We’re very fortunate to be heading to Europe in a couple of months (mainly France & Italy). What’s the best option for carrying spending money these days?
Spending Money for Europe Trip
comoprode on 04/02/2023 - 20:52
Comments
+1 Credit card or debit card with no FOREX fees
Why not both?
Indeed. I have Citibank debit for ATM access and 28 degrees for spending.
The conditions on Citibank website say "Customers may be charged by the third-party provider" for withdrawal from overseas ATM. Does this mean I can only withdraw from Citibank ATMs overseas? If I cannot find one how common are these 3rd party charges?
@naruto128: Citibank is fabulous for USA but coverage in Europe is not so good, OP will have to find whichever card is the best for France & Italy
@naruto128: You can use any ATM, but private networks charge a fee, usually high.
Most actual banks, as opposed to convenience store “Euronet” machines didn’t charge a fee.@mskeggs: Thanks mskeggs. Going to Japan soon. So I just load up the debit card with AUD and withdraw the foreign equivalent from the foreign bank atms and the bank use the conversion rate of the day?
@naruto128: Yes. When I was in Japan 7 years ago, I think the 7/11 and post offices had the fee free ATMs.
But someone will be along to correct me if this is wrong!
Also make sure it either doesn’t require 2FA or you have a dual SIM phone/overseas roaming/2nd phone
It is ONLY $70 at Hell$tra…..
Boost can receive SMS whilst overseas
I should have been clearer - yes, you can take your current phone with you and it will receive SMS without any overseas roaming requirement.
However, if you are using a local SIM overseas then you cant receive 2FA unless you have one of the options mentioned
Credit or debit card with no ATM fees, you'll need cash in those countries
was in france for a month recently. I had a small amount of euro (less than 50?) in cash just in case I was at a market in France. I spent everything else on no fees CC.
Are coins still needed to pay for public toilets in the cities?
oh yes, forgot about that, definitely have 1euro handy. Although there were quite a few free automatic toilets in Paris. used free toilets when dining in or for a coffee/drink breaks, at tourist attractions, on the tgv/intercity trains.
French pee in the streets, Italy backs down on charges if you tell them!
28d for credit card, citibank debit plus for atm withdrawals. Both cards (at the time I used it) gave me really close to the Google rates
I have the same two cards and have used them for multiple overseas trips. They're great. 28 Degrees you can get a supplementary card as well for other family members. Only downside is they're both Mastercard. Having one Mastercard and one Visa would be ideal.
I have used a Citibank debit card for the last 10 or so years, and have never had a problem.
Would ING still be the best debit card for use overseas due to the ATM fee rebate? I think it is limited to only 5 withdrawals per month now though
Depending on where you go, my experience is that most European (west Europe in any event), North American and quite a few SE asian countries dont use cash any more than we do in Australia ie fairly rarely. In which case you dont really need to make a decision based on ATM rebates because you dont use much cash. I use the Ubank debit card, which has no FX fees and not ATM fees, but it doenst have ATM rebate. Also its free
If you are happy with the ING card/conditions, then by all means use it, its a great card. But if you dont want to go through the hoops then other cards offer everything other than the rebate
Yes, I just got back from a trip to Europe and no one accepts cash, was so hard to pay for anything in cash. I used my ING card for everything and also used it a few times to take out cash from the ATM but didn't need to do that, just use eftpos for everything when i europe. I also had a backup citibank card but didn't need it. just make sure you deposit $1000 in the month before (can take it straight back out) and also pop into woolworths self serve checkout to split payments for a quick chocolate bar, 10 cents, 15 cents 20 cents etc to make up your 5 transactions, then you are good to go, happy travels
Haven't been to Europe post-pandemic and wary that everything is likely to have changed. Where exactly did you go? "Europe" covers UK, Western, Eastern, Nordics, Balkans, etc; and there were always monetary variations within those regions. I used to universally need cash everywhere to use laundromats (in countries where they existed) and in some countries to use public toilets. Getting fee-free ATM cash varied by country. So you're saying everwhere you went has become like here, where you don't need to carry cash at all? No more euro, Pounds sterling, Swiss francs, Czech koruna, Dutch/Sewdish/Norwegian krona among others? That would be awesome!
Thanks for this advice. But why is the deposit of $1k the month before necessary sorry?
ING Orange Everyday
To qualify for benefits each calendar month, the following monthly eligibility criteria needs to be met:
- deposit at least $1,000 from an external source to any personal ING account in your name.
- make 5 or more settled (not pending) eligible ING card purchases.
When the criteria is met in a calendar month, the benefits will apply in the next calendar month.
WISE debit card.
Credit card with no forex fees