In Reply to: Travel money cards better conversion fee posted by Harribeka on Sunday, 17. April 2011 at 18:27 Bali Time:
The fees you will pay for ATM withdrawals will vary with the bank you use, as will the exchange rate that you get. For a 3 month stay, it would be worth shopping around to find the best deal even if it means opening a new account just for the trip, then closing it later.
As mentioned by others, the 28 degrees mastercard charges no fees.
I have a visa debit card with my local credit union (not a lot of branches) and I pay no fees on overseas ATM withdrawals and get basically the same as the PT Central rates on the day.
My mum is with NAB and they had an account she upgraded to for a one month stay in Bali that charged, I think, $10 monthly account fee but no o/seas ATM fees - which was better than the normal account she had that was $5 per withdrawal, but no monthly account fees. She changed it back again when she got home.
So it definitely pays to ask around as different financial institutions do have different accounts with varying charges - or no charges at all.