Living Internationally - Things to deal with

I just noticed that my bank raised the fee it charged me for withdrawing at an international ATM. Previously, when I was Citigold it would charge 1% of the amount as a 'Foreign Fee'. Since I've been downgraded to an EZ Checking account, I noticed that I'm now being charged a whopping 3%!. I'm in the process of opening a new account with an online only bank with cheap rates for international withdrawals.

I've been looking at Everbank very hard, and talked with a very helpful support rep at 11PM their time (they have people on the phone 24 hours, and... they are not in India!). They charge a 1% 'Foreign Fee' for international withdrawals, but their $6 monthly refund for ATM withdrawals is only applicable for US ATM withdrawals. It's still a good deal though.

The other thing to think about is credit card fees. Here's the information I got about my Chase United Mileage Plus Visa regarding using my credit card in Hong Kong:

As your credit card company, we value your business and
want you to be completely satisfied with your credit card.

Please note that your account has worldwide acceptance,
and can be used wherever Visa or MasterCard credit cards
are accepted. Please note the following information about
charges made in foreign currencies:

The Bank and Visa International use the following
procedure to convert charge amounts from a foreign
currency to U.S. dollars:

1. The foreign merchant's bank must deliver the record of
each sale to Visa within 45 days of the sale date.

2. Visa converts the sale amount to U.S. dollars. To do
this, they use either a wholesale market rate or, if
applicable, the country's government mandated rate. The
rate used is the one from the day before Visa received the
record of the sale and not the date the sale was made.


3. The Bank then increases the conversion rate by 3%.

Any conversion rate that a merchant quoted to you at the
time of the sale is only an estimate and is subject to
change based on conversion rates at the time of posting.

As you will be living overseas for a few years, we also
recommend that you contact Customer Service prior to your
travel to provide us with your foreign address. We will
update your account so you may use your card overseas.

If you have any further questions, please reply using the
Secure Message Center.

This is actually the same as a 3% surcharge on the total amount (I did the math)... I opened up a Capital One credit card because I heard they had good fees for international usage, so now I have to seriously consider using them instead.