![]() I heard him inhale in that way people inhale when they have bad news they don’t want to tell you. “We can expedite the card to you via FedEx,” he said. The web-chat representative told me to phone the company, so I did, and I told that representative my sob story all over again. Luckily I had already started the process of funding my account, but there was no way my card would arrive to me in time for our trip. Receiving the debit card for your accountĪpparently you have to fund your checking account FIRST, and then they’ll mail your card, which will arrive within 10 business days. Not so, as I would find out during a web-chat with a company representative only a few days before I was due to depart. See, when I first opened my Schwab account, I was operating under the assumption that they would mail me my debit card as soon as my account was created. This is where things get a little confusing. You don’t even need to use the brokerage account if you don’t want to, since there’s no minimum balance required. All you have to do is go to their site and either fill out the application online or print it out and mail it in, et voila. How To Open a Charles Schwab High Yield Investor Checking Account(R) In One Simple StepĪpplying for the Charles Schwab brokerage and checking account package is easy. Airports offer the worst rates, so only change there if you can’t avoid it. ATMs tend to give the best exchange rates other than banks, so that is also a great way to make sure you aren’t losing out too much on daily rate fluctuations.Ī quick note about exchanging money: Be sure to exchange domestic currency for foreign currency before you leave whenever possible since that will give you a better rate. You can keep a larger sum of money in your checking account back home and withdraw it as you go. Credit card cash advances are stupid expensive, so that’s why having a debit card in your arsenal comes in handy. ![]() And for someone traveling for an extended amount of time, it just isn’t feasible to carry around all the cash you might need for your trip. Credit cards are always my go-to form of payment because I love racking up points to use towards free flights (more on that in a future post, methinks), but credit cards are not always accepted everywhere you need them to be (hello, Japan, I’m looking at you). Cash and credit cards should be plenty, right? They had me sold from the word go.īut before I get into further detail about the Schwab checking account, let’s talk a little bit about why you’d want a debit card in your wallet when you travel in the first place. All that on top of no foreign transaction fees for using your debit card in a foreign country, plus a special number to call customer service from abroad (from any non-cell phone) for which Charles Schwab will accept the charges. Then I found out that Charles Schwab offers a package brokerage and checking account online (only available to US residents, I’m afraid) that has no yearly fees, no minimum balance, no requirements of any kind, and they reimburse all ATM withdrawal fees including the ones you incur overseas. While I was researching for our round the world trip-which has officially begun, now that I’m sitting on the airplane en route to Auckland as I type this draft we’re sitting in the living room of our self-contained flat where we’re WWOOFing north of Auckland-I wasn’t even considering bringing a debit card with me. ![]() How to Open a Charles Schwab Checking Account 3
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