@Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon

[@Yehuda]

Not sure if TD does a hard pull, but it seems like their Premier account reimburses for ATM fees (possibly unlimited?)

[Emkay]

Not sure if TD does a hard pull, but it seems like their Premier account reimburses for ATM fees (possibly unlimited?)

quite possibly only in u.s

[@Yehuda]

quite possibly only in u.s

Gna give them a call when I have a chance.

[SOS]

My brother uses a td account with a minimum balance ( not sure how much and not sure if it's the premier account) which he uses in Israel without any fees

[@Yehuda]

Yeah, I just called them. They said literally everything we would want:
$2500 min balance means no monthly fees.
No ATM fee from TD.
No FOREX fee.
ATM fees from the ATM itself are refunded - no maximum amount of withdrawals and no max amount of fees - it'll all be refunded!
No credit check to open an account.
Max daily withdrawal is like $760, but can be upped to $1000 by calling in or SMing.

Pretty awesome if the rep is right.

[ilherman]

Yeah, I just called them. They said literally everything we would want:
$2500 min balance means no monthly fees.
No ATM fee from TD.
No FOREX fee.
ATM fees from the ATM itself are refunded - no maximum amount of withdrawals and no max amount of fees - it'll all be refunded!
No credit check to open an account.
Max daily withdrawal is like $760, but can be upped to $1000 by calling in or SMing.

Pretty awesome if the rep is right.

I use TD all the time. The ATM mshine showes up a message before taking out the money that it will be a fee of 5 nis. This 5 nis DOES NOT show up on the statement. And I never got reimbursed for it. That's why I was wondering what the story is with USAA or Schwab

[@Yehuda]

I use TD all the time. The ATM mshine showes up a message before taking out the money that it will be a fee of 5 nis. This 5 nis DOES NOT show up on the statement. And I never got reimbursed for it. That's why I was wondering what the story is with USAA or Schwab

If it didn't show up on the statement, then does that mean you were never really charged?

[ilherman]

If it didn't show up on the statement, then does that mean you were never really charged?

They did charge me. Say I wanna take out 1000 nis, the ATM gives me a message if I accept that I will be charged a fee of 6 nis, so the total is now 1006 nis. How in the world would TD know how to split up the charge. If any Bank does please let me know. If USAA and Schwab are just doing the same what TD does, you will not be reimbursed everything.

[@Yehuda]

They did charge me. Say I wanna take out 1000 nis, the ATM gives me a message if I accept that I will be charged a fee of 6 nis, so the total is now 1006 nis. How in the world would TD know how to split up the charge. If any Bank does please let me know. If USAA and Schwab are just doing the same what TD does, you will not be reimbursed everything.

Gotcha. So then if that's the case, there would be no way to get completely free ATMs unless you find ones that don't charge ATM fees, like Discount bank in Israel.

[ilherman]

Gotcha. So then if that's the case, there would be no way to get completely free ATMs unless you find ones that don't charge ATM fees, like Discount bank in Israel.

Probably...

[SamKey]

Or you call them up and complain 

[Ergel]

With fidelity it shows up as one charge and they still refund it

How do they know how much the fee/charge was?

Dunno. I assume that info gets passed along to them, they just don't display it.

[@Yehuda]

Just added some money to Vonage to try it out while also finding out if 2 of my Shabbos hotels have manual lobby doors.
Calling a landline in London was 1.4cpm while GV wants 2cpm. Called the Marriott Marble Arch (where I want to stay once I get all my Marriott points) and they have regular doors and a revolving door, but not electric doors, so yay!
Calling a landline in Venice was 2.2cpm. GV was only 2cpm but I had just added the minimum $4.99 to Vonage and GV's minimum is $10, so I figured I'll just use Vonage still as my tester. Rep at Comfort Hotel Diana (which ey corrected me twice as "Hotel Diana" even though Choice calls it a Comfort Hotel) didn't speak English well but gave me someone else who responded to my question, "Are you a Jew? On Fridays, we'll gladly open the door for you." I hope he doesn't mind opening the door for me on Shabbos either.
Total cost, 10 cents.

[Yehoshua]

Rep at Comfort Hotel Diana (which ey corrected me twice as "Hotel Diana" even though Choice calls it a Comfort Hotel)

Same deal at the Westin Excelsior Rome. It's called the Hotel Excelsior, it just happens to be a Westin, but they don't advertise that fact.

[@Yehuda]

Just booked the Eliott in GIB. Ended up deciding that I wanted to go with spending as little cash as possible for accommodations, so I cancelled my paid stay ($15 fee) and booked it with 14K UR. Yes, I know 14K UR is more valuable than the cost would have been for paying for the hotel, but as explained above, I want to save my cash for this trip for things that can't be paid with points like taxis and attractions.

[@Yehuda]

And just booked Comfort Hotel Diana for 4 nights at 10K a night. 40K MR transferred to Choice. Was a good thing I reserved this one with cash b/c the room selection I wanted was not available today. Rep was able to change the payment method from cash to points by quickly releasing the rooms and then rebooking them, but had I not reserved the room, it may not have been available today (MR points just posted today).
Don't recall if I mentioned this upthread, but I chose this hotel b/c I wanted to use points and not cash (as with all my hotels) and even though it may not be a luxury hotel, it required MUCH less points than the SPG options and is just about as far from Chabad and the Kosher restaurants as the SPG places.

[whacked1]

@yehuda cant wait for you to update the wiki with your dates.... ps my wife wants to know what you're gonna do about laundry? 

[@Yehuda]

@yehuda cant wait for you to update the wiki with your dates.... ps my wife wants to know what you're gonna do about laundry? 

Hah, not sure I'm going to post exact dates just yet.

We plan on bringing just a carryon and backpack each with 7 days worth of clothing, so laundry once a week. Some hotels have washing machines, for those that don't, I'm sure we can find laundromats.

[SOS]

And just booked Comfort Hotel Diana for 4 nights at 10K a night. 40K MR transferred to Choice. Was a good thing I reserved this one with cash b/c the room selection I wanted was not available today. Rep was able to change the payment method from cash to points by quickly releasing the rooms and then rebooking them, but had I not reserved the room, it may not have been available today (MR points just posted today).
Don't recall if I mentioned this upthread, but I chose this hotel b/c I wanted to use points and not cash (as with all my hotels) and even though it may not be a luxury hotel, it required MUCH less points than the SPG options and is just about as far from Chabad and the Kosher restaurants as the SPG places.

I am assuming that the Marriott mentioned upthread was also too much points?

[Yehoshua]

Hah, not sure I'm going to post exact dates just yet.

We plan on bringing just a carryon and backpack each with 7 days worth of clothing, so laundry once a week. Some hotels have washing machines, for those that don't, I'm sure we can find laundromats.

You'll be able to get 1 week's worth of clothing in just a carry on and backpack? How much of your carry on will be filled with your wife's stuff? I find it a lot easier to pack carry on only when I don't need to pack shabbos clothes.