Post: #1

I've been traveling through EE for over 6 months now. I have both American and Canadian bank accounts and credit cards. I've been withdrawing money from these accounts from local ATMs or using my North American credit cards. I'm sure I'm wasting a lot of money on withdrawal and credit card fees but I'm not sure what is the best way to go about getting a travel credit card.

Any suggestions?

Post: #2

Check out the chase united card. It has no foreign transaction fees.

https://www.chase.com/online/Credit-Card...mepage.htm

Post: #3

There are plenty of credit cards that do not charge a foreign exchange fee http://www.bankrate.com/credit-cards/no-...cards.aspx

Not only that but there are plenty of checking accounts that do not charge a foreign exchange fee and reimburse any atm fees http://thepointsguy.com/2014/02/the-top-...-atm-fees/

Do yourself a favor and get one (or two in case your lose your cards) of both.

Post: #4

(12-24-2014 02:57 PM)bigbait Wrote:  There are plenty of credit cards that do not charge a foreign exchange fee http://www.bankrate.com/credit-cards/no-...cards.aspx

Not only that but there are plenty of checking accounts that do not charge a foreign exchange fee and reimburse any atm fees http://thepointsguy.com/2014/02/the-top-...-atm-fees/

Do yourself a favor and get one (or two in case your lose your cards) of both.

Question....when you get one of these credit cards, how do you make payments on it?

Post: #5

This is a good summary

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/...avel-money

Post: #6

Charles Schwab Investor Checking Debit Card. (No deposit requirements - it sounds expensive, but it's not.)

No foreign transaction fees. No ATM fees. Refunds all ATM fees while abroad. Not only does it not cost you money to use it, it literally pays you back all the fees you incur while overseas. Also, if your card gets lost or stolen, they'll FedEx it to you where you are.

I lost a Chase card before and they refused to send it overseas. I had to send it to my mom in the US, then have her send it to me, the whole process took almost a month. With Schwab, I got my card in about 5 days.

So, pretty much IMO Schwab's card is the best card for travelers.

Post: #7

I have three or four Capital One CC cards. No foreign transaction fees. And no annual fee. I also was using a Barclays card with no FTF but cancelled it cause of the annual fee. As far as I can remember, Capital One is the only company that offers CCs with no FTF and no annual fee and they rebate 2% cash back on all purchases.

For ATMS I use Schwab as my main card. No FTF and they rebate all ATM fees even abroad. I also use a Fidelity card as backup. They rebate all fees too, but apparently charge 1% FTF though I have never really been able to tell if they do it every time.

The crap thing about American CC's is that since most of the world is going to chip and pin technology US cards can be harder to use abroad. Even if you get one with a Chip they don't have a PIN so its just stupid. I have been to like 2-3 countries this year including Norway and Colombia where my card would not work because of this.

Post: #8

(12-24-2014 02:46 PM)Pete Wrote:  Check out the chase united card. It has no foreign transaction fees.

https://www.chase.com/online/Credit-Card...mepage.htm

No! This card sucks. Don't get it. Most Chase cards at least have no foreign transaction fees. Try the sapphire preferred. Same annual fee but more flexibility with the points you earn etc. Don't get MileagePlus!!!

And I would avoid annual fee cards in general.

Post: #9

If you have a little money go with TD Canada Trust All Inclusive Banking I think its called now. $30 a month unless you keep 5k in the account, in which case its free (hence the need for some money).

But basically preferred rates for all FX, and no withdraw fees for international ATMs on the plus network. This is a debit card though so you need to get cash first then buy whatever. You get heaps of other goodies too, free safety deposit box, free traveller's cheques, free rewards credit card (normally $120/yr) which if you want you can use, but in my experience, most places in Europe tack on 3% for CCs, so I've always just gone the cash route. Free USD account/CC if you frequent the US.

For someone who travels a lot and actually makes use of the perks, this is hands down the best deal in North America, and more than offsets the opportunity cost of $5k.

In the US, there is really isn't much I've found in terms of great banking deals for the traveller, but then it's a lot harder down there because there are so many more banks, and a ton which are regional, and even national ones like Chase apparently have different offerings for different areas.

Post: #10

Most Canadian or American banks should offer some kind of premium plan that is fairly expensive monthly, but free if you keep a certain amount of money in your bank account. These plans often give you either around 5 or unlimited international ATM transactions each month.

Really, if you have one of those, you are only really paying the transaction fee of ~$3.00 if you pull out cash at an ATM. That's really nothing in the grand scheme of things.

I don't know about credit cards because the places I go to aren't super credit friendly, I usually only use cash unless its at some kind of upper-end hotel or buying airplane tickets or whatever.

Post: #11

Given the current situation in Ukraine, you can do much better with cash than using any ATM card, I'm talking 20% better.

On Monday, I exchanged $500 for 9500 UAH (19 per dollar) from a Babushka working a particular street corner in Kharkiv Ukraine. If I had used an ATM to withdraw 9500 UAH, it would have cost me at least $600 (official rate is 15.82 UAH per dollar). I saved $100 in one transaction.

When I run out of cash, I'm going to try sending myself USD via Western Union or MoneyGram, then going back to the Babushka. MoneyGram's fees seem to be considerably lower than the difference between the official and black market exchange rates.

Post: #12

Credit: BarclayCard Arrival+ No foreign transaction fee. It has chip and pin technology and a pretty good rewards program. It's free for the first year then $50 a year after.

Debit: Charles Schwab Investor Checking Debit Card. No minimum deposit. Fee refund at any ATM worldwide. The one problem I've run into is that it doesn't work in some ATMs.

Post: #13

(01-08-2015 08:53 AM)William Windsor Wrote:  When I run out of cash, I'm going to try sending myself USD via Western Union or MoneyGram, then going back to the Babushka. MoneyGram's fees seem to be considerably lower than the difference between the official and black market exchange rates.

Try to open a USD account with Raiffeisen Aval or UniCredit. You can wire your USD direct to your account and then withdraw US banknotes from their machines or over the counter. Check with them first to ensure that they'll have cash. I haven't been there for a couple of years, but last time UniCredit had USD in their machines and Raiffeisen had them available for withdrawal over the counter.

International wire fees are usually fixed at around $20, so you'll save more by transferring a larger amount.

Post: #14

I use an HSBC World Premier Mastercard for no CC feed and I hear Charles Schwab, if you're American, is great for no ATM fees.