I use First Republic and Schwab for banking and investing, respectively. Previously, when traveling, I withdrew cash with my Schwab checking account as it had no fees when withdrawing internationally. However, to get a personal line of credit, I moved my checking to First Republic.
However, First Republic doesn’t explicitly say whether they charge currency exchange fees, but they did say they don’t charge any fees. So, I tried it out by withdrawing money from both my First Republic and Schwab accounts and calculating the effective exchange rates.
| Account | Euro Exchange Rate |
|---|---|
| First Republic | 1.1824 |
| Schwab | 1.1824 |
| Wise | 1.18050 |
Both First Republic and Schwab used the same exchange rate, did not charge any currency conversion fees, and reimbursed me for the €3.95 ATM fee. At the same time, I looked up the Wise exchange rate, which was much better. However, Wise does not reimburse ATM fees and charges 2%+ for withdrawals over $100, which makes it more expensive overall.
Overall, I am happy with my First Republic and Schwab accounts and still haven’t found a use for my Wise account.