USA Travel Debit Card

Hi guys, wondering what is the best travel debit card to go to the US? I've seen this page where ING/Macquarie/Citibank have no international fees however not sure if one of them in particular would give a better exchange rate then the rest.

https://www.ozbargain.com.au/wiki/cards_with_no_overseas_tra…

Strictly looking for a debit and not a CC.

Cheers

Comments

  • +5

    Exchange rate will be MC/VISA rate at the time of transaction. ING is slightly better as it compensates ATM fees.

    • +2

      This is the right answer - essentially all Visa cards will have the same exchange rate used, and all Mastercard cards will have the same.

      Sometimes Visa has better rates, sometimes Mastercard but the differences probably aren't worth worrying about.

      Then just look at the other features of each card to decide which to use.

    • Need to jump through a few hoops with ING these days. $2k deposit and five transactions.

      • +1

        $1K deposit and 5 transactions.

        • oops, thanks for the correction

      • Again this is up to individual circumstances.

        You don't have to worry about it if:

        • It's your daily use account - you are more likely to have them self fulfill
        • you have automated the hoops, which is super easy.
        • Have a home loan with ING
  • +1

    Try Wise card https://wise.com/

  • Also add ubank/86400 to the list.

  • -2

    Wise is the best

    • +1

      Not really.

      If your card was issued in Australia, New Zealand, or Singapore**: You can take out money for free twice a month — as long as the total amount is under 350 AUD/NZD/SGD. But after that, we’ll charge you 1.50 AUD/NZD/SGD per transaction. This is a fixed fee. If you take out over 350 AUD/NZD/SGD in one month, we’ll charge you 1.75% on top of that.

      I'm about to test Wise vs ING and Citi likely tomorrow, curious which one has best exchange rate.

    • What's your reasoning? Does Wise use a different exchange rate than the rest?

      As @DainB pointed out, one demerit is Wise having a cap on fee-free withdrawals. Where Citi and some others do not?

  • +4

    So, withdrawn 20 EUR in fee-free ATM in Netherlands, the results are (Ing card was the only one offered to choose whether you want conversion or not):

    Revolut Visa - A$29.23
    Wise Visa - A$29.37
    Citi MasterCard - A$29.46
    Ing Visa without currency conversion - A$29.49
    Ing Visa with currency conversion - A$31.15

    Decide for yourself, I'm actually surprised.

    • Visa exchange rate: 20 Euro = 29.49 AUD
      Mastercard exchange rate: 20 Euro = 29.50 AUD

    • Thanks!!

      Thats very interesting. Seems like Revolut and Wise aren't using Visa rates?
      I'll be heading to Barcelona Tomorrow, might have a go as well :D

      EDIT===

      Could you please check if the ATM fee rebate counter on your ING (visible in the app - rebates tab) card got decremented?

      • +1

        Says 5 rebates left for August, but transaction is also sitting in pending state, so might change after it's processed.

      • So walked around Barcelona today and could not find any ATMs that charge less than €7. So no experiments, I'm just sticking to ING 😅

Login or Join to leave a comment