My daughter will be studying in Dublin in the fall. She and her friends have plans to take several excursions throughout Europe. I wonder what is the most economical way for her to pay for her accommodations, restaurants, souvenirs, etc. Are there some credit cards better than others? MasterCard is charging a 3% foreign transaction. Should she use her debit card? Any advice?
I got a B of A Travel Rewards Visa card with no foreign transaction fee. It also has the chip and PIN that some vendors require in Europe.
I also got the Bank of America credit card with no transactions fees. It’s been great
There are some credit cards without foreign transaction fees. Charter One Mastercard, Bank of America traveler rewards VISA, Citibank has a for pay premium card, 1st year no fee. There may be others, I’m aware of these which eork well. ATM card also, fees vary widely check with your bank.
Oops. Capital One, not Charter One. Sorry.
Charles Schwab (no fees), Fidelity Investments (very, very low fees)
Ditto on Charles Scwab!
I had to look it up. Charter One is now Citizens Bank and their world MasterCard does not charge a foreign transaction fee.
So momofadult, you were right lol! (They’re my bank and I wanted to check).
I strongly recommend she carry a second credit card squirreled away someplace safe, in the event her primary card is stolen or compromised.
When we travel in Europe, we usually take out enough funds for a few days, and just use cash. It saves the perennial argument about “we’re so sorry, our machine is out of order”. We keep passport and credit cards in hidden money belt and take out the credit card as infrequently as possible. One less thing to worry about.
Edited to add: Actually, we only carry one credit card for emergencies which we never take out. We get our cash by using a debit card which is tied to an account with 2 - 3 times the amount of cash we think we’ll need, rather than tied to our whole bank account. It limits our exposure.
I strongly agree with hayden. Occasionally, a card will not work with with a given system at one merchant, although it’s fine with others. France is notorious for expecting a “chip” card if you want to buy train tickets at the automated ticket kiosks and other countries have their own quirks with automated ticket purchases as well. I’ve also had one card declined at a major tourist site, for no apparent reason, while another US card worked fine. My only point is, it’s very nice to have a back-up if you are faced with a surprised refusal or obviously, a lost card. I’ve never had a problem with a non-chip card at hotels or restaurants in the many major European cities I’ve traveled to. (maybe I’m lucky, but I think some of the chip vs non-chip and pin vs signature concerns are overblown)
deb - wish I’d seen that credit card before I signed up for the Citibank annual fee card - and started counting down my free year of usage!
We’ve always use one of two “no foreign transaction fee” cards. British Airways has a card, so does Capital One. Some cash withdrawn from an ATM and one of these cards has been enough for us.
Your card companies should be sending out chip cards now, so make sure you have those.
Not all CC chips will be equal. It will be confusing.
Chip and signature is different from chip and PIN
http://www.howtogeek.com/216571/chip-credit-cards-are-coming-to-the-usa-heres-what-you-need-to-know/
largely be switching to a “chip and signature” system. You’ll now be inserting the chip card into the bottom of a payment terminal, and you’ll then have to sign your signature — just like you do with a standard credit card today.
As we all know, credit card signatures are not secure at all — few people ever check to make sure a signature matches the one that appears on the back of a card. If someone gets a hold of your chip-and-signature card, they can still use it to make a purchase at a chip-enabled terminal. Annoyingly, these chip-and-signature cards won’t necessarily be compatible with the EMV systems in other countries where chip-and-PIN cards are expected.
One credit card issuer explained why chip-and-signature was adopted over chip-and-PIN:
“We don’t really think we can teach Americans to do two things at once. So we’re going to start with teaching them how to dip, and if we have another watershed event like the Target breach and consumers start clamoring for PIN, then we’ll adjust.”
The chip-and-PIN system would require customers remember a PIN for each of their credit cards. The initial switch to chip cards in the USA won’t require a new verification method — just a new way of using the card at payment terminals and the same old signature.