Credit Card With No Foreign Transaction Fees

I'm taking a river cruise this coming November. The only credit card I have is a Hilton Honors AMEX. My understanding is that Visa and Master Card are best for Europe. Can someone recommend a Visa or Master Card that doesn't charge foreign transaction fees? I've heard Capital One may be one of them.

Roz

I recently got a Chase Sapphire Preferred Visa. No foreign transaction fees AND double points on all dining and travel. Triple points on dining the first Friday of each month! AND 40,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. We had my stepson, who is going to study at Oxford, get one, too!

Another vote for Chase Sapphire Preferred. They usually waive the fee the first year so you can try it out but ask to make sure. The best thing is that when you call the number on the back of the card you get a person…a real live person immediately…always been helpful.

Chase is a good choice; I also have Bank of America Travel Rewards Card and a Barclaycard Arrival+ to use when traveling outside of the USA. Discover does not charge FTF's, but not readily accepted in Europe.

Another thing to consider is your ATM card - some will charge a conversion and a transaction fee. Not a lot of $$$, but when you use it a lot, those fees add up. My primary local bank's ATM charges a FTF, so I opened a "convenience" no cost, checking account at another bank and deposited a couple of K in it and requested an ATM, not a debit card, to use when abroad. That particular bank does not charge any fees and uses an excellent conversion rate. Good to have an additional ATM card just in case one is compromised.

Always notify your CC banks of foreign travel dates. My local bank gave me specifics on particular areas that could present problems.

Darcy

Thanks for the info and insights.

How do the points work with the Chase Sapphire card? I guess what I'm asking is, what can you do with the points? Hotel rooms? Airfare?

Darcy, thanks for the reminder about notifying my cards and banks I'll be traveling abroad. Since a lot is prepaid and included with Uniworld, I don't anticipate using my ATM card much. Even my pre-cruise stay in Budapest is pretty much paid for. Will need to use ATM card mainly to get Hungarian florints and some euros.

Roz

Thanks for the info and insights.

 

How do the points work with the Chase Sapphire card? I guess what I'm asking is, what can you do with the points? Hotel rooms? Airfare?

 

Darcy, thanks for the reminder about notifying my cards and banks I'll be traveling abroad. Since a lot is prepaid and included with Uniworld, I don't anticipate using my ATM card much. Even my pre-cruise stay in Budapest is pretty much paid for. Will need to use ATM card mainly to get Hungarian florints and some euros.

 

Roz

Roz,

I just got the card, so haven't gotten my first bill or the bonus points, so I haven't been able to use points, yet.

Here's a quote about points: "1,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points equal 1,000 partner miles/points. Travel programs include British Airways Executive Club, Korean Air SKYPASS, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards®, United MileagePlus®, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, Amtrak Guest Rewards®, Hyatt Gold Passport®, IHG® Rewards Club, Marriott Rewards® and The Ritz-Carlton Rewards®."

For my purposes, United and Southwest work fine for my international and domestic flights. As you can see, there are 4 hotel chain rewards. I also read that you can buy travel with points, where 40,000 points is worth $500. I'm not sure of the mechanics of doing that.

Donna

Thanks, Donna. SW works for me. I prefer the Hilton family of brands, but use the other hotel chains when I have to.

Roz

Thanks, Donna. SW works for me. I prefer the Hilton family of brands, but use the other hotel chains when I have to.

 

Roz

If you like Hilton go for the Citi Hilton Honors reserve card. It gives you gold status at hilton and plus it has the chip in it for use in Europe.

Thanks, Dave. I'll look into that.

Roz

If you like Hilton go for the Citi Hilton Honors reserve card. It gives you gold status at hilton and plus it has the chip in it for use in Europe.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred also has a chip. It is chip and signature. One nice thing about it is that a live person answers whenever I call. I don't waste my time going through a bunch of prompts.

@Roz, I'm actually thinking about getting rid of my Southwest card, now that I have the Chase Sapphire Preferred. Since we get the two bags free anyway, we don't need the SWA card for that. We get double points on a LOT more than just SWA flights/purchases. The anniversary points give back some value, but we hardly ever use the drink coupons.

I've never had a SW card. Don't like the yearly fee, and I get drink coupons (which I rarely use) from SW Rapid rewards. Most of my flights are in the morning, and alcohol at 4:30 am just doesn't appeal.

Roz

Roz,

 

I just got the card, so haven't gotten my first bill or the bonus points, so I haven't been able to use points, yet.

 

Here's a quote about points: "1,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points equal 1,000 partner miles/points. Travel programs include British Airways Executive Club, Korean Air SKYPASS, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards®, United MileagePlus®, Virgin Atlantic Flying Club, Amtrak Guest Rewards®, Hyatt Gold Passport®, IHG® Rewards Club, Marriott Rewards® and The Ritz-Carlton Rewards®."

 

For my purposes, United and Southwest work fine for my international and domestic flights. As you can see, there are 4 hotel chain rewards. I also read that you can buy travel with points, where 40,000 points is worth $500. I'm not sure of the mechanics of doing that.

 

Donna

Chase UR points are best used by transferring to one of the partners. Most of the transfers are instant, and used correctly are worth much more than 1.25 cents per point. The catch with that is that you need to have enough point to actually book something. It it's a 25k flight, it may take awhile to get there (again)... but if that flight would cost you $600 then it's a heck of a deal. You can transfer points in increments of 1000 though, so if you have 22000 points in AAdvantage, you can top it off easily and get the value out of the existing points.

Southwest is easier because flights can be had for less than 10k points pretty routinely (for us), but that is strictly on a point-per-cent basis, so they best you can get is 1.4 cents per point these days. Hotels are all over the map, and many times you are better paying cash (and getting 2 points per dollar) than using points at a low value.

In terms of the 1.25 cents per point: you just call and book your item through chase travel services. They can use partial points to pay for your trip, which is beneficial in the case of a cruise. The 40k points would translate directly into a $500 payment against the cruise. This is nice and easy but it's about the lowest value you can get for Ultimate Rewards points. I suspect they sell gift cards and 1 cent per point, but have never really looked for obvious reasons. I think you can also use them on Amazon, but again at 1 cent per point... a pretty poor value.

Back to the OP: our primary card is Barclay's arrival. You get 2 points per cent across the board, and a 5% rebate so effectively 2.1% return on spending. That can be used at that rate against any travel category expense and can be consumed in increments of $25. We still book travel and pay for restaurants using the Sapphire since the return there is better, but our default card is the Barclay's. I don't know the current sign up bonus though, which should always be part of the equation.

Mike,

Thanks for the useful information and explaining the points system.

Roz

Mike,

 

Thanks for the useful information and explaining the points system.

 

Roz

If you go to the tourist bars in Budapest make sure you know the prices of drinks before you order them, got ripped off in one a few yars ago - a posh bar which was fairly empty maybe because it was so expensive.... a bar 100 feet away busy with locals and back to normal prices... have a great time this side of the pond....

I'll make sure I'm not ripped off by bartenders or gypsies. :D

Roz

capital one has no foreign transaction fees-

I have the Quicksilver-no "reward points" just good old US $$ to spend anywhere on anything (1.50%)

Capitol One Venture, Chase Sapphire and Barclaycard are some I have with NFTF.

Many have no fee and one of them is Capital One.

Keith

Thanks for all the great information. Spent a few hrs. this morning exploring all my options and doing comparisions and finally settled on the Capital One Quicksilver card. Got approved instantly (I'm already a Capital One customer), so that's one more thing to check off my "to do" list.

Roz

Chase is a good choice; I also have Bank of America Travel Rewards Card and a Barclaycard Arrival+ to use when traveling outside of the USA. Discover does not charge FTF's, but not readily accepted in Europe.

 

Another thing to consider is your ATM card - some will charge a conversion and a transaction fee. Not a lot of $$$, but when you use it a lot, those fees add up. My primary local bank's ATM charges a FTF, so I opened a "convenience" no cost, checking account at another bank and deposited a couple of K in it and requested an ATM, not a debit card, to use when abroad. That particular bank does not charge any fees and uses an excellent conversion rate. Good to have an additional ATM card just in case one is compromised.

 

Always notify your CC banks of foreign travel dates. My local bank gave me specifics on particular areas that could present problems.

 

Darcy

I had ATM cards (NOT debit cards) from two different banks while traveling the Med in 2010. Same as you, thought it would be good to have an additional card - just in case. Well, both were denied. I tried calling both banks to try and get it straightened out. Well, it seems unless the card was tied to a checking account, and therefore a "debit card" they could not do anything.

I'm not sure if things have changed since then, so it may be wise to make sure "ATM only" cards will work, or that you will be traveling with someone who will be able to have access to the ATM's with a debit card. Me - I was fortunate to be traveling with a friend who just doubled her withdrawal amounts and would give me half (this was repaid once we got back to the states and all transactions were up-to-date). We also used transaction fee free credit cards for the majority of purchases.

You might want to check out the Marriott Rewards Visa Signature card. There are no foreign transaction fees, plus they offer various promotions (statement credits, points, free night's stay, etc.).

Charles Schwab offers a no-foreign-transaction fee Visa debit/ATM card and all ATM fees each month are refunded at the end of the billing cycle. http://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/banking_lending/checking_account

It's great to be in country and withdraw local currency without incurring any fees and getting close to the interbank rate as the cambios (exchange houses) tend to shave a half percent or more off the going rate... though I will say most tourist towns tend to prefer USD. We live five minutes from Tijuana and always use pesos to pay - many of the restaurants downtown have to whip out a calculator to figure out the bill in pesos! (It's about 16.9pesos to 1 USD right now - they usually round down so give us 16p or 15p to 1USD - only a few pennies in savings, but when you're down there quite a bit or making a big purchase, it adds up!)

Chase Sapphire Preferred is my favorite card of all the ones I have. I like it because it is flexible and allows me to transfer the points into all of the Alliances, many of the hotels I stay in as well as Amtrak. I have flown around the world using my points from the bonus points from the sign up, shopping through their shopping portals knowing when to use the card for multiple points ( two times points when dining or traveling), etc. personally I do not like the card that gives you a certain amount of money to use based on how much you spend I prefer to have zone based airfare rather than airfare that I have to purchase which does fluctuate where points don't unless the awards are revamped .

I always get a kick out of getting a card that doesn't have the foreign transaction fee. How much are you people spending that you would get a special credit card just for just that reason. I'm not talking about people that travel a lot. But seriously, even if you spend $1000 you are only being charged $30 (or like me $10). Even at $10,000 you are only being charged $300. Sure, that's not chump change but realistically how many people asking this question are spending that much? Then you aren't going to travel and need this special card for years, maybe even after it expires.

My Amex card is 3% but my credit union card is only 1%. That's only $100 on $10,000!

I once worked with a girl who was going to Canada for the weekend. For 3 weeks she called every day to find out the exchange rate. Finally I asked her how much she planned on exchanging. Only $100! Seriously, you spent that much time? So you had to pay 20 cents more. OMG!

I always get a kick out of getting a card that doesn't have the foreign transaction fee. How much are you people spending that you would get a special credit card just for just that reason.

I can certainly see it for snowbirds, who travel to a warmer country for part of the winter season. Personally, I live in Canada, and have a few charges from the US on a regular basis - membership fees in various groups. It still probably only amounts to a couple thousand a year, but the foreign exchange rate between currencies is bad enough - I don't want to add 3% to that. It's not a "special card" used only for foreign charges, but when I chose a Visa card, I chose one with no forex fees.