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re: exchange rates
Hi pickypalla,
Based on this and this (both from American banks, but it works the same way I think in Canada?), it seems that the exchange rates are set by Visa/Mastercard for foreign transactions, not the bank itself. So, unless your bank charges an additional percentage fee, it should be the same price as the bank down the road from yours. HOWEVER, the per-transaction fees that the bank will charge on top of that (if any) will differ from bank to bank.
(This is all from looking online, not actual comparisons that I've done, so I know that I might be missing some things here. There's all the rage about a Charles Schwab bank card in the states that offers NO foreign exchange markup, so I might be totally off the mark in regards to whether banks add an additional markup as a percentage, on top of what Visa/MC adds.)
That said, the general consensus online seems to be that regardless of the bank, you will *always* get the best rate when using your card for foreign purchases by using an ATM in the country you're going to - not at your bank, not at a bank in the other country, or at point of sale (which have 2.75% forex markup usually) 0 just at the foreign ATM.
Cheers!
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