The Best Credit Cards To Use Abroad

When you're getting ready to jet off into the sun you'll need a credit card you can use there

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There are plenty of credit cards that have travel rewards - some let you rack up the airmiles to get away on a plane ride for free or at reduced cost and some offer travel extras such as discounts on packaged holidays and flights or a chance to take advantage of travel insurance or travel accident insurance - but that doesn't mean their suitable for use abroad.

Security issues, a high foreign transaction limit and high fees and interest for taking out cash could all be enough to put you off paying on a credit card in the sun altogether.

When it comes to use abroad credit cards the foremost of these is the foreign transaction fee since it'll be applied to everything you buy in a foreign country.

This is a percentage amount of the transaction that is paid in fees and then, as with a normal credit card purchase, it's also subject to fees.

This is also applicable to cash advances including cash withdrawals at an ATM, cash back at the till and - crucially - buying foreign currency at an exchange.

Since the interest rate charged to cash is so much higher than those charged to purchases, and there's no interest-free period, it's by far preferable to pay with a card and avoid making that cash transaction altogether, wherever you are.

When you compare credit cards look for the lowest foreign transaction fee you can find.

Only a few credit cards have a 0% foreign transaction fee.

Security issues could also be a problem when you're abroad. You're more relaxed on holiday and so more likely to let your card out of your sight.

Also, you're less likely to check your account for fraud by looking it up online and, clearly, you won't be getting your statements delivered so you wouldn't be able to check those even if you had the inclination to.

For this reason it may be worth checking the level of security protection available on your chosen credit card. This could be protection against fraud, a holiday guarantee or even a service that gets a card to you if you lose it abroad with a minimum of effort.

Whether those are available to you will depend on the prestige of your card so look for black, purple or platinum to get as many travel extras as possible: banks are still largely stuck in the stone age and only expect the rich to get away.

by: Julia Cook

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