Best International Credit Card

Lostprophet

I've recently taken a job that will involve a moderate amount of travelling internationally (US, Germany, France, potentially Asia but unlikely). In the last 8 weeks I've spent 6 of them in those top three countries, and going back to the US in March.

Company policy suggests that if I'm with a manager, he/she has to pay. Thankfully for most of it I have been!
However, this is just a suggestion, and I'm conscious of the strain that protracted travelling has on my manager's credit card, and also there will soon come a time where I start travelling alone, and thus have to cough up myself!

The company doesn't currently do corporate credit cards, so I'm out of luck there.

I currently have a Visa Barclaycard, which has all of my consolidated debt on and I am paying off (aim to be debt free by February 2015 if not sooner!), and a Mastercard from Santander, which is now almost empty but has a fairly high interest rate.
I also have a 123 Card but that's used for UK purchases only.

The kicker with these is that there's an international transaction fee attached to them, which means everything I spend, it costs me extra! Where possible I try to pay via card, but sometimes cash is the only way (in Eastern and Southern Germany for example, where cash rather than card seems to be the norm) and the charges for that are even higher.

Naturally I can claim these costs back, but in the interest of keeping things cheap as I can, I'm seeking a card that offers either low or non-existent transaction fees, or at least 'pays back' something to offset the additional costs.

I've been thinking about the British Airways Amex, as that translates into air miles for every pound spent (useful!), but I know it's not widely accepted in some places.
A colleague suggested having one of each - Visa, Mastercard, and Amex, and using them all for travel (though one primarily), as that way if a particular provider is having trouble (as he experienced in the UAE once with Visa and Mastercard), there is always a backup.

Any regular travellers on here have a particular favourite, and why?


Sidenote - a card which can be used internationally without having to call up every single time would be great, but I fear almost impossible.
I used my Santander Credit Card to pay for a deposit on a rental car to be picked up in Boston. When I got to Boston to pay for said rental car, they blocked the card ...

Herbalus

If you want low fees, try here.

If you aren't bothered about the fees because your company will be paying them, and you want cashback or points for yourself (as the cardholder), get one of those.

The only way to avoid getting stuck is to have a back-up card, even if it's not fantastic. And then have a back-up to that. And a back-up to that. And then possibly some diamonds hidden in your socks. Not much else you can do!

Lostprophet

Diamonds in socks! I like the idea
Thanks for the link, I'm checking it out now

inmypocketnottheirs

You really ought to be urging your employer to give you a company card, or at very least a substantial up front cash float (what happens to your card balances if the firm goes bump?).

I also travel extensively on business. The week before last I was in Dubai for a week and on Tuesday I travel to US for 10 days. Over a monthly billing cycle I can easily run up £6-7k worth of expenses, especially if I'm arranging further internal flights whilst away.

If you are using your own credit card you are effectively funding your employers.

Fortunately I have a corporate card with a limit a good deal higher than above, and it's the one card I've never had a problem with from Mexico to Hong Kong. I'm also provided with Caxton FX prepaid currency cards with dollars, euros and sterling which I can use to withdraw currency.

Even so I travel with my own back up, Visa, MasterCard and two Am Ex cards, just in case. For personal purchases, particularly bargain hunting in the US or Far East I use an Aqua card with 0.5% cash back (was 3%) and zero transaction charges.

HTH

Lostprophet

Corporate cards is something being pushed by my manager, and is 'under consideration' this year, so I've been told, so it's a wait-and-see approach.