Chase is the biggest bank in America, so a Chase debit card is the one most travellers already have in their wallet. Abroad it is also one of the more expensive ways to get cash: the standard card charges a 3 percent foreign exchange fee on everything, $5 for each withdrawal at a non-Chase machine outside the US, and leaves you to pay whatever the machine's owner charges on top.
Schwab's Investor Checking card is the opposite: no foreign transaction fee and unlimited refunds of ATM fees worldwide. Here is what the gap costs on a real trip, which Chase accounts close it, and how to travel with both.
The Short Answer
For cash abroad, Schwab wins by a wide margin. A standard Chase debit card on a Chase Total Checking account costs 3 percent of every foreign purchase and withdrawal, plus $5 per non-Chase ATM withdrawal outside the US, plus the machine owner's fee. Schwab Investor Checking charges none of those and refunds the machine's fee at the end of the month.
Keep the Chase account, change the card you use abroad. If you bank with Chase, there is no need to move your salary. Open a Schwab account for travel, or use a Chase credit card with no foreign transaction fee for purchases and a fee-refunding debit card for cash.
What a Chase Debit Card Charges Abroad
The foreign exchange rate adjustment. Chase's fee schedule, effective June 2026, charges 3 percent of the amount, after conversion to dollars, on card purchases, ATM withdrawals and cash taken at a bank counter in a currency other than US dollars.
The non-Chase ATM fee. On Chase Total Checking, each withdrawal at a machine that is not a Chase ATM costs $5 outside the United States and its territories, and $3 inside them. Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Marianas and American Samoa count as the US for this fee. Chase is explicit that "surcharge fees from the ATM owner/network still apply", and it does not refund them.
The withdrawal limit. A standard Chase debit card allows $500 a day at non-Chase machines in most states, $1,000 in a few. Abroad that is the limit that matters, so a week's cash can take several withdrawals, each one paying the $5 and the machine's fee again.
What Schwab Charges
No foreign transaction fee. Schwab Bank's Investor Checking account charges no foreign transaction fee on purchases or withdrawals. Conversion happens at the Visa network rate.
Unlimited ATM fee rebates. Schwab refunds the fees charged by any ATM's owner, anywhere in the world, with no cap, credited at the end of each month. The account has no monthly fee and no minimum balance. It has to be opened with a linked Schwab One brokerage account, which you do not need to fund.
What Schwab does not refund. If you accept a machine's offer to convert your withdrawal into dollars, the markup built into that rate is excluded from the rebate. Choose the local currency every time. Our explainer on dynamic currency conversion shows how much the offer costs.
Skip the 3 Percent Abroad
A Wise card pays in the local currency at the mid-market rate, with no foreign transaction fee, and works alongside your Chase account at home.
Get the Wise Card →Free account, ~$9 card fee. Want cash on arrival? Order currency before you fly →
The Math on a Two-Week Trip to Mexico
The trip. Two weeks in Mexico City and Oaxaca. You withdraw the equivalent of $300 four times, at machines that charge roughly 100 pesos, about $5.50, per withdrawal, and spend $1,500 on hotels, meals and tours by card.
With Chase Total Checking: four $5 non-Chase fees ($20), four machine fees you keep paying (about $22), 3 percent on $1,200 of cash ($36) and 3 percent on $1,500 of purchases ($45). Extra cost: about $123.
With Schwab: no foreign transaction fee, no Schwab ATM fee, and the four machine fees refunded at the end of the month. Extra cost beyond the Visa exchange rate: $0.
With a Chase Sapphire Preferred for purchases and Schwab for cash: also $0, plus travel rewards on the $1,500. Our guide to avoiding ATM fees abroad breaks down each layer of the Chase bill.
The Chase Accounts That Waive the Fees
Chase Private Client. Chase's top tier charges no foreign exchange fee on its debit card, no Chase fee at any ATM worldwide, and refunds the ATM owner's fees. The catch is the $35 monthly fee, waived with an average balance of $150,000 across linked deposits and investments, or a qualifying linked account.
Chase Premier Plus Checking. No foreign exchange fee and no Chase ATM fee worldwide, but the machine owner's fee is not refunded. Better than Total Checking, still not as good as Schwab for cash.
Chase Sapphire Checking. Long the travel favourite among Chase's accounts, with no foreign exchange fee and refunded ATM fees worldwide. Chase stopped opening new Sapphire Checking accounts in 2026; existing customers keep the benefits, but you can no longer apply for it.
Chase Credit Cards Abroad
Sapphire Preferred and Sapphire Reserve charge no foreign transaction fee, run on Visa, and are among the most widely recommended travel credit cards. Use one for hotels, restaurants and shops.
Freedom Unlimited and Freedom Flex charge a 3 percent foreign transaction fee. They are good cards at home and the wrong cards abroad.
Never use a credit card at an ATM abroad. A cash advance on any credit card, Chase or not, carries its own fee and interest from day one. Get cash on a debit card that refunds ATM fees.
Which Card to Carry
Best setup for most Chase customers: a Chase Sapphire credit card for purchases, a Schwab debit card for cash, and the Chase debit card left at home or in the hotel safe as a backup.
If you do not want a Schwab account: a Wise card charges no foreign transaction fee, converts at the mid-market rate and allows a monthly allowance of free ATM withdrawals, and our Fidelity vs Schwab comparison covers the other popular refund card. Either beats a standard Chase debit card by the full 3 percent.
Start before you book. Schwab's card takes a week or two to arrive by post. Open the account at least three weeks before you fly, and activate the card before you leave.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Chase charge a foreign transaction fee on debit cards?
Yes, on standard accounts. Chase's fee schedule charges a 3 percent foreign exchange rate adjustment on debit card purchases and ATM withdrawals made in a foreign currency. Chase Private Client and Premier Plus Checking waive it, and so did Sapphire Checking, which no longer accepts new customers.
How much does Chase charge to use a foreign ATM?
On Chase Total Checking, 5 dollars per withdrawal at a non-Chase ATM outside the United States and its territories, plus the 3 percent foreign exchange fee, plus any fee charged by the machine's owner, which Chase does not refund.
Does Chase refund foreign ATM fees?
Only on Chase Private Client, and on Sapphire Checking for existing customers. Premier Plus Checking waives Chase's own fee but not the machine owner's. Total Checking refunds neither.
Is the Schwab debit card better than Chase for travel?
For cash, yes. Schwab Investor Checking charges no foreign transaction fee and refunds ATM fees worldwide without limit, at the end of each month. A standard Chase debit card adds 3 percent and 5 dollars per foreign withdrawal.
What is the Chase debit card withdrawal limit abroad?
Standard Chase debit cards allow 500 dollars a day at non-Chase ATMs in most states, which is the limit that applies abroad. You can ask Chase to raise it before you travel.
Can I still open a Chase Sapphire Checking account?
No. Chase stopped opening new Sapphire Checking accounts in 2026. Existing account holders keep its benefits, including no foreign exchange fee and refunded ATM fees.
The Bottom Line
A Chase debit card works almost everywhere abroad, and that is the trouble: it works, and quietly costs 3 percent plus 5 dollars a withdrawal while it does. On a typical two-week trip that is a hundred dollars or more.
Keep Chase at home. Abroad, carry a Chase Sapphire credit card or another no-foreign-fee card for purchases, a Schwab or Wise card for cash, and always choose the local currency when a machine asks.
Our guide to the best debit cards for international travel compares the alternatives, and CEI Currency Exchange can ship foreign cash to your door if you want some in hand before you land.
Hero photo: a Chase Bank branch on Montrose Boulevard, Houston, by WhisperToMe, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.