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Comment by Scoundreller | Hacker News Reader

Big difference is that US banks usually charge no fees. Not for a monthly account, not for a credit card, not for a debit card. Probably not even teller services.

And if you go to a US teller, they won’t direct you to an ATM.

From what I’ve seen in France, bank branches are increasingly cashless. Need $5k? Go to the teller and ask them to open a window on your account, and then make 5x transactions at the ATM (with its 1k limits).

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My BoA account has fees, my Axa account doesn’t.

And don’t get me started on trying to use wires with BoA, they won’t not even tell me why they are rejected, but still keep the $30 fee.

I suppose you have your reasons (Global ATM alliance?), but if you’re paying monthly fees on your US chequing accounts, for most people it’s worth shopping around.

leaving the US next month anyways. When I went to shop around, I was told small local banks don't do international wires, I didn't try the other big ones.

My credit union (First Tech) does wires. It goes through another bank, but they allow me to initiate it from my account etc, so there's no practical difference.

I've seen UK banks (to be fair not just banks even wireless service providers) charge for a phone call to their customer service number! (the equivalent of a U.S. toll-free service).

It’s fairly common in Europe. At least it usually means it’s technically illegal for them to put you on hold.

For airlines, I know Europeans that will pull up Skype and call their airline’s US number if they have one.

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