FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - USA issuers announce EMV cards (Chip & PIN -or- Chip & Signature).
Old Jan 4, 2012, 9:27 am
  #512  
kebosabi
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
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Originally Posted by mia
Humor me. What is the appeal of a Citi Chip & Signature card with 3% foreign transaction fee when Chase issues Chip & Signature cards with no foreign transaction fee? It makes sense for Citi Premier, but otherwise I don't see it.
Depends on the amount one plans to spend abroad I guess?

The JP Morgan Select VISA with Chip and Signature has no forex fee @ $95/yr

Citi AAdvantage World Elite MC with Chip and Signature has the 3% forex fee @ $85/yr

In order to make up for the $10 difference in the annual fee between the two cards, the cardholder has to spend about $333.34 ($10/0.03) abroad for the ROI to justify the JP Morgan Card over the Citi AAdvantage.

For most purchases abroad the no annual fee & no forex fee CapOne card would do fine. But in a situation where say... a restaurant In Brussels refusing the CapOne card for the lack of the chip and you don't have enough Euros on hand, the Citi AAdvantage card will come in as a good backup card...that is of course if your Belgian dinner tab is more than $333.34.

Besides, if you're already a Citi cardholder, why not? Saves the hassle of applying for a new card with a credit pull made.

OTOH, one could also say, why not just get the dual EMV & contactless US Bank FlexPerks card which has a low $49 annual fee? Then the ROI difference between the US Bank FlexPerks card vs the JP Morgan Select card for forex fees would be spending more than $1,533.34 or more abroad (($95-$49)/0.03)

Last edited by kebosabi; Jan 24, 2012 at 9:33 am Reason: mistake on the formula
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