The best card to use abroad is often a travel credit card that has special perks and protections to match your travel needs.
In this article, we’ll be taking a look at what makes the best card to use abroad and discussing key factors that can help you find the best option.
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Feel free to use the table of contents to jump ahead to the sections most relevant to you.
Table of Contents
- Best Card to Use Abroad
- Is It Better to Use Credit or Debit Card Abroad?
- How to Find the Best Travel Credit Card Abroad
- Factors to Considering When Choosing a Travel Credit Card/a>
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Ready to Explore Your Options?
Best Card to Use Abroad
Best card to use abroad is usually a credit card with a 0% foreign transaction fee, strong consumer protection, and additional bonuses and savings for frequent travelers. That said, it can be difficult to know which card matches your client profile. Likewise, many of the best cards designed to be used abroad involve high annual maintenance fees.
Needless to say, it’s important to choose the right card from the outset. Otherwise, you may get locked into a card relationship that doesn’t benefit you in the long run.
Is It Better to Use a Credit Card or Debit Card Abroad?
Whether it is better to use a credit card or debit card abroad will ultimately depend on your priorities. However, in general, credit cards offer significantly more consumer protections and benefits when being used outside of your home country. These protections and benefits include fraud protection, travel bonuses, and savings on expenses like insurance.
We’ll take a closer look at how credit cards and debit cards compare when being used abroad below. Plus, we’ll also discuss the key factors that you should look at when deciding which specific card is best for you.
Benefits of Using a Travel Credit Card
The benefits of using a travel credit card over a debit card include a number of consumer and security protections that debit cards don’t offer. These include fraud protection, lost and stolen card protection, and even refund protection which can be difficult to enforce with debit cards.
Additionally, credit cards also offer a wider range of pre-travel benefits, which include accumulating points that can be used towards future travel. Likewise, many major travel credit cards also offer insurance waivers when the card is used for qualifying purposes. These purposes include car rentals, and flights, and can even cover lost luggage.
Benefits of Using a Travel Debit Card
In general, the benefits of using a travel debit card do not compare to the benefits of using a travel credit card. However, if you are comparing a travel debit card to a regular debit card, you may find that they offer more flexibility in terms of the currencies used, the exchange rate charged, and the ability to segregate funds away from your primary bank accounts for security reasons.
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How to Find the Best Travel Credit Card Abroad
To find the best travel credit card abroad, you should start by determining what your priorities are. For example, certain individuals will prioritize travel reward points that they can accumulate when booking travel. On the other hand, other people will prioritize the cost of maintaining and using the card. In certain cases, the consumer and fraud protection offered by a card may be of the highest importance.
That said, there is a wide range of factors that prospective cardholders should consider when looking for the best travel credit card. With this in mind, we’ve broken down the key factors, including many that are often overlooked by comparison websites.
Factors to Considering When Choosing a Travel Credit Card
Factors to consider when choosing a travel credit card include fees for using your card abroad, available protection, and travel-related benefits. For example, many travel credit cards offer insurance discounts and waivers.
Examples of insurance waivers that many travel credit cards offer include travel insurance, flight interruption insurance, lost luggage insurance, car rental insurance, and more. Here is a closer look at other factors you should consider when choosing a travel credit card.
Factors to Considering When Choosing a Travel Credit Card
- Access to the card network in the countries you’re visiting
- Foreign transaction fees that you will have to pay
- Consumer protection for fraudulent transactions
- Lost and stolen card protection while traveling
- Annual maintenance fee for holding the card
- Travel bonuses such as accumulating points
- Insurance waivers for rental vehicles
- Insurance waivers for travel, flights, and luggage
- And more
Frequently Asked Questions
Below are three of the most common questions that we receive from people looking into the best card to use abroad. If you have further questions you would like answered, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us directly.
What Type of Card Is Best to Use Abroad?
The type of card that is best to use abroad is usually a credit card from a reputable card issuer and major card network. In other words, the card should be from a large financial institution that offers strong consumer protections. Likewise, it should be issued on a card network like Visa, Mastercard, or American Express. And, where possible, it should be a credit card that does not charge foreign transaction fees.
What’s the Best Way to Pay for Things Abroad?
The best way to pay for things abroad is often using a credit card that does not charge foreign transaction fees. Depending on your credit card issuer, this usually provides you with additional consumer protection in the case of fraudulent transactions. Additionally, by using a credit card without foreign transaction fees you can reduce the total amount that you will end up paying per transaction.
Which UK Card Does Not Charge Foreign Transaction Fee?
Several UK cards do not charge foreign transaction fees. However, your ability to access these cards may vary depending on your credit history, existing banking relationships, and income bracket. With this in mind, the real question to ask is which UK card does not charge a foreign transaction fee that you can actually obtain.
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