Cards to use abroad

jinman

We normally go on holiday to Europe and load a Caxton card with euros to use while we are away. However, we are off to Stockholm very soon and are wondering whether it will be better to use our Nat West ordinary credit card, or a Santander All in One to pay in kroner. I also have a Santander Edge debit card. In the Money Expert article on cards to use abroad these are listed as not charging extra fees but are not in the "best" cards lists which recommend Lloyds Ultra, Chase and First Direct Credit Cards plus a number of debit cards including ones from Santander and Natwest that we don't have. Is there really a bit benefit in having one of these cards? Grateful for any info on this.

sausage_time

Looks like the "best" ones are those that offer cashback (or a switching bonus in the case of First Direct).

So long as your card(s) offer no exchange rate loading or fees (and you always pay in local currency) they will be good to go. Sweden is largely cashless so no need to go near an ATM. Safe travels.

Slinky

We have Lloyds Ultra and get 1% cashback on all purchases, including the ones in Euros when we went to Italy.

jinman

Thanks for the replies. Looks like it might be an idea to get one of those "best" ones. Have thought about it in the past but haven't got round to it. I don't think I've got time to do it this time, so will just use one or more of the cards we have.

redux

I wouldn't worry about so-called best, as defined by MSE or other reviews

In the past, MSE reviews or recommendations of prepaid debit cards for use abroad never included a couple of former ones which had actually zero foreign charge rather than the modest amount on two better known ones

There are just two considerations really. Avoid foreign transaction charges. And a few cards have cashback offers. The first point is worth more abroad than the second

NoodleDoodleMan

We have a joint Starling debit card account - no fees abroad, works flawlessly, wouldn't be without it.

You firstly each need to open a single account, then apply for the joint one.

Chase debit card is also an excellent choice for foreign travel - however they only offer single accounts.

cc123mm456

@jinman When you mentioned you checked the MSE article, was it this one (in particular the tool for How much does your card charge)? https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/credit-cards/travel-credit-cards/

I suggest to double check your whether your Natwest ordinary card charges fees. According to the MSE tool, the ordinary Natwest debit cards and credit cards charge 2.75% exchange load (if it is not one of the specialised cards that are listed separately).

On the other hand both the Santander Edge debit card, and the Santander All in One credit card have no exchange load, and are described as "top overseas spending cards" in that tool.

So, depending on the version of your Natwest card, you might prefer to avoid using that one, and instead use either of the Santander cards.

lr1277

According to this webpage, the card titled: The NatWest Credit card has no fx fees:

List of NatWest Credit cards

On that page is also listed the NatWest Travel Reward Credit Card. This has rewards but is a Visa. Whereas the NatWest Credit Card is Mastercard. I don't know if the OP has preferred payment processor or they may want cards with different payment processors in case one particular payment processor is down on a particular day.

I am not a NatWest customer myself, but I understand the debit card that comes with the Everyday current account does charge fx fees. However the debit cards that come with the Rewards Current account and the Premier current account don't charge fx fees.

Tim_L

I'm a REALLY frequent traveller. 24 countries this year and counting.

If you travel a lot, the best card I know of is Lloyds World Elite. Provides 1 infinite visit priority pass per card (including free partner card, you pay £24 for a guest if you need more places), fast track at many airports via Mastercard travel experiences, fee free forex at near interbank, 0.5% cashback which goes up to 1% over £15k spend. It's £15 a month, so you do need to travel to get the benefits. I think the Lloyds Ultra is a reasonable free alternative for the year 1 1% cashback, but I like being able to have a cheap feed in the lounges - these tend to be better coming back to the UK than going out where it's often difficult to get in because of crowding, but this particular card also gives priority pass restaurant access in the UK which (for example) the Amex Plat priority pass doesn't, £18 credit or local equivalent in selected restaurants.

The drawback with Lloyds is that they can be a bit hair triggered on blocking the card at the slightest hint of you being somewhere they don't think you should be. So despite a couple of previous transactions in Darwin, Australia, my card was blocked when I ordered McDonald's there via Ubereats. It took a little while to call them and get the block removed, it's an easy enough process though.

That leads to a HUGE tip, which is to install viber and put £20 or so on it. It's incredibly useful when you need to call someone and don't want to pay roaming rates. Be careful as some of the banner ads on the site make it look like you need to click to confirm your sign up somewhere else, but these are subscription traps. Just stay within Viber. It works like Skype used to. Also useful during travel disruption to call airlines and so on.

Back to cards, I wouldn't be without my Chase debit card, it's accepted in places many other cards aren't (I'm looking at you, Belarus!). No cashback and it's the second in my wallet behind Lloyds, with fee free forex and interbank rates. I use this for ATMs which are usually cheaper than exchanging cash (not always, varies by country depending on ATM fees) and I find easier than Revolut or Curve which have irritating limits on the free cards.

I would never use a prepaid card - they are often nominally fee free but hit you with absolutely dreadful conversion rates. I'm thinking of Currensea and the like, Post Office has a variant of these, some hotel loyalty cards are the same (Hilton, IHG). You can sometimes play off introductory offers against the rate.

Also on the list of cards I would never use abroad (unless there's a huge incentive for hotel spend or similar) is AMEX, Amex Platinum is interesting because of two priority pass cards per main and partner card, lots of hotel statuses, hertz and avis discounts, 2 dining rebates of £100 every 6 months UK and abroad, and I had one recently, but the fee is £650 and it's very hard even to break even on that. If you qualify for an opening offer you can get it more or less free for a year, but there's a fee for every forex transaction of 2.99% with a £2.99 minimum and I'm not sure the rates are much good. So you keep it in your drawer unless spending a foreign restaurant rebate or there's an offer on a hotel or similar. The Gold card is quite similar, comes with I think 4 priority pass entries a year, free for the first year, good introductory bonuses and there are referrals available. Niche use.

There's a raft of debit cards with zero fees and interbankish rates. TSB is one I have, I think Natwest now is, Starling, Monzo I think. It's useful to have a handful of these if travelling with children for when there's a contactless option for transport or whatever.

I'm sure everyone knows that if you have a good forex card you always pay in local currency, not the sterling conversion which has an appalling markup on the rate used.

SacredStephan

We normally go on holiday to Europe and load a Caxton card with euros to use while we are away.

Caxton have a sale on until midnight tonight which gives a 1% (approx) discount on a £500+ load of any non-sterling currency that they support.

Maegi

The NatWest Credit Card is perfectly fine - as is the Santander All in One card for purchases.

The Santander Edge debit card would be fine for ATM withdrawals.