Credit card for spending abroad

lon_don

Can someone tell me what is the best CC (excluding DC like Chase etc..) for use abroad nowadays ?

I am a long-time Halifax Clarity cardholder, but it looks like these 2 are now slightly better
Virgin Everyday cashback credit card (0.25% cashback, no fx fee, MC exchange rate)
Barclaycard Rewards cashback (0.25% cashback, no fx fee, Visa exchange rate)
while Halifax Clarity does not offer any cashback.
Have I missed any other card ?
Which is better, Virgin or Barclays ?

DullGreyGuy

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/travel-credit-cards/

Above lists the cards that are fee free to spend abroad, after that its just a personal preference between cash back or points etc and that may vary depending on your spending patterns too.

lr1277

By abroad do you mean some of Europe or the rest of the world?

The Virgin Atlantic cards offer fx fee free spending plus Virgin points in either EEA or SEPA countries. There are lists around of the exact countries. But beware there are certain European countries/principalities that are not included in the fx fee free spending. However as far as I am aware this is the only fx fee free card that allows collection of points that can be redeemed on flights.

Edited to add: I know you said you didn't want a debit card but add this as further information. The linked article mentions Currensea. Well recently Hilton Hotels has done a deal for a debit card with Currensea. You pay with the Hilton Debit card and money for the transaction gets taken from your current account. You get Hilton points for most transactions (the exceptions are listed on the Hilton Debit card site) and you get gold status in the Hilton Honors loyalty program, which usually means a free breakfast at most properties. The exception to the free breakfast might be in hotels in the US where you might get a food and beverage credit. At is is a Currensea card, depending on the version you get, you either pay a slight FX fee or you get a better than mastercard FX fee (is my understanding). Also bonuses if you spend so much in foreign currency within a certain period.

swissmiss6

We both have a Halifax Clarity Credit Card which we use when we are in the Far East (mainly Thailand) over the winter months.  We have rarely had a problem with the exception of a payment for a flight not going through on an on-line transaction and having to resort to using an alternative credit card (I think it was with Tesco).  Seems to offer a good rate of exchange - do pay in the local currency - with no extra charges. 

However, it is "murder" trying to get through to any bank if you lose your card as you are kept waiting for absolutely ages, or are timed out, and can't seem to get a refund when it's by a mobile phone.

eskbanker

swissmiss6 said:

However, it is "murder" trying to get through to any bank if you lose your card as you are kept waiting for absolutely ages, or are timed out,

Sounds like a generalisation, so it would probably be worth specifying exactly which banks you had issues with, although realistically it's unlikely to be a factor in anyone's choice of card!

swissmiss6 said:

...and can't seem to get a refund when it's by a mobile phone.

Are you meaning a refund of call charges?  Again, who are you referring to?

lon_don

lr1277 said:

By abroad do you mean some of Europe or the rest of the world?

The Virgin Atlantic cards offer fx fee free spending plus Virgin points in either EEA or SEPA countries. There are lists around of the exact countries. But beware there are certain European countries/principalities that are not included in the fx fee free spending. However as far as I am aware this is the only fx fee free card that allows collection of points that can be redeemed on flights.

Edited to add: I know you said you didn't want a debit card but add this as further information. The linked article mentions Currensea. Well recently Hilton Hotels has done a deal for a debit card with Currensea. You pay with the Hilton Debit card and money for the transaction gets taken from your current account. You get Hilton points for most transactions (the exceptions are listed on the Hilton Debit card site) and you get gold status in the Hilton Honors loyalty program, which usually means a free breakfast at most properties. The exception to the free breakfast might be in hotels in the US where you might get a food and beverage credit. At is is a Currensea card, depending on the version you get, you either pay a slight FX fee or you get a better than mastercard FX fee (is my understanding). Also bonuses if you spend so much in foreign currency within a certain period.

I am thinking more rest of the world (I have native EUR eurozone account+card so that covers my eurozone need). 

The Virgin Money not Atlantic CC I am thinking of is this one  https://uk.virginmoney.com/cards/products/everyday-cashback-cards/   which gives 0.25% cashback but no Virgin points, and fx fee free anywhere as far as I can see in the t&c. It looks a lot like the Barclaycard Rewards CC, except MC instead of Visa (also not mentioned on main MSE for some reason, while the Barclaycard R is). And yes, only checking CC (for hotel, car rental, S75 if applicable, etc..).

NorwichMan

I don't know about the Virgin card, but if it helps I have used my Barclaycard Rewards CC in the USA, Colombia, Japan and Australia (as well as several European countries) and I've never had any problems with it.

RavingMad

We used Monzo flex on holiday this year.  It has 3 months interest free on anything over £3. Great for spreading the payments out

App is great too as you can freeze/unfreeze the card should you need to and purchases appear straight away 

Only issue was that TUI wouldn't accept Monzo as payment in flight 

jbrassy

I've used Barclaycard Rewards for several years on multiple continents. Never had any major problems with it and would recommend to others. I did have some fraudulent transactions show up earlier this year, but they refunded me with no fuss and replaced the card so can't really fault them.

tomxlisa

RavingMad said:

We used Monzo flex on holiday this year.  It has 3 months interest free on anything over £3. Great for spreading the payments out

App is great too as you can freeze/unfreeze the card should you need to and purchases appear straight away 

Only issue was that TUI wouldn't accept Monzo as payment in flight 

Yeah I agree with this have used this card abroad too with no problems and love you can pick to spread it and interest free too over 3 months, also used it on the flight with no problems at all but that was with jet2. 

MEM62

swissmiss6 said:

However, it is "murder" trying to get through to any bank if you lose your card as you are kept waiting for absolutely ages, or are timed out, and can't seem to get a refund when it's by a mobile phone.

There are options for doing this in the app.