Originally Posted by
LuvAirFrance
These threads are really interesting, but aren't all these cards most useful in big foreign cities? When a person travels off the beaten path, isn't cash necessary? And how useful does this lack of transaction fee become if you use the card for cash advances? So to get real usefulness, don't you need a debit card, too? Are there debit cards that don't charge the fees?
Cash advances on a credit card are almost never cost effective.
Any international traveler should have at least one fee-free credit card for big stuff like hotels and rental cars and at least one fee-free ATM card with a Cirrus or Plus logo (other ATM networks don't work overseas) for getting cash. Ideally you should have a couple of each, since there's always a chance a card won't work or will get blocked when you need it.
The
wiki summary of this thread is a bit of a mess right now (I started it but haven't had time or motivation to clean it up in the last year or so), but has a lot of info.
In my wallet I have a Schwab ATM card and a Citi Private Bank ATM card (both fee free and both quite reliable overseas). Regular Citibank ATM cards are NOT fee free overseas, but if you have Citigold or Citi Private Bank, they waive the fees. Schwab has the additional benefit of rebating ATM owner fees, although it can sometimes be tough to get overseas ATM owner fees rebated I'm told (I've never actually encountered one). Schwab's checking product is also great for other reasons (no minimum balance, no fees, free checks, free postage-paid deposit envelopes, etc.).