Credit Cards For International Travel

International credit cards are necessary for people that travel abroad, even once. I learned this the hard way after my bank put a hold my credit card after making my first purchase abroad. I had to call my issuer and verify that I was in a foreign country. ( A call that cost me $$) Then I had to wait another several hours for the hold to be lifted. In all reality, I spent thousands of dollars to travel abroad and sit, doing nothing because I had no access to my money. When my hold was finally lifted, I learned about all the extra fees associated with using a credit card in a foreign country. If you don't have an international credit card then the value of your dollar can go down as much as 10%. When you have a budget of $1000 spending money, you suddenly lose $100 of it to fees.

The best international credit card for students is one that is good to use outside of the United States, whether you’re traveling or studying abroad. The best card should have, at the very least, no foreign transaction fee. This way, you will not be charged extra for purchases made in another country.

The card’s global acceptance should also be taken into account. Not all credit cards are accepted everywhere, and cards from some networks are accepted in more countries than others. Mastercard is tops, at 210 countries and territories, followed by Visa (200) and Discover (more than 190+). American Express cards can be used in around 160+ countries and territories.

Best international credit cards for students:

• Journey Student Rewards from Capital One
• Bank of America® Travel Rewards Credit Card for Students
• Deserve® EDU Mastercard for Students
• Secured Mastercard® from Capital One
• Discover it® Student chrome

It’s also important to note the difference between international credit cards for students and credit cards for international students. They’re basically the same in terms of functionality, but cards for international students aren’t just for U.S. citizens or people with a Social Security number.

Student credit card issuers do have different requirements. Some cards may require an SSN or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN). Others may accept just a student ID and/or a passport.

The best credit cards with no annual fee and no foreign transaction fee are the Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card and the HSBC Cash Rewards Credit Card. They offer the most rewards among the 250+ credit cards with no annual fee and no foreign transaction fee. 

Capital One VentureOne offers a 20,000-mile bonus for spending $500 in the first 3 months. It also rewards cardholders with 1.25 miles per $1 spent, on all purchases. With the HSBC Cash Rewards card, you get 3% cash back on all purchases, up to $10,000 spent in the first 12 months, and 1.5% cash back after that. 

That said, the best credit card with no annual or foreign fees really depends on your credit standing and what type of rewards or other features you’re looking for. Fortunately, there’s a whole range of attractive possibilities.

Best Credit Cards with No Annual Fee and No Foreign Transaction Fee

• Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card - Travel Rewards
• HSBC Cash Rewards Credit Card - Cash Back
• Best Western Credit Card - Hotel Points
• United Gateway℠ Credit Card - Airline Miles
• Discover it® Cash Back - Bonus Rewards
• Capital One SavorOne Cash Rewards Credit Card - Dining
• Bank of America® Travel Rewards Credit Card for Students - Students
• Capital One® Spark® Cash Select for Business - Small Business
• Petal® 2 Visa® Credit Card - No Credit
• Discover it® Secured Credit Card - Bad Credit

You don’t need to let your credit card company know you’re traveling, but it’s always a good idea. To protect you from fraud, credit card issuers look for charges that seem to be out of the ordinary, or “suspicious activity.” So, if they suddenly start seeing charges pop up on your card in a different state or country, they may decline the charge, assuming it’s fraudulent. In order to keep your credit card from being declined while you’re traveling abroad, you should submit a travel notice to your issuer.

Issuers like Capital One and Barclaycard have stopped recommending travel notices, thanks to the increased security of EMV chip cards. They still offer the ability to set a travel notification, but state that it’s not necessary. American Express has actually stopped letting cardholders set travel notices altogether, saying their confidence in their fraud protection makes it unnecessary.

Submitting a travel notice to your credit card company can be done quickly and simply. Most credit card issuers let you submit a travel notice online or through their app. If you’re not sure how to submit a travel notice, you can always call the number on the back of your card and submit a travel notice over the phone. When you submit a travel notice, you should tell your issuer where exactly you’ll be traveling and the dates of your trips. If you’re going to multiple destinations, be sure to make that clear.

The best credit card for travel in Europe is the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card because it has a $0 foreign transaction fee and offers an initial bonus of up to 100,000 miles for spending $20,000 within the first 12 months of account opening. Or, you can still get 50,000 miles after spending $3,000 in the first 3 months. The Capital One Venture also gives 2 miles per $1 on all purchases, with no booking or redemption restrictions. Venture charges a $95 annual fee, and it requires good credit for approval.

If you’re looking to rely on a popular European airline, the British Airways Credit Card and the Lufthansa Credit Card are both good choices. There are plenty of other cards capable of saving you lots of money on European travel, too.

Best Credit Cards for Travel in Europe

• Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card – Best Overall
• British Airways Credit Card – Best for Bonus Miles
• Lufthansa Credit Card – Best for Star Alliance Flights
• Norwegian Cruise Line® Credit Card – Best for European Cruises
• Chase Sapphire Reserve® – Best for European Travel Benefits
• Emirates Skywards Premium Credit Card – Best for Worldwide Emirates Lounge Access
• Air France KLM Credit Card – Best for SkyTeam Alliance Flights

Each of the best credit cards for travel in Europe has its own unique perks. For example, Chase Sapphire Reserve® offers 60,000 points for spending $4,000 in the first 3 months and gives a $300 annual travel credit. It also offers 3 points / $1 on travel and dining (1 point / $1 on everything else), plus a Priority Pass Select airport lounge membership and over $1,000,000 in travel insurance. Just bear in mind that there’s a $550 annual fee and Chase Sapphire Reserve requires excellent credit.

One thing’s for sure, though: The best credit cards for travel in Europe have no foreign transaction fees. You don’t want to be charged up to an extra 3% on all of your European purchases, after all. It’s also best to get either a Visa or a Mastercard, as Discover and American Express have lower rates of international acceptance.

You don’t need to get a European credit card before visiting Europe. But you may need to bring a Visa or Mastercard, depending on your specific destination. Visa and Mastercard are both accepted in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide, including all European countries. American Express is accepted in all European countries but may not be accepted by the specific merchant you’re doing business with, particularly if it’s a small operation. Discover is accepted in most European countries but not Serbia, Albania, Montenegro, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine or Moldova. It’s also a hit-or-miss with specific merchants in the other countries.

If you’re wondering about whether European card readers are compatible with American credit cards, you’ll be fine anywhere there’s a person to check you out. That’s true whether you have a chip card or an older card with only a magnetic stripe. The one place you may need a specific type of card is at an unmanned payment terminal, such as you might find in a train station or parking garage. In that case, not even a chip-and-signature card will work. You’ll need to use a chip-and-PIN credit card or cash. But that shouldn’t amount to much more than a minor inconvenience, even though most U.S. chip cards are the signature variety. Finding a credit card with no foreign transaction fees should be a bigger concern before traveling to Europe. The average credit card charges 1.50% of every purchase you make abroad, which can add up to a lot over the course of a trip.

Here’s are the best credit cards for traveling in Europe:

• Best Earning Potential - Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card: 50,000 miles when you spend $3,000 in the first 3 months, worth $500 in travel. Or you can get 100,000 miles after spending $20,000 within the first 12 months. 5 miles per $1 at Capital One Travel and 2 everywhere else. $95 annual fee. Requires good or excellent credit.
• Best Bonus - Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card: 80,000 points when you spend $4,000 in the first 3 months, worth $1,000 in travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards. 2 points / $1 on travel and dining and 1 point / $1 on everything else. Points worth 25% more when redeemed for travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards. 1:1 point transfer to 11 airline and hotel loyalty programs. $0 foreign transaction fee. $95 annual fee. Requires good credit.
• Best Airline Card – Lufthansa Credit Card: 50,000 miles when you spend $3,000 in the first 90 days. 2 miles per $1 with Miles & More airline partners and 1 everywhere else. Annual companion ticket and 2 Lufthansa Business Lounge vouchers. 0% foreign transaction fee. $89 annual fee. Good or excellent credit required.
• Best for No Annual Fee – Bank of America® Travel Rewards credit card: 25,000 points when you spend $1,000 in the first 90 days. Earn unlimited 1.5 points per $1 on all purchases. 0% foreign transaction fee. $0 annual fee. Excellent credit required.

You certainly don’t need a special European credit card. But you do want a card on a network that’s widely accepted in your destination of choice. Mastercard and Visa are your best bets, as they’re both accepted pretty much everywhere in over 200 countries and territories. It’s ideal to get a card with no foreign transaction fee and extra rewards on travel, too.

You might also want to set a travel notice to tell your card’s issuer where and when you’re going. That way, your purchases away from home won’t be confused with fraud.

Using a credit card internationally is the best way to go about paying for things when you’re abroad. It’s safer because you don’t have to carry as much cash, and all major credit card companies give you have $0 fraud liability guarantees. Using a credit card internationally also gets you the best currency exchange rates, and it’s a great opportunity to earn rewards.

Using a credit card internationally isn’t the same as using a credit card domestically, though. There are a few guidelines to follow, such as using a no foreign transaction fee credit card on the Visa or Mastercard network. And there are several other items you should be aware of, including travel alerts, chips and dynamic currency conversion.

Here’s are some tips for using a credit card internationally:

• Credit cards allow you to minimize the amount of cash you carry abroad and provide the opportunity to earn rewards. They also come with $0 fraud liability.
• Many credit cards come with foreign transaction fees when you buy from internationally-based merchants. These fees are typically 1%-3% of the purchase amount. If you go abroad, you should get a card with no foreign transaction fee.
• Many credit card companies ask that  you set a “travel alert” before leaving the country. It’s not mandatory. But if you don’t, they might suspect that international purchases are fraud and suspend your spending privileges until you notify them otherwise.
• You’ll have a smoother experience using a credit card internationally if it’s a “chip” card. Many unmanned payment terminals abroad will not take cards that have only a magnetic stripe. And merchants may even give you a hard time if your card doesn’t have a chip.
• Pay in the local currency. Merchants may offer to let you pay in U.S. dollars, a practice known as Dynamic Currency Conversion. But it’s often an excuse to use an unfair exchange rate and overcharge you.

If you’re in the market for a credit card to use internationally, some of the best cards for international travel are Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card, Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and Citi Premier® Card.

You can calculate an exchange rate by dividing the amount of the currency you start with by the amount of the foreign currency you’ll get back. For example, if you have $100 and you get €80 back, your exchange rate would be 100 divided by 80, or 1.25 Euros per dollar. 

Most of the time, someone else will calculate the exchange for you. Credit cards automatically handle currency conversion when you make a purchase from a foreign merchant. The two worldwide card networks – Visa and Mastercard – post their exchange rates online and update them daily. And those rates are quite a bit lower than what banks and airport kiosks charge for exchanging hard currency. In fact, using a Visa or Mastercard credit card with no foreign transaction fee can save you up to 9% on all your international spending, according to WalletHub’s exchange rate study. 

It will generally be more useful for you to know how to calculate the amount of a foreign currency you’ll get based on the exchange rate. You can do that with simple division. Divide your starting amount by the exchange rate to get the converted amount. For example, $100/1.25 = €80. 

Understanding how exchange rates work is vital to make sure you don’t get taken advantage of while traveling. There are a few more things you should know about the process, too.

Here’s how to calculate exchange rates:

• Check your card network’s website. Visa and Mastercard publish daily exchange rates from U.S. Dollars to all other major currencies. Discover and Amex don’t, but card network exchange rates tend to be very similar.
• The formula for calculating exchange rates is: Starting Amount (Original Currency) / Ending Amount (New Currency) = Exchange Rate. For example, if you exchange 100 U.S. Dollars for 80 Euros, the exchange rate would be 1.25. But if you exchange 80 Euros for 100 U.S. Dollars, the exchange rate would be 0.8.
• To calculate how much of a foreign currency you’ll get with a particular exchange rate, divide the amount of money you’re starting with by the exchange rate. 

While it’s good to be conscious of exchange rates when you go abroad, using a credit card to automatically access the best conversion rates is a great way to make things simple and relatively inexpensive. 

Just make sure to avoid Dynamic Currency Conversion. That’s when a foreign merchant converts your purchase total to U.S. Dollars, supposedly as a convenience but really to apply a high exchange rate and turn a bigger profit. So always pay in the local currency. 

There can be fees for international credit card use. But they’re avoidable if you make the right moves, starting with picking the right credit card. Foreign transaction fees are the main concern. Nine in 10 credit cards charge them. But since WalletHub tracks 1,000+ credit cards, we’ve got plenty of no foreign fee cards for you to consider.Furthermore, you need to watch out for:

• Dynamic Currency Conversion – This isn’t really a fee, but it could cost you money. In short, you should turn down any merchant’s offer to convert prices into U.S. dollars. They may be doing it just as an excuse to charge a high exchange rate.

• International ATM Fees – These will only come into play if you try to perform a cash advance internationally. And there’s no reason to do so if you bring an international debit card on your trip.

In addition, if you decide to convert hard currency at a local bank or airport kiosk, you’re going to lose a lot to fees and high exchange rates. So try to use plastic for as much as possible when traveling abroad. In particular, a Visa or Mastercard with no foreign fee can save you up to 9% on currency exchange.Finally, if you choose a card that doesn’t offer rental car insurance or general travel insurance, you could be playing with fire.

Yes, you can use your Discover card in China. In general, Discover has less international acceptance than two of the other payment networks, Visa and Mastercard. But in China, Discover states that they have “high merchant acceptance,” which is actually the same phrase they use to describe their acceptance in the United States. In fact, you should be able to use your Discover card everywhere in China except for most merchants in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Within mainland China, you can use it at any merchant that displays a Discover, Diners Club or UnionPay logo (and you can always ask if you don’t see one). UnionPay is a Chinese credit card network, and all mainland Chinese merchants who take credit cards accept UnionPay. But in Hong Kong and Taiwan, you can only use your card if you see a merchant with a Discover or Diners Club logo.

Here’s what you need to know about using a Discover card in China:

• Discover cards can be used at the millions of Chinese merchants with the Discover, Diners Club or UnionPay logo.
• You won’t have to pay foreign transaction fees at Chinese merchants because Discover doesn’t charge them.
• You can get cash advances in China from Citibank, ICBC and Bank of China ATMs. But watch out for the cash advance fees and high interest rates.
  
• All mainland Chinese merchants should take your card. But Discover card acceptance is low in Hong Kong and in Taiwan.

It’s easy to use your Discover card in China, compared to a lot of countries. But you still shouldn’t expect 100% acceptance. It’s always useful to have some extra cash on you, or bring a card with higher global acceptance like a Visa or Mastercard.