Best credit card for travelling?

nkomp18

Hi everyone!

I've been travelling a lot the past two years and I've always withdrawn money at the ATM when I arrived or paid by credit card.

I knew there was a small charge but recently I discovered that the charge is HUGE! I was so gutted that I never noticed that I paid 2 quid even for buying a ticket of 50p!

After wasting a fortune in these charges, I cancelled my credit card and decided to get one of those "zero" cards that don't charge for transactions abroad and don't charge commission.

Does anyone have experience which one is the best?
In moneysupermarket at the section of credict cards for overseas spending I fail to understand the T&C's, most of which have a high APR and I don't know whether it charges you regardless whether you repay the full balance of the card on time or not.
Also, most cards charge 0% for purchases for a limited amount of time (i.e. 9 months or 3 months).

Is there any credit card out there that is good for travelling that you can have for a long time rather than just a few months?

Any advice is VERY much appreciated

Nick

Hooloovoo

nkomp18 wrote: »

Any advice is VERY much appreciated

The new Aqua card is free to use abroad and offers 3% cashback. The APR is shocking so make sure you pay it off in full every month.

Which card were you using? My old Egg card, and now my Barclaycard, have charges for foreign use but it has always been a percentage with no minimum fee. So you charge 50p to the card, you pay like 2p fee.

nkomp18

I used RBS credit card and later Santander 123 Credit card and they both charge 1.99 per transaction + some % commission

So for small purchases like a bottle of water at the super market I'd pay 20p + £2!!! SO GUTTED!

So the new Aqua card... all those APRs are non applicable if you pay the card on time? Cause only some of them say "No charge if paid in full on time". Bit confusing.. don't want to fall into yet another trap!

Hooloovoo

nkomp18 wrote: »

So the new Aqua card... all those APRs are non applicable if you pay the card on time? Cause only some of them say "No charge if paid in full on time". Bit confusing.. don't want to fall into yet another trap!

No interest charged if paid IN FULL on time.

Not just paid on time.

m0ns00n

Have a look here: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-travel-money

The Aqua and Halifax Clarity are the best cards to have. You'll get a detailed explanation on the above page.

gglaze

Hooloovoo wrote: »

No interest charged if paid IN FULL on time.

Not just paid on time.

I'm confused - according to the page on moneysavingexpert about this Aqua card:

Yes even if repaid in full

If you always repay in full is there interest or not?

Hooloovoo

gglaze wrote: »

If you always repay in full is there interest or not?

The text you quote is referring to the difference between purchases and cash withdrawals.

If you only ever make regular purchases on the card, there is no interest charged provided you pay off the full statement balance by the due date.

If you make a cash withdrawal on the card (which you should never do on any credit card except in specific circumstances) then you are charged interest from the day of the cash withdrawal until the day you pay it off.

guesswho2000

nkomp18 wrote: »

I used RBS credit card and later Santander 123 Credit card and they both charge 1.99 per transaction + some % commission

So for small purchases like a bottle of water at the super market I'd pay 20p + £2!!! SO GUTTED!

Are you sure you weren't using DEBIT cards not credit cards? They both charge a fee plus a percentage, but the credit cards just charge the percentage.

nkomp18

Yeah I was using a mix of credit cards and debit cards and the debit cards did the worst damage. It's my bad...

The Aqua card seems to charge 3% for every transaction and says (min £3). What does that mean that it'll charge £3 no matter what? So you buy a candy bar for 10p and it'll charge £3.10??

hunsbury0

Halifax CLARITY credit card is one of the best out there. I find it is cheaper to use this card at ATMs to withdraw cash than any other ways.
Set up a direct debit to settle in full for the monthly statement & also pay off asap for the cash/ATM transcations without waiting for the statement.
Interest for cash/ATM transactions are charged from the time of withdrawl till the payment reaches them.
I have set up for online banking, so that I can pay for the cash/atm trasactions as soon as I see it online.

Hooloovoo

nkomp18 wrote: »

The Aqua card seems to charge 3% for every transaction and says (min £3). What does that mean that it'll charge £3 no matter what? So you buy a candy bar for 10p and it'll charge £3.10??

No, that's just for cash withdrawals at an ATM, as I explained in post #7.

It's best to just never withdraw cash on a credit card, except it very special limited circumstances where it may work out cheaper.