bank. And so on and so forth.

McDonalds had ATMs that charge $1 for withdrawals (that’s a year old).

There is also a matter of cash network membership for the bank for example a friend of mine was able to withdraw fee free using a Master Card but another friend with a VISA wasn’t able to do the same at the same ATM.

There are some pairs of banks across the world which apparently have agreements not to charge each other’s customers extra fees.

I work in tourism in Australia and some travellers tell me if they go to bank XYZ they can avoid fees.

As an Australian travelling overseas I am not so lucky.

But check with your bank in your country whether they are part of such a scheme and if you are lucky there will be one or two banks whose ATMs you can use free of fees.

^{(Oh and XYZ isn’t the name of an actual bank, it’s a stand in since I can’t remember any of the banks they’ve mentioned.)}

Some European airports provide ATM machines that will give you USD. Personally I have seen them in Frankfurt and Manchester. Just grab some dollars before going to the US and pay the rest with your credit card. Last time I went, I survived on $20 in cash.

Yeah, same story here, but i think i got only charged ~1.50 – $2 earlier this year (Arizona, Utah, Oregon, Idaho, Washington).

My strategy was to just take out fewer, larger amounts what would last me a week or so and pay with credit card for expenses > $50 like grocery shopping, gas stations, motels etc.

But ask yourself how much money you would really save if you waste 1h in traffic and burning gas, just to find a fee-free ATM and save $3.

1. Try a credit union. Many of them boast surcharge-free ATMs. Lots of smaller banks don’t collect surcharges either. Those that don’t often will have a big sign saying so near the ATM. The Credit Union National Association, the Independent Community Bankers Association and The Co-Op Network all have ATM locators on their Web sites.

2. Ask for cash-back when you use your ATM card at a grocery store. This service is free at many stores.

3. Bankrate’s 2010 Checking Study found that 99.1 percent of ATMs charged a fee to noncustomers, a few ticks above the 98.7 percent that charged a fee last year. Of course this means there are still SOME out there!

4. (From same survey) the average fee is $2.33. So at the least, try and beat that target 😉

I would be very surprised if you managed to find an ATM that did not charge you a fee. US card holders are also charged fees if we use an ATM that is not the same bank as our card. Then we usually get a fee from both banks: the ATM’s and our bank (for not using one of their ATMs). Some non-US banks that branches in the US; I think that would be the only possibility to avoid a fee.