Guys I am coming from the states for a well needed amsterdam solo trip. Cannot wait and have taken tons of great notes and recommendations from everyone here. So thanks and keep up all the great posts.

The last time I was in the dam I brought traveler checks and exchanged my money that way. It worked out well. I have heard that ATM is the way to go. I just called my bank (Chase) and they charge a 3% fee to exchange the money plus the exchange rate.

I am not opposed to opening another bank account with a different bank.

Does anyone have any recommendations of any banks in the states where I can open an account and then use my cash card in Amsterdam with no fees?

I take cash with me from the States, then exchange at Sunro or Lorentz on Damrak

The ATM will give you a good exchange rate, but I don't know of any banks that don't charge a "foreign transaction fee". Besides, my ATM card wouldn't allow the total withdrawls per day, given the number of girls I often see.

Lorentz and Sunro are usually very close to one another on the exchange rate, both have a good rate and neither charges commission. Both are very close to Centraal Station. Do _not_ exchange at GWK/Travelex. They consistently have the worst exchange rates and commissions I have seen anywhere I have been in the world.

the dogs

I do the same by bringing cash with me.I always use Lorentz.They seem to have very good rates.If you can try to get with ever you can in small bills ie 1 dollar/5 dollar bills...Lorentz gives a much better rate for smaller bills.I asked one year what they considered small bills, thinking 10 & 20's, but they told my fives & one's are considered small bills..It's a hassel but if you can get a couple hundred in small bills you get more bang for your buck....

ATM & most C.C. charge you a "foreign transaction fee". I rented bikes charged it to my Amex low & behold a $2.75 foreign transaction fee seperate line item...

Lorentz are located on the Damrak(Main drag right out of Central Sation), Damstraat(One Block down form the Dam right before you hit the RLD), & Leidsestraat(Same street as the tram track right before the Leidseplein)

Lorentz has recently (August) changed its commission free policy, now your transaction must be 500 euro or more to be commission free. Transactions less than 500 euro a commission of 3% is charged.

I always use ATMs. 3% is a pretty standard fee for most, if not all, banks. However, Chase (my bank) charges an additional $5 per transaction on top of the 3%, so I tend to make fewer and larger withdrawals. Citibank does not charge $5. Don't know about other banks, but 3% on top of the up to the minute exchange rate doesn't strike me as excessive.

Not a bank, but I used to have a Fidelity "cash management account." It functions exactly like a checking account--you get a debit card and can write checks on it--but technically it's a brokerage account. They charge a fee of 1% over the interbank rate for foreign currency withdrawals, so it's useful for travelling.

If you want a traditional bank, try looking for a small one in your area. I think it's a mistake to do business with the larger banks people have mentioned here. They all suck. I had an account with a place 5 minutes walking distance from my home. They had only 3, perhaps 4 branches. Excellent customer service, same day personalised replies to emails (as opposed to waiting a week and getting a form letter back that doesn't even address your issue), and they also charged a 1% fee for foreign currency withdrawals.

I had both accounts open at the same time so, when visiting Amsterdam, there was no problem of hitting a daily limit, or of being completely screwed if the large euro withdrawals triggered either bank's fraud system and locked my account, which never even happened. Fidelity called me about it once without disabling my account, after I'd already returned from my first trip to Amsterdam, and then never again. The two accounts worked well and I think I got the cheapest possible conversion I could. There's really no reason to be paying anything more than 1%, let alone a $5 fee on top of that.


It's still a poor exchange rate compared to using the ATM. Also, one guy who works in the Damstraat location is a complete asshole. He made me wait something like 12 minutes while talking to this guy endlessly before quite brusquely informing me that he doesn't take coins and that no one does (I had some British money left over from a trip and wanted to convert it to euros).

As for credit cards, Capital One charge no foreign transaction fee, they claim. It seems to hold up. I made a foreign transaction in GBP (worth about $72 USD) a couple of nights ago, checked the interbank rate online at the time, and when I saw the charge show up on my statement, it was within 50 cents of what I'd calculated earlier. I think they do tell you that Visa charge a fee of 1% for using their network for the foreign conversion, but I can't actually tell if that's the case (I suppose there will be a difference between the current exchange rate when I click "buy" and what the transaction actually "settles" at, which could account for the 50 cent difference in the event there's no fee being added). Anyway, this or any card that does not charge their own foreign transaction fee is the way to go. I would always use this to pay for my hotel and save a bit of money. N.B. their customer service is absolute shit and their fraud system is triggered seemingly almost every time I buy anything from a place I haven't bought from before... has been extremely annoying to have to confirm legitimate transactions so often (card gets disabled, have to call them up, sometimes from overseas) but I kept the card to use when travelling.

Bankrate.com is one way to compare local banks in your area, but unfortunately they don't seem to have a way to search/sort based on foreign transaction fee amount... I just looked.

To the OP - hope this helps. A little effort now will save you money in the long run. And I hope others might reconsider lining the pockets of those bums at the exchange kiosks... there's simply no need!

does anyone know what lorentz hours are?

I thought about using the ATM this year.I use a credit union for my banking needs.I like to bring cash just incase I have an issue with my C.C. or if I tried to use an ATM having issue with that.I don't get charged an extra ATM fee unless ATM I am using(Other than my credit unions) charges a fee.I guess for my next trip I will need to find out what fees apply along with with (If any) limits there are.Sounds like a better plan than using these exchange places.Personally any extra fees are bullshit..I agree about the larger banks, drop them.