Credit Cards For International Travel

There is one Visa exchange rate for every type of currency, which can change once every 24 hours. And that rate is automatically applied to any international transaction made with a Visa credit card or debit card. You can easily check the latest Visa exchange rates online to get an idea of what to expect when traveling.

Here’s how to see your Visa exchange rate:

1. Go to Visa’s online Exchange Rate Calculator.

2. Select United States Dollar for your card’s currency.

3. Select the currency used by the merchant.

4. Enter your bank fee (foreign transaction fee), if applicable. Ideally, you should use a no foreign transaction fee credit card.

5. Put in today’s date (the tool can’t predict the future).

6. Click “Calculate Exchange Rates.”

Using a no foreign transaction fee Visa credit card when traveling abroad will save you up to 9% compared to converting hard currency, according to WalletHub’s Currency Exchange Study. But a Mastercard will do the trick, too. There’s actually not much difference between the exchange rates offered by these two worldwide card networks.

Lastly, you should always avoid Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC). This is when a foreign vendor converts the price of a purchase to U.S. dollars, supposedly for your convenience. But that gives the merchant a chance to use an unfavorable exchange rate in place of the low rate you’d automatically get from Visa.

The Discover Card foreign transaction fee is 0%, or $0, however you want to frame it. In other words, any Discover credit card that you apply for now will have no foreign transaction fee. That’s been the case since 2011, when Discover joined Capital One as the only major credit card issuers to remove foreign fees from all of their offers. So when you make purchases abroad or from foreign merchants online, you can rest assured that you won’t be paying any extra money.

The only Discover cards with foreign transaction fees are discontinued offers issued prior to 2011. You can’t get them anymore, but some people still have them.

Here are the Discover card foreign transaction fees:

• Discover it: $0
  
• Discover it Miles: $0
  
• Discover it Chrome: $0
  
• Discover it Secured
  
• Discover it for Students: $0
  
• All other available Discover cards: $0
  
• Discover More Card (Discontinued): 2%
  
• Discover More Card – $150 Cashback Bonus (Discontinued): 2% 

So if you’re in the market for a new credit card, any Discover card you get will have no foreign transaction fees. But keep in mind that Discover has far less international acceptance than Visa or Mastercard. So you could run into places abroad where you can’t use your Discover card anyway – France, for example.

Assuming Discover is accepted where you’re going, the only thing that might actually cost you more is Dynamic Currency Conversion. That’s when a merchant asks if you want to pay in the local currency rather than U.S. dollars. You should always say no to that. Most of the time, you’ll get ripped off with high exchange rates.

There’s a different Mastercard exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and approximately 150 other currencies, and they all fluctuate from day to day. You can easily see what exchange rate your transaction will have by going to Mastercard’s exchange rate calculator. 

It’s very simple to use. All you have to do is put in the date, currency of the merchant, transaction amount, foreign transaction fee (if applicable) and United States Dollar (USD) as your card’s currency. Then click “calculate,” and you’ll see the amount you’re paying in USD at the bottom right. The exchange rate will be to the left of that.

Let’s take a look at some of today’s exchange rates for popular travel spots. These rates are current as of 06/06/18 but are subject to change as time goes on. 

Popular Mastercard exchange rates:

• Euro: 1 EUR = 1.17 USD
• Bahamian Dollar: 1 BHD = 1 USD
• Canadian Dollar: 1 CAD = 0.77 USD
• Great British Pound: 1 GBP = 1.34 USD
• Mexican Peso: 1 MXN = 0.05 USD
• Chinese Yuan Renminbi: 1CNY = 0.16 USD
• Japanese Yen: 1 JPY = 0.01 USD
• Russian Ruble: 1 RUB = 0.02 USD

Credit cards are actually the cheapest way to convert currency. But you may still be subject to a foreign transaction fee, which is an extra charge when you buy from a foreign merchant. While all Mastercards offer the same exchange rates, only some of them charge foreign transaction fees. 

You can compare no foreign fee Mastercard credit cards on WalletHub. And if you’re still unsure about which to apply for, you can join WalletHub for free to get personalized credit card recommendations with high approval odds.

There is no USAA credit card foreign transaction fee. In the past, some USAA credit cards charged a 1% foreign transaction fee on some of its cards, but USAA made all of its cards no foreign fee in 2016. That means you’ll never pay extra for purchases processed by a foreign-based merchant.

USAA credit cards are designed for U.S. military personnel and their spouses and adult children. The decision to discontinue foreign transaction fees was made to reduce the costs for servicemembers making purchases abroad.

Here is some additional information on USAA credit card foreign transaction fees:

• No USAA credit cards have foreign transaction fees.
• Some USAA credit cards used to charge a 1% foreign fee. It was removed from USAA Visa card offers first, then Mastercard and Amex offers.
• A foreign transaction fee is a surcharge credit card companies add to purchases processed outside of the United States. You don’t have to be in another country to be charged the fee. It also applies to online purchases processed through an international merchant.
• USAA, as a credit card issuer, has discretion over foreign transaction fees. Credit card networks (Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express) do not. They negotiate where in the world their cards will be accepted and handle currency conversion.

Military servicemembers and their families stationed abroad are the biggest beneficiaries of no foreign transaction fees on USAA credit cards. Even at the previous 1% rate, all those additional fees tacked on to everyday purchases begin to add up over time.But USAA isn’t the only credit card company to not charge foreign transaction fees on any cards – they’re joined by Discover and Capital One.

Two good USAA credit cards for international travel are the Rewards American Express and the Cashback Rewards Plus American Express. With the Rewards American Express, earn 2,500 points after your first purchase. You’ll also get 3 points per $1 on dining and 2 per $1 on gas and groceries. Along with a $150 bonus for spending $500 in the first 90 days, the Cashback Rewards Plus gives you 5% cash back on your first $3,000 in gas and military base purchases per year and 2% back up to $3,000 at supermarkets each year.

The Chase foreign transaction fee is either $0 or 3% of what you spend, depending on which credit card you get. Chase’s most popular travel rewards credit cards don’t charge foreign fees. That includes both Sapphire Preferred and Sapphire Reserve. But Freedom, Freedom Unlimited and Slate are among the Chase credit cards with a 3% foreign transaction fee. 

It makes sense that the Chase Sapphire cards don’t have foreign fees, while Chase Slate does. The Sapphire cards are specifically intended for travel, and travel isn’t always domestic. And Slate is designed for saving on debt, not globetrotting. But it’s a little weird that Freedom isn’t free internationally, even when it’s Unlimited. After all, even if you don’t travel abroad, Chase’s credit card foreign transaction fee could come into play. It applies to purchases made through international companies when you’re in the U.S., too. 

Still, those might not be the only Chase cards you’re interested in. So I’ll break down more of your options below.

Here are the Chase credit cards with no foreign transaction fee:

• Chase Sapphire Preferred - $95 annual fee ($0 first year)
• Chase Sapphire Reserve - $450 annual fee
• Ink Business Preferred - $95 annual fee
• J.P. Morgan Reserve - $450 annual fee
• United MileagePlus Explorer Business - $95 ($0 first year)

Here are the Chase cards with a 3% foreign transaction fee:

• Chase Freedom - $0 annual fee
• Chase Freedom Unlimited - $0 annual fee
• Chase Slate - $0 annual fee
• Disney Rewards - $0 annual fee

Apparently, you have to choose between paying Chase foreign transaction fees and annual fees. But think of it this way: If you’re a frequent traveler, not having to pay fees abroad probably outweighs the cost of a once a year annual fee. 

Let’s say you spend $5,000 abroad in one year. 3% of that is $150. And that’s more than the annual fee of 3 no foreign fee Chase cards. Plus, people with Sapphire Reserve and J.P. Morgan Reserve are probably spending a lot more than that.