Travel Banking Tips
There are many different opinions on how to manage your finances while on a foreign trip. This is the way I do it.
First, I keep a separate checking account for travel purposes only. If my ATM card gets compromised somehow, my regular account is safe from any potential harm. Throughout my trip, I will deposit my travel budget into this travel-only account. So at any one time, there is not more than about $1000 in this travel account.
When you travel around the world, ATM fees can add up quickly. This is why I use a Schwab Investor Checking Account.
Schwab will refund any ATM fees that other banks may charge you for using their ATMs, anywhere in the world. You save a ton of money off ATM fees when you use their checking account.
I’m able to make electronic transfers from my regular account (with another bank) to the travel account as needed. This helps me stay within my travel budget too, because it’s like a monthly travel paycheck. I’d need to transfer additional funds if I wanted to spend more, and that little extra step helps me stay within my budget.
Have Backup Plans
I also link an ING Direct Savings Account to this travel checking account. It has the highest interest rate around, and it’s easy to combine it with a checking account from any other bank.
The savings account is used as a backup, just in case I need to transfer some emergency funds over to my Schwab travel checking account. Transfers can easily be done online.
A Capital One credit card is part of my travel financial plan too, for it’s consumer protections and to use in emergencies.
All my important account numbers and customer service phone numbers are added to a password protected PDF file that I attach to an email and send to myself.
This way if my cards ever get stolen, I can find an internet cafe and pull up all the relevant information to call and cancel everything immediately. Just in case there is no internet around, my sensitive information is also included on a waterproof, password protected USB drive.
I’ve been incredibly happy with this setup, and highly recommend it to other travelers! It’s pretty easy to implement and will save you a lot of money. 
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Great tips, thanks! I’m taking a 3 month trip later this year, and that checking account looks perfect for me. Are there any catches?
Hi Amy,
Checks, ATM card, everything is free.
They do sign you up for a linked brokerage account automatically, but you don’t have to use it if you don’t want to, and there are no fees involved with that either, unless you decide to buy some stocks or bonds.
Wow this is really awesome info! When I went to Vienna this past summer, those ATM fees really did add up.
Great info I am actually writing this down! Thanks~
Was curious is you are familar with a canadian citizen account set up with Charles Schwab similar to this one???? Its perfect for me however I am not a us citizen and they wouldnt allow.
I’m not aware of a Canadian bank that refunds ATM fees at the moment, let me know if you find one though!
this was one of the smartest “travel tips” post I’ve read so far
not the same useless tips rewritten in a different way that nobody needs to read again and again, but some smart things
another thing you can do (but that would be of no use to you since you already don’t pay ATM fees) is to check where you canfind ATMs of your own bank, or that belong to banks of your home country. This would void or lower ATM fees.
This can be done when you’re traveling to countries not so far from your own, it probably wouldn’t work if you’re on the other side of the globe as you probably wouldn’t be able to find ATMs owned by your own bank.
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Travel Banking Tips | The Expert Vagabond http://t.co/Qzi2pEK6 via @ExpertVagabond
Great tips. I’ve been looking into a lot of these options, actually. I think I’m leaning towards the Schwab account. Do they charge you any ATM fees? I know they refund any fees from the ATM you use, but I couldn’t find in the fine print if Schwab itself charges you at all.
Side note- It is possible to find ATMs that don’t charge you. I’ve been abroad fairly often recently, and the only fees I paid while in England were the $5 charges from Wells Fargo. >.<
Schwab does not charge any ATM fees.
Nice tips , thanx .
Mattthew, You mentioned a number of things I have never thought about when traveling. Some very good suggestions.
I will mention that free email accounts like gmail are not safe places to store important info. ( I don’t know if you were using a free account). My brother had his account hacked into and they got into some other accounts using what he had stored in there.