0% on purchases vs no foreign charges

clasar

I'm going to the USA for a month in May and want to know what would be the best credit card to get. I will be using the card for purchases, i.e. hotels, petrol etc. (spending between £1000 to £2000). I will also take a few months to pay this off when I get home.

With this in mind, should I be looking at a card with a good 0% on purchases deal or one with no foreign use charges?

I also plan to take a pre-paid card for cash withdrawals, can anyone recommend one or an alternative? I'm with Barclays and not sure that my debit card will be the best option for cash withdrawls.

Any advice would be great, many thanks.

dzug1

Depends how long you are going to take to pay it off.

The typical foreign use charge is 2.75%

The typical monthly interest charge is between 1 and 2%.

So if you pay it off in 1 month, maybe 2, a no charge foreign use card is better. Any longer - interest free.

Bear in mind those calculations are very rough and ready though.

Any

As Dzug said - pretty much depends how soon you are going to pay it off?

Post office - no foreign fee transaction + 3 mths interest free period (however they can be nightmare in regards of paperwork)

Nationwide - 1% foreign fee transaction for US and also 3 mths interest free period..

And read this guide http://travelmoney.moneysavingexpert.com/?dd

ironlady2022

Post Office credit card would be the ideal card giving you 3 months on 0% on purchases in Uk or abroad thus killing 2 birds with one stone then if you take a month or too longer then you can go back to dzug1's advice! This mthod could be cheaper and essentially give you 3-5 months to pay it off!

ses6jwg

santander zero credit card is 0% comission and 0% for 6 months on purchases btw

clasar

I'll probably take 3-4 months to pay it off (hopefully sooner but I'd rather estimate on the longer time!)

Thanks for the advice, Post Office and Santander look like good options.