Best card for travelling overseas?.
Discuss Best card for travelling overseas?, on the CitiBank Rewards Program forum of FrequentFlyer.com.au, the home of frequent flyers.
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Welcome aboard EK. Please do not switch off your mobile phone
Thanks to advice in this community & got a Citibank Gold Visa credit card with no annual fee ever. So far so good.
I will be travelling to UK and Europe some time soon & want to use a card & cash as cost-effectively as possible. I'Ve looked at other posts here & it appears that forex transaction fees will apply if I use my Citibank Gold Visa card. I don't want to be charged any fees or additional charges - or at least reduce them as much as possible.
I'm therefore on the lookout for the best card to take with me overseas. It will be used for over-the-counter transactions as I do here for just about every single purchase on my Visa, and I also want to use it for getting local cash at ATMs. I don't really care about brand or bank, I'm just after a few recommendations as to the best way to go. And the less fees the better!
cheers
Danster
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I've looked into similar and the best option seems to be travellers' cheques, particularly if you can get them commission free (eg. ANZ Visa Platinum, Gold). Travellex promote their cash card but from what I can work out it costs about A$3 each time you withdraw cash. I have an AMEX Gold and ANZ Visa Platinum and they both charge 2.5% transaction fee for each foreign transaction, on top of the foreign exchange rate (which is often not as good as what you might get a bureau de change).
I use the Wizard Advantage MC o/s to avoid extra fees and have had no problems with it - of course you don't earn any points on purchases, it is a basic card, but you avoid fees. Definitely check it out.
I use the Wizard Advantage MC o/s to avoid extra fees and have had no problems with it - of course you don't earn any points on purchases, it is a basic card, but you avoid fees. Definitely check it out.
Generally no points for cash advances. Also the fees can hit hardest with cash advances.
A minimum two card attack is suggested, three preferably.
i.e. Take your wizard card with a point earning Visa and/or Amex card. Use the Wizard for cash and the others for point earning purchases as appropriate.
If I take my Citibank Gold Visa & use it for credit card puirchases, I'm still charged a forex fee, right? In which case, even though I earn no rewards points with Wizard it seems like more fee-free card.
If I take my Citibank Gold Visa & use it for credit card puirchases, I'm still charged a forex fee, right? In which case, even though I earn no rewards points with Wizard it seems like more fee-free card.
cheers
Dantser
I am going overseas as well in 2 months, and have the Citibank Gold For Life, and American Express Rewards Maximizer. I rang both Citibank and Amex to find out the transaction fees for foreign transactions. Citibank Gold is 3.4%, and Amex is 2.5%. I signed up yesterday for the Earth+ Card, which has 0% fees for foreign transactions, and you still get 1 point for every dollar with Amex, and 0.5 points for Mastercard. Pretty good deal, given no fees for the first year, and a free Qantas FF Membership if you don't have one already.
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Re: Best card for travelling overseas?
Quote:
Originally Posted by PlutekPlutek
I signed up yesterday for the Earth+ Card, which has 0% fees for foreign transactions, and you still get 1 point for every dollar with Amex, and 0.5 points for Mastercard. Pretty good deal, given no fees for the first year, and a free Qantas FF Membership if you don't have one already.
The Earth card might have no "fees" for foreign purchases. But there will be a "commission" charged as a percentage of the transaction applied to the exchange rate.
Some cards charge a flat fee (say $4.00) plus a percentage commission on the exchange rate, and other (like Amex and Citibank) just apply their commission to the exchange rate.
So don't be confused by the Earth claim of no fees for foreign purchases. They just mean there is no separate fee charged, but I can assure you that they will be using an exchange rate that is in their favour by at least 1.5% and possibly up to 3% or more.
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