This is important because it's going to save you like 10% the next time you travel outside the US. For years, our magnetic stripe cards haven't worked abroad, as the rest of the world runs chip and pin. This meant that you had to go to a foreign exchange place and get a pre-loaded debit card while being charged like 15 cents more per Euro than the posted rate. Now, your cards work, but there's a $2.50 convenience fee per foreign use, and a 3.25% increase over the posted conversion rate for the transaction. Those of you who mathematically inclined might notice that at some point, this becomes cheaper than foreign exchange places. For those who aren't, here's the math to do to figure out where that point is in the local currency:
Service Fee /(ForEx place's rate - interbank rate*1.0325).
If you do that right now with Euros, this equals about €40. You can use your cars to pull out more than €40 at ATMs or buy big stuff. However, you should still go to the ForEx office for a debit card with some prepaid Euros on it in case you get caught without cash. Just don't change your entire trip's worth of currency stateside like you used to.
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