Now that folks are beginning to travel overseas again, which cards have no/low fees and good exchange rates?
Previously I have used Citibank, which was good. ING appears to be a favourite too but there are requirements ($1,000 deposit and 5 card uses monthly).
Or have there been new apps/technology for easy currency exchange (and useable through Apple Pay etc)?
I used Up last month in Bali and Singapore, withdrew both Rp and SGD with Up and Citibank, Up has slightly a better rate although both are with Mastercard.
Wise.
But watch for the maximum ATM withdrawal limit when travelling. I think it is currently AU$350/month before you pay fees.
The fees on ATM withdrawals are pretty small though.
What's the advantage of using Wise when Up charges no fee for international ATM withdrawals and uses the Mastercard rate with no markup?
You can hold your balance in foreign currency but that's about it. Yeah, Wise ATM fee sucks and they even used to charge $10 for card issuing fee
As I understand, wise offers the mid market rate, i.e. better than MasterCard rate. I just used wise for 3 weeks in Bali. Just got back. Local ATM fees killed me though. Each time was like $10 to withdraw $250. That's a lot in fees imho!
Exactly, I'm in Bali right now and the fees are 0, and the exchange rate is excellent.
Love Up.
I've not seen any bank other than ING that refunds overseas ATM operator fees.
So your question would depend on what countries you're travelling to and if those countries do have ATMs that would allow you to withdraw money without an operator fee. For example, in Thailand, I couldn't find a single provider that would let me withdraw money without fees. But in Europe there are heaps.
Jumping through hoops is a little price(non-cash :P) to pay for peace of mind that you can literally use any ATM fee-free.
Also, I hate the likes of Wise that have a fee-free cap on the withdrawals. Even if you eventually find an ATM that doesn't charge you a fee, you'd have to be constantly vigilant and be converting money back and forth, keeping records of your withdrawals and totalling them to make sure that you do not go over that threshold of $350/mo. That's not what you'd like to do when on holiday! haha. I mean don't get me wrong, you have to have a budget, but mine is one that I loosely follow.
ING does have a number of fee-free withdrawals (5 IIRC), but the app clearly shows you the remaining number.
==Edit==
I use a point-earning international fee-free credit card for payments.
I use a point-earning international fee-free credit card for payments
any annual fees ?
Pretty much every point earning card I know of (points with any value of course) has annual fees, unfortunately (except AMEX?).
But it would ultimately come to how much you value your points and if the value points/other benefits can outweigh the annual fee. Or other strategies that you can use to make it tip over.
For example Macquarie Black's annual fee is waived if you have a home loan package with them.
CBA Ultimate earns some points, and has no fees for international transactions. Fee is I think $25 a month, but it is waived if you spend more than $2,500 a month on it.
If you're looking for a debit card for payments, I think HSBC still offers 2% cashback on tap payments? (if you've activated it in the month prior)
I know they do not charge an international fee. But from memory, there's something different about their spot rates as it's a multi-currency account - the same as Wise.
I haven't travelled OS for over 2 years but still have my Citibank Plus Everyday Account but haven't heard of any changes to the card.
Why not use the Citibank Plus Everyday Account?
Seeing what other options are out there!
Citibank is a great card for international travel with no fees and uses live exchange rates. It however comes with a POS app, very slow transfers and poor customer service.
Citibank Australia has also been acquired by NAB at the beginning of the month, and whilst things are continuing as normal for now, expect amalgamation in the next 2 years, so its highly likely this product will no longer exist sometime in the next years (might be next month or 2024). Thus, I would not recommend it, but if you need a backup card its fine.
I'm sure there are others, but in my experience, Macquarie has been great. Same no fees policy as Citibank (no min deposit requirement either), although no refund of foreign imposed atm fees like ING (you can easily avoid that if you don't go to the scammy looking ATM's), and uses live exchange rates. Doesn't come with any of the downsides of Citi though, with a brilliant app, ability to use PayID (instant transfers from your normal banking account to MAQ) and great customer support (in my experience) and its liekly to be around for a while.
On the ATM front, I haven't been to Thailand for many years, but my experience in SEA (MY, SG, VN, HK) I've been able to avoid these ATM's and usually just found ATM's from large institutions in Asia (Citibank was a common one) to withdraw. Like mentioned earlier, in Europe/ N. America, you can easily withdraw without ATM fees
very slow transfers
I just used it for an overseas trip and transfers are instant. Citi uses Osko, so unless your sending bank doesn't, it should be instant too.
Agree though to be completely cautious about what NAB may mean in the future. But if you already have the account, it's still working like normal.
Edit: Looks like I've made some error to the transfer times with Citi. Haven't actively used the card since early 2020 and back then I believe they didn't have Osko (transfers from my day-to-day account to Citi, would always take 1.5 - 3 days and would've completed about 10-20 transfers).
Citi does have PayID now, so again my old comparison isn't fair here either.
Even when Citi didn't have payID, I was able to use beem it to instantly transfer funds from my everyday to Citi to withdraw money overseas.
Yes I remembered Citi transfer was slow. Good to know they have Osko now
Thanks for sharing this. Isn't there a 3.4% fee when using the card overseas? Or am I misunderstanding something?
That’s for their credit cards.
ability to use PayID (instant transfers from your normal banking account to MAQ)
doesn't work with other banks on osko , as macq using npp for payid
what's with aussie banking
I found Bankwest is quite good - but only useful in WA, the rest of the country forgettabout it - international was ok
Bankwest was one of the best bank before they get acquired by Commbank. $100 automatic overdraft facility, favourable credit card program etc which all axed since the acquisition. I'd expect the same will happen to Citi eventually.
Citibank has the worst customer service. I just landed in Singapore and my card is locked. Can't contact anyone because 'they had a fire drill at the office ' so angry
ING works great for me overseas, both for ATM withdrawals and card purchases.