Best Card To Use Abroad (Top 5)

Planning to go on holiday or travel and trying to find the best card to use abroad? No foreign transaction fees, when spending or withdrawals from ATMs and a good exchange rate is a good start but what else can we get from specialist travel credit cards and travel debit cards?

There’s a lot to think about when spending money abroad, the exchange rates, transaction fees and withdrawal fees aren’t the only money worries. Where will you be able to use the card? What security features are there if you lose the card or it gets stolen. What security is there on the payment against fraud or scams.

So what do I use when travelling? The best debit card to use abroad or a prepaid card to use abroad, maybe the best credit card to use abroad? Let’s find out..

My Experience Using A Card Abroad

I love to travel and went traveling around the world with my family. We went to 14 countries over 190 days and I did lots of research around banks, how we could spend money when travelling and the best card to use abroad. I also learned a lot about my spending habits and money mindset but that’s a different topic. I will talk about Travel Credit Cards but I am not encouraging that you spend more than you have, but there are obviously some perks to using travel credit cards abroad and I will touch on those in this post.

Top Tip – Exchange Rates Using Cards Abroad

Before I get into the nitty gritty details about the best card to use abroad, here’s a top tip about keeping the exchange rate cheap. Make sure that you pay in the local currency. Occasionally you will go into a shop, particularly if it’s in a high tourist area and they will ask whether you want to pay in their local currency or you want to pay in your home currency.

It’s likely that whatever card you have will offer you a better exchange rate than whatever the merchant, the person that you’re buying from is offering you at the till, so try to opt for buying in the local currency for cheaper exchange rates when you can.

Want to see some great apps to help save up for your travel plans?

What Is A Traveler Card

These are normal cards but they may offer some additional features or some top services that you need for when you are exploring the world. Benefits can include, better security when abroad, cheaper or no fees for transactions and ATM withdrawals when abroad. Access to private airport lounges and more.

Risks Of Using Your Current Card

Some credit cards or banks, that you use for shopping here in the UK that might lock you out if you go and spend money abroad. This is a security feature. Now, this is obviously not something that you’re going to want to have to deal with if you just got off on the trip of a lifetime and you then need to access your money.

This can be particularly problematic if you are going to lots of different countries. You don’t want to have to create a list and send it to your bank before you go. You just want them to know that you are going to be traveling and that this is you that’s using that card.

What To Avoid When Spending Abroad

There are some things that you want to avoid when picking the card that you want to take with you when you travel. This could include things like a non sterling transaction fee. A non sterling cash fee and interest on cash withdrawals.

If the card that you are taking has any of these things you might want to look for another option as these can get very, very expensive. Ideally, you want to look for fee free transactions and to limit the charges that you make when using ATMs. So let’s dive into some specific travel cards and why they may or may not be the right choice for a travel card for you.

Want to see how a zero based budget could help you manage your money on holiday?

1. Barclaycard Reward Travel Credit Card

More details

This is a Visa credit card. Now, this comes with a whole host of perks and you can read more about that on their website. The first thing is you get 0.25% cashback on your everyday spending. There are no fees for spending or for using ATMs when abroad. So that’s a big tick. You won’t pay any interest on cash withdrawals either, as long as you pay back in full.

The website quotes the typical figures at 22.9%. APR based on £1,200 credit. So obviously if you don’t pay in full you will have to pay interest on that money. There is no specific interest for cash withdrawals. You can also get some additional perks, such as five months of Apple Music and Apple TV, which can be great entertainment whilst you are hanging out in those airports with some free time on your hands.

As this is a credit card, you will need to apply to get this card. This may mean that you need to do a credit check. They do have a handy eligibility checker, which you can use to see if you are likely to get accepted for this and save your credit score in the process. If you then decide to go ahead and make the application, then they will check your credit history.

Benefits of the Barclaycard Reward Travel Credit Card;

• 0 fees for use abroad
• 0.25% cashback
• 5 months of entertainment packs
• Eligibility checking tool

2. Chase Bank Account

More details

This is one of the best debit cards to use abroad. It’s a current account and not a credit card like the last one. Now, again, this comes with some perks for using if you are traveling. So there are no fees on spending or for ATM withdrawals when you’re overseas. You can get 1% cashback in the first year, and this is both at home and overseas. This can be handy if you get it before you go on holiday and can put your expensive holiday on that card and you get that 1% cashback. You can then put that towards your spending money or just keep it at the bank.

Now they will do a soft check on your credit score when you are making that application. This isn’t the same as a hard check, so shouldn’t have the same impact on your credit rating.

They have 24 seven in app support which can be really handy if you’re in a completely different time zone and you need to contact somebody about your account. You can also set up separate accounts, which can be great if you’re trying to save towards your holiday or if you want a separate part for your holiday spending money.

Now if you lose your card when you’re out and about and you’re traveling you can lock the card in the app. Also, there are no numbers on the card, which is a great security feature, and you can generate new card details within the app, too. All in all, this card helps to keep you safe and has some great features that could make it really helpful when you are traveling.

Benefits of a Chase Bank Account

• 0 fees for use abroad
• 1% cashback
• 24/7 in app support
• Seperate your travelling account
• Great security features

3. Halifax Clarity Credit Card

More details

This is a travel credit card. On their website, they say that there is a typical 19.9% APR on this now there are no fees on your spending for this card and when you pay in the local currency, it will automatically convert using the MasterCard exchange rate. You can pretty much spend anywhere that you see the MasterCard logo. So you should be able to spend money in most places. You can manage your account online, which can make it really easy to check your spending and make any changes that you need to as you go.

The downside is the customer service is based in the UK, which can make it hard to reach them if you are around the world and at different time zones.

There also may be some fees for using ATMs, which may not be ideal if you’re looking to get cash out in different countries.

Benefits of Halifax Clarity Credit Card Abroad

• 0 fees for transactions
• Widely Accepted
• Online Management

Negatives  of Halifax Clarity Credit Card Abroad

• UK Customer Service
• Potential fees for ATM withdrawals

4. Starling Travel Card

More Details

This is the card I use and think it’s one of the best bank card to use abroad. Starling say you can spend with starling abroad and there will be no fees for using that anywhere in the world. They also use the MasterCard exchange rate and don’t put any additional exchange rate or commission fees on top. 

Handy Starling Bank Features

One thing that I found really handy was their instant notifications. I like this for my day to day use, but when I was traveling, it was great to see what I’d spent both in the local currency and in pounds. It made it much easier to track my spending as I went from country to country. The notification was instant, so I got to see it straight away.

The other features on their app still work too, so if you are travelling with friends you can use the split my bill feature to make paying for your dinner out easier. The nearby payments feature mean you can pay back or request money from the people you are travelling with. If they don’t have a Starling Bank Account then it will send them a link via text they can use to pay securely online without having to see your details. This is a great way to manage group costs if you are solo travelling and made some friends but want to remain secure.

Another great thing is you do not need to tell a starling when you are going travelling. They’re not going to lock you out. They have lots of security features within the app that can help you manage the safety of your card, when abroad, but they won’t automatically cut you off as soon as you step foot in another country. They also have 24 seven in app support,

which makes it really easy to get hold of somebody if you have an issue on the other side of the world in the middle of the night, and you need that little bit of extra assistance.

Benefits of Starling Travel Card Abroad

• 0 fees
• Widely accepted
• Great App
• Security features
• Instant notifications

5. Prepaid Travel Card

What this means is that you have a card and you will load the money onto it before you go. Now, this is really good for budgeting because it means when the money’s gone, it is gone. There is no more.

Essentially, you are limiting the potential losses that you have because you’ve only put a set amount of money in there. So if someone was to, say, steal your card, or you were to lose it, you wouldn’t be putting your entire bank account at risk. It’s very similar to, say, taking cash or traveler’s cheques, except you have the extra security of using a card rather than just carrying loose notes.

Now, the downside to this is they can be restrictive and a little bit complicated to set up. You have to make money decisions ahead of time. So making sure that you have enough in that account to cover everything that you need and obviously there might be some circumstances, an unexpected event happens and you need a little bit extra. You need to be prepared for that before you go by putting the right amount in that account.

You also lack some of the payment protection that you get from credit cards.

Benefits of Prepaid Travel Cards

• No new accounts / credit cards
• Budgeting

Negatives of Prepaid Travel Cards

• Difficult to plan
• Can be difficult to set up
• Limited
• Less security than credit cards

We’ve talked about a mix of current account debit cards and also credit cards. With credit cards, you do get that additional protection. With prepaid cards you will not have access to that.