I've been researching around in hope of finding an awesome deal for any current credit cards that are most suitable for international travel and so far have only settled for the ANZ Visa Gold Card. Does anyone have any suggestions or personal experiences with any particular credit cards that are great for travel in all aspects? ie. low international transaction fees, cash advance fees, fees, fees and more fees =P
International Travel with a Credit Card
LKantankerous on 05/02/2010 - 11:07
Comments
Yeah, +1, Wizard is the one to go for. But be sure to pay your bills on time, or to make sure your account is in the black, because the penalties for late payment are horrendous.
One more thing, in some situations, foreign ATMs will give you the choice of billing in local currency (e.g. Euro) or AUD, because the ATM provider is a bank that does foreign transactions. Don't pick AUD. The conversion rate of Wizard will beat that of the foreign bank. I found this out by my error.
Awesome help guys!
I've gone and applied for it and waiting to hear back from them. 18.49% is the interest from what I see on the website, is that true? I don't have any issues with paying my cards on time because I tend to only make small to medium purchases at regular intervals with it anyway. It's just more or less a money management method more than anything.
Having said that, I've heard that I'd need to top up the credit on the card to avoid international transaction fees or withdrawing money from the card? Or would I be able to do that by putting the card into debit when it's at a zero balance?
as far as I know if you intend to take cash out from your card - it needs to be your own (in credit)
that way its not treated as a cash advance
if you intend to use the card just for transactions though it does not appear to matter - AS LONG as you pay it off in full
if you put the card into debit you are using their cash .. and you will get hammered with fees :(
Taking cash out is fee free too. Of course you need to pay interest on this though. Long story short, use your card when you are overseas for cash advances and you will have no problems. Then pay it off in full when you return.
thanks a lot for the info guys.
I used to be with AMP Credit Union whose visa debit card had similar features. No overseas ATM withdrawl fees, no overseas transaction fee, competitive exchange rate. However, they recently change their fee structure and is pretty much the same as any other bank.
I was looking for a replacement and this wizard will seem to do the trick.
From my understanding best way to use this card is to load it up with cash (lets say $1000 for 1 week trip). That way you have plenty of money for ATM Cash Withdrawl and also use the credit card for buying things. Once you come back you can finish it off for buying things locally as I don't think they will allow you to transfer the extra credit into your account.
Let me know above sounds reasonable.Also, I just to confirm that you can pay your balance via Bpay? Some of the online forums indicated that this card did not have this feature. However, Wizard must have offered this service recently.
interest is payable on cash advances from day 1 - not the end of the month like purchases
make sure your card stays in the positive if you want to draw cash
and yes you should be able to make payment with bpay - i can :)
Wizard clear advantage mastercard has no international transaction fees. Also no cash advance fees if you load up before you go. Have a read of this http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/travel/traveller-tips/your-q…