best credit card when travelling?

tony_ynot_1

im going away soon to australia to do a working visa for a year and i wanna be safe in the knowlegde that i have the best credit card for the venture, i used debit and credit cards when i live in portugal only to return after a season of work to see the horrible costs ive amounted!!

i think the best is the halifax clarity card that one that keeps coming up, sorry to ask but ive always been about scared of credit cards so i just wondered if anyone could give me a definite "ok to go" answer so i know im not making a mistake!

thanks guys

minikez7

Hey,

When I went to australia I had a Virgin cc and it was great in the way that there is a free number for you to use to call them from abroad. Also, I lost my card a couple of times and they sent the card to my address in Australia unlike HSBC who sent it to a UK address from where someone had to send the card into me. Virgin weren't 24hr, but had a great/swift email response. Although, if you don't have internet access then I would say that phone may be best. It's up to you as to whether you think it is important to find somewhere with a 24hr helpline due to the time difference between oz and here.

One thing to watch out with them is that just like some other cc company, they send you periodic letters putting your interest up and you will not get these letters if you are travelling, so you may want to call up and check your intesrest rate every so often.

I hope this has helped.

minikez7

P.S You may also want to think about how you will be spending out there. I opened a free bank account with Citibank. They have crap customer service and their branches are few if any. However, they do let you do free cash withdrawels, so you could think about making a bank transfer into the account and drawing money out that way as drawing cash out on cc cards comes with massive interest.

Another thing which I have never looked into, but would if I was going back to Oz would be the HSBC deal where you pay a certain amount each month with unlimited withdrawel. t just depends if you are planning on working and getting paid into Oz as tho whether you will need a UK or Oz current account.

I am sure there are better options than both of these thoug.

ironlady2022

Halifax is the best for purchases using the card as you get a perfect exchange rate! No hidden costs and no annual fee for the card. Is your salary going to be paid into an Ozzy account or a UK account? If it is the former, then the credit card would be used for back up purposes. If it is the latter, then you will be charged 12.9% per annum for cash withdrawals. If this is the case, then you will be charged roughly £1 per month for every £100 taken out. Best thing to do is, as soon as you withdraw it, use internet banking to make an immediate payment so interest is kept to a minimum.

Another tip is, for me, I have the post office credit card as a back up in case I lose my Halifax one, the PO one also gives a perfect exchange rate on purchases but is more expensive on Cash withdrawals so beware!

property.advert

Get a local account.

chattychappy

Have a browse through recent threads, this is a regular question.

The usual cards to look at are: Santander Zero, Post Office, Clarity and Nationwide Visa (1% charge).

I practically live overseas. My comments are:

Zero: Good online system, but recently my card keeps getting blocked. Really is 0% loading + good forex rate. Also good for cash.
PO: Crap online system, but pushed alot of spend through without an issue. Really is 0% + good forex rate. I got a good introductory purchase offer too.
NW: Good online system and can be operated entirely paperless. 1% loading + good forex rate. Also pushed alot of spend through (before the loading was introduced). Never a hitch.
Clarity: Never used it. Relatively new. A recent thread reported that the exchange rate was crap - often recommended here but I'm not satisfied anyone else has done some serious side-by-side tests.

Outside of those I'd also consider MBNA and Barclaycard. Both have good online systems that allow you to pay via their site. They do load by about 3%.

Remember in real life things don't work out perfectly. Cards get lost/stolen/blocked by fraud systems. So have backups and contingency plans (eg additional card on a parent's account). If you don't then the costs of taxis to embassies, Western Union fees etc can be huge.

Have a nice time!

ironlady2022

I would not recommend Nationwide Visa as it's go a 1% loading, that in itself with negate any saving through a good exchange rate.

chattychappy

mayling03 wrote: »

I would not recommend Nationwide Visa as it's go a 1% loading, that in itself with negate any saving through a good exchange rate.

It wouldn't necessarily negate it. Cards like Tesco use their own forex rate - bumping up the cost by a further 2% or so to around 5.5%. Aside from this, yep - loading is 1%. But if you don't qualify for the others and/or they get blocked, then it's still the next in line because most are around 3%.

This was the thread that concerned me about Clarity: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2956902

He did better on NW debit than on Clarity (which is even more loaded than Gold Visa). OK this is just one report. But I'm always seeing Clarity being recommended, but I don't recall anyone actually doing any side-by-side comparisons.

I don't have Clarity - not been back in the UK long enough since its launch to apply for one. But I can at least confirm that with NW it is at least ONLY 1%.

I spend months abroad and most of my spend is in forex. So this is really a "big thing" with me!

ironlady2022

chattychappy wrote: »

It wouldn't necessarily negate it. Cards like Tesco use their own forex rate - bumping up the cost by a further 2% or so to around 5.5%. Aside from this, yep - loading is 1%. But if you don't qualify for the others and/or they get blocked, then it's still the next in line because most are around 3%.

This was the thread that concerned me about Clarity: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2956902

He did better on NW debit than on Clarity (which is even more loaded than Gold Visa). OK this is just one report. But I'm always seeing Clarity being recommended, but I don't recall anyone actually doing any side-by-side comparisons.

I don't have Clarity - not been back in the UK long enough since its launch to apply for one. But I can at least confirm that with NW it is at least ONLY 1%.

I spend months abroad and most of my spend is in forex. So this is really a "big thing" with me!

Very interesting thread. To be honest, I haven't used my clarity abroad either. I do remember using my NW Credit Card and PO one side by side and they are comparable. Would be interesting to see as I have a trip planned in March. Wonder if Mr Lewis should dig this up!?

chattychappy

mayling03 wrote: »

I do remember using my NW Credit Card and PO one side by side and they are comparable.

NW used to be free. Then it went to 1% outside Europe. Was your comparison on the basis of 1% or free? I've found it does generally cost 1% more than Zero/PO.

Not sure MSE is interested. There were some threads on Tesco's outrageous "hidden loading" and I think the OP tried to get MSE interested but without luck.

ironlady2022

It was 0% with NW.