Advice on Multi Currency Travel Card (USD, CAD, EURO and Singapore Dollars)

Ls1mply22 on 13/08/2016 - 11:40

Hi Guys,
I will soon be travelling to North America (US and Canada) via Singapore for couple of months, so need your advice on Multi Currency travel card. I have NAB, CBA and HSBC Saving account and they all offers International Travel Cards on which I can load the multiple currency (USD, CAD, Singapore Dollars and EURO). My queries:

a) Which one of these considering travel cards (NAB, CBA, or HSBC) Online Transaction Fees, Ease of transferring currency from Savings to Travel Card on the go, ATM withdrawal or Merchant fees? Or any other bank’s Travel Card is better?
b) Which gives the better conversion rate: VISA, MasterCard or Amex?

Any suggestions from your past experiences would be really helpful.
Thanks

Travel

Comments

  • Blackfyre on 13/08/2016 - 11:52
    +1

    The travel card often mentioned here is a debit card from Citibank Plus savings account.

    Been to Japan and Indonesia with it myself - good experience so far
    No ATM fees (does depend on the ATM provider) nor conversion fees. Exchange rates are close to forex rates.

    • s1mply22 on 13/08/2016 - 14:16

      Thanks Blackfyre, so this account works for multi-currency? And can I use it for online international transaction without any charges?

      • bluesky on 13/08/2016 - 15:08
        +1

        Sorry, I should mention - the Citibank Debit card I referred to below is exactly what Blackfyre referred to, i.e. the card linked to the Citibank Plus transaction account. So open this account, and they will give you a Citibank Plus debit card. It is AUD-denominated. But whenever you use it for foreign amounts, it gets converted back to AUD-equivalent, and charged to this account. There is also a savings account linked to this transaction account, which you can transfer money from and to.

        You can also separately open a Citibank Online Saver account to get even higher interest on savings. And move money between the transaction and saving accounts. Hope this is clearer.

  • bluesky on 13/08/2016 - 14:09

    Elaborating on what Blackfyre has said, unless you are expecting the currency movements will be very detriment to you, so you prefer to lock in the currency rate with a multi-currency travel card. Otherwise, it might be better to have the Citibank Debit card. This will mean whatever exchange rates at the time you withdraw cash or use it will apply. However, this card has no currency conversion fees at all.

    • s1mply22 on 13/08/2016 - 14:13

      Thanks makes sense, so which travel card to go for? As far as I understand, when I reload card rates would be calculated real time not locked? I may be wrong.

      • bluesky on 13/08/2016 - 14:18
        +1

        Oh, I see what you are getting at. You won't be pre-locking the amounts into the currency card before travel, but just load as you need on the road.
        You might still be better off with Citibank Debit card. Because exchange rates are close to forex rates, and no fees. It is worth checking if the cards you mentioned have better or worse rates.

  • tombilske on 13/08/2016 - 19:49
    +2

    So the purpose of a reloadable travel card (NAB, CBA etc) is that you load the foreign currency on before you go. That locks in the exchange rate because you effectively have already bought the other currency.

    The rates that you get for the exchange on those cards are usually pretty bad. That's where the banks/providers make their money.

    I also recommend the Citibank plus debit card.

    It's just a normal Australian bank account with a debit card, like you would have from NAB and CBA, so you just stick Australian dollars in the bank account and use the debit card overseas.

    The difference is that when you use the card overseas (unlike normal transaction accounts with CBA/NAB etc), Citibank doesn't charge any fees on the foreign exchange, or any overseas transaction fees, or any overseas ATM fees (the atm provider might charge, but Citibank will not impose an additional fee unlike the reloadable travel cards).

    The exchange rate you get is the Visa rate for the day. So it's very close to the market rate, which means you get a way better exchange rate than on the reloadable cards.

    Plus the account is completely fee free. No monthly fee or opening fee or anything like that.

    So I would definitely go that way. I myself used that card in the US and Europe for three months this year. Saved myself tonnes in exchange fees/better rates :).

  • s1mply22 on 14/08/2016 - 03:30
    +1

    Thank you all for your advice, I have just applied for Citibank plus debit card.

    • ThirdRonnie on 14/08/2016 - 10:15
      +2

      You've done the right thing. This is clearly the card of choice as noted the many times this question has been asked here on OzBargain, as well as in both Travel and Finance threads on Whirlpool (https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=2472634).

      Coupled with a 28 Degrees Mastercard to use as a credit card, you have the perfect overseas travel money kit.

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