Call your credit card and debit card companies before traveling abroad. If you neglect to do so, certain companies may freeze your account until they can confirm that your foreign transactions are legitimate.
Consider exchanging some money before you leave. Your bank may be able to help with this and will most likely have a much better exchange rate than an airport kiosk or other tourist-targeting change bureau, so research rates before buying foreign currency.
Do you have a Bank of America account? If so, use one of its partner banks' ATMs abroad and you will not be charged fees on your withdrawal. The banks to look for include Westpac (Australia and New Zealand), Scotia Bank (Canada), China Construction Bank (China), Barclay's (UK), BNP Paribas (France), Deutsche Bank (Germany) and Santander Serfin (Mexico).
Consider using a Capital One credit card for larger purchases abroad. Unlike most other credit card companies, which charge from 1 to 3 percent per transaction, Capital One has no fees internationally. Instead, if you opt for its rewards card and earn 1 percent cash back, you'll actually be saving 1 percent rather than wasting it on other companies' fees.
If you are not a Bank of America card customer, find out whether your bank offers you a certain number of free withdrawals from other out-of-network banks abroad.
If you cannot find a partner bank's ATM or are not a Bank of America customer, you may still withdraw money from ATMs abroad, but these may be subject to fees on both ends. To minimize these fees, make sure to withdraw a sufficiently large amount of money to avoid being hit with multiple transaction charges.
