www.CostaRicaTicas.com

I signed up late last week. It took me about 10-15 minutes literally. I'll admit that I didn't read any of those disclosures though.

Awesome tip - I paid $20 in ATM-related fees (thanks BoA) during my trip last week. Will definitely have to open an account for use in both the US and abroad.

I signed up about Sept 3 or 4. I then linked my checking account to it and funded it, and yesterday I received my debit card in the mail. 8-9 days total.

I just signed up for my FOURTH Schwab ATM debit card.

When I asked the call center if I could have another account with another associated debit card for a back-up, I was told that Schwab doesn't care how many accounts a customer has.

Now I have 4 (for various reasons). It's easy to do an online transfer of money from one Schwab account to the other.

There's no fee or minimum balance requirement for any of the accounts...... and no required activity level. Some of these accounts are kept at a zero balance until I want to fund the account for some purpose.

If some ATM owner imposes a fee, Schwab eats the fee, and refunds that fee on my statement at the end of the month.

Be honest. How many of these ATM cards are in the hands of chicas in CR?

1...... so far.

Well, things are not totally finished after starting the process 12 days ago.
At some point I had to drive to a local branch to finish opening the account.
Over an hour round trip with time in the office.
Do not have my card in the mail yet.
Checked my account online and not all the money I sent is available yet.
So I called their customer service line.
Anything over the first $5,000 they put a 5 day hold on.
Thankfully I am not in a big hurry.
I will keep you posted.
Red

It never took me longer than 15 minutes to complete the online process to get an account number for an ATM card........... not even the first time. The biggest delay in the process was for me to find my drivers license number.

My mail-in deposits are booked promptly ....... often without any hold on the funds.

Travel notifications are easy to do online. I've never had a transaction denied.

Well, the online travel notification will be a plus.
Good to hear never having had a transaction refused.
Red

One time, my dumb ass didn't notice that one of my Schwab cards was going to expire while I was in CR. I tried to use the expired card the day after it expired. >>>>> NO JOY.

I just transferred my balance to my spare card on the Schwab website. NO PROBLEM.

See why my dumb ass has a extra card

Based on RAC recommendation I got a second card. My direct deposits go into account A. I transfer what I need to account B and go to ATM as needed. If I am robbed or acct B card is stolen, my liability is minimized. No fees also. So far (6 months) been a great experience.

I had my first and last experience with a Citibank ATM this morning in Medellin. I withdrew 1,000,000 pesos (a little over $330). On the receipt, it stated there was 1447 pesos (48 cents) available to withdraw today. So, it appears the daily limit is something less than $350. Also, they charged a fee of 15,769 pesos. Schwab will refund that fee to me, but I don't like a business profiting from the good customer practices of another business. I have used Bank of Bogota and Davivienda ATM's, and they do not charge a fee. Davivienda exchange rate was almost the same as Citibank's. Davivienda was a couple of pesos more. The withdrawal limit at the other ATM's is much less than Citibank's, but you can do multiple withdrawals. I don't know the daily limit.

The exchange rate for the dollar is going down. It is now 3012 pesos to $1. It was over 3100 last week.

Yeah, the $5+ fee that Citibank charges kind of sucks if you have other options.

I think it has been 13 days now.
Have not yet got my ATM card.
There was other Schwab confirmation mailings in my mail yesterday, but no card.
Just saying, don't count on getting it in a hurry.
They say that since my account is less than 30 days old, that is why there is a hold on money over $5,000.
Red

The daily amount you can withdraw at foreign ATMs is determined by your US Bank. Most ATMs in Colombia limit individual withdrawal transactions to 600,000 pesos or $200 US (at today's rate). But, you can continue to do successive ATM withdrawals until you reach your bank's daily maximum.

I got some good news last week. All 3 of my US banks are issuing chip debit cards now. I no longer have a need for a Schwab debit card, as 2 of the 3 ATM cards are "no-fee." I'll pick them up when I go to the States.