How much is the Bank of America foreign transaction fee?

The Bank of America Travel Rewards foreign transaction fee is $0. This applies to all three BofA “Travel Rewards” cards: the Travel Rewards Credit Card, the Travel Rewards Credit Card for Students and the Business Advantage Travel Rewards card. International purchases made with any of these cards are not subject to a foreign transaction fee.… read full answer

Plus, there are several other Bank of America credit cards with travel rewards and no foreign fee. They are the Premium Rewards card, the Alaska Airlines Credit Card and the Alaska Airlines Business card.

A foreign transaction fee is a surcharge, usually between 0%-3%, added to transactions processed outside of the United States. The transaction doesn’t need to be made on foreign soil in order for the fee to apply. Online purchases stateside through an internationally-based merchant also incur a fee.

Some Bank of America cards charge a 3% foreign transaction fee. Examples include the BofA Cash Rewards card, Cash Rewards for Students card, BankAmericard credit card and Platinum Visa Business card.

Bank of America Travel Rewards Cards’ Foreign Transaction Fees:

• BofA Travel Rewards: $0
• BofA Travel Rewards for Students: $0
• BofA Business Advantage Travel Rewards: $0
• BofA Premium Rewards: $0
• Alaska Airlines Credit Card: $0
• Alaska Airlines Business Credit Card: $0

The three cards with “Travel Rewards” in their name all offer 3 points per $1 spent on travel purchases booked through the Bank of America Travel Center, plus 1.5 per $1 on all other purchases.

A Visa foreign transaction fee of 0% to 3% could apply to purchases processed outside the U.S., depending on which Visa credit card or debit card you have. The Visa foreign transaction fee is usually $0 on travel rewards credit cards, which are built for spending all around the world. And some credit card companies, such as Capital One, don’t charge foreign fees on any of their cards, Visa or Mastercard. But many other Visa cards come with foreign transaction fees of 1%, 2% or even 3%.… read full answer

If your Visa card does have a foreign transaction fee, you’ll have to pay it any time you make a purchase from a merchant that’s based in a country other than the U.S. So that means it applies to online purchases too.

While it’s difficult to list every Visa’s foreign transaction fee – the are a ton of Visa cards – we can go over a few popular examples.

Here are some Visa foreign transaction fees:

• All Capital One Visa cards: 0% foreign fee
• All USAA Visa cards: 0% foreign fee
• All PenFed Visa cards: 0% foreign fee
• Chase Sapphire Preferred: 0% foreign fee
  
• Bank of America Travel Rewards: 0% foreign fee
• Bank of America Premium Rewards: 0% foreign fee
• Chase Freedom Unlimited: 3% foreign fee
• Wells Fargo Cash Wise Visa: 3% foreign fee
• Credit One Bank Platinum Visa: 3% foreign fee

As you can see, there are a lot of opportunities to get a Visa card with no foreign transaction fee. That’s definitely a good idea before traveling (or shopping) abroad, since Visa is accepted just about anywhere that takes credit cards worldwide.