That's how I work it. I've never had a problem except with the temp card you buy. It can't do international purchases. (Wal-Mart money card that is to say.)

I can't believe you're still with Bank of America. They are, bar none, the world's worst bank and were recently voted the worst company in America if I'm not mistaken???

I had a BofA account very briefly. They charged me strange fees they couldn't explain twice and wouldn't remove. The second time I closed my account and went with ING. Never had a problem since.

BTW, American banks are the worst I've ever dealt with. Always high fees, always a problem. Here in Bangkok, Thai banks are incredible. Dirt cheap fees (ie: 3 baht or 9 cents if you use an ATM not in their network and you're allowed 3 times a month before they even start charging that), awesome bank tellers and no problem transactions. I'd be totally spoiled if I banked anywhere else as Thai banks are so good.
I spend about 2 months a year in Spain and do numerous ATM withdrawals and foreign currency exchanges while I'm there. I've never ever ever had a problem with a Spanish bank and I don't know anyone who has.

An American bank telling a customer that Spain is known for bank fraud is either a liar or stupid.

Tax avoidance doesn't mean they don't pay tax, it means they don't pay as much as they should. For example a company in the UK, which has all it's work and operations and sales based in the UK but has an office for headquarters in Switzerland where they pay their much, much lower rate of tax.

It's been a problem in the UK because we have huge, multi-billion dollar companies in the UK making hundreds of millions of pounds in profit (Amazon, GOOGLE, Starbucks) but not paying any, of very, very little tax here.

IF GOG is based in Poland, where all it's activities, land, people etc are there, then why is it paying it's tax in Cyprus . . .

Though, I give GOG lee-way as it's profits are not made in Poland but are international. That and that they are a smaller company.

Your bank manager really made my day! I would not have been surprised if my neighbors heard me laughing while I read that. Germany on a restricted list because of fraud? Cyprus I can understand. Spain is outrageous. Germany is hilarious! That's one of the last countries I would place on such a list. Maybe this manager is related to the one in Dilbert?

Coincidentally, I was talking to my Mom on the phone last night about that since she's planning to finally switch. She's been lucky enough not have gotten charged any sorts of fees in recent years since she always had enough money in her accounts, but she expects that'll change soon as her income will be considerably lower in the next year(s).

She asked me about credit unions - so far I'm the only one in the family that seems to be using them - so I told her all I knew about them, and it sounds like she'll switch to one nearby where she lives.

Glad I could give you a laugh. :)

I'm going to be moving from the area relatively soon, so I didn't bother changing my account with them. I'll just close it out when I do leave. I have a small account with the first bank I mentioned. I thought my card with them had expired, but turns out it still has a year left, so I simply used that to purchase the games.

So, basically, I just ranted on for no reason, lol. Although I do find it absurd how this bank handled the whole thing.

My father only uses American credit unions (he has three accounts) as he dumped all his US bank accounts years ago after problem after problem, and has never had a problem with any of them. My parents travel a lot in Europe and he's always happy how he doesn't have to pay for international ATM withdrawals thru any of his credit unions :)

I have one account with a US credit union and have had it for about 15 years -- awesome company, nice people, never any problems and very low cost fees. Tell your Mom - excellent decision :)

I've used 5 or 6 American banks with GOG and never had a problem. Which bank is this?

Yeah, this is the one thing about my current bank that I find annoying. They do seem to filter international transactions. But, going through paypal gets around it with pretty much no pain. Honestly when it came up denied I wasn't too surprised because of it being international, I had already dealt with this when I went on my last vacation. Thankfully Czech Republic is not on the bank's list of places to not do business, it saved me the trouble of having to buy my currency ahead of time.

As for Bank of America ... can't say enough bad things about them. I'm a former customer who got fed up with their bullshit fees, crappy customer service and creative accounting practices (really, there were several instances where my electronic direct deposits were added only after all debits(electronic also) had been applied, probably so they could ding me with an overdraft fee). Now, as a non-customer they still have capacity to cause me pain. Unfortunately, my employer outsources their payroll and it's paid out of a BoA account. If you think BoA is crappy to deal with as a customer, try it as someone who doesn't hold an account with them. They are literally the only bank I've ever heard of that will charge you $6 to cash a check drawn on their bank. It's literally cheaper to go to Wal-mart and cash a check than it is to go to the bank where it's drawn off of, if that bank is BoA.