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Best Card to Avoid Foreign Fee Transactions

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Best Card to Avoid Foreign Fee Transactions

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Old Nov 29, 2007 | 2:25 pm
  #31  
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Originally Posted by alemdohorizonte
i have the cap 1, pent fed, cairman amex and wells fargo signature visa card. all, except the pent fed, offer 0%. by far the best in my opinion is the wells fargo signature card. they have never turned it off (despite my never having advised them of my travel plans in advance--and going through africa, eastern europe, etc.) and the customer service is always excellent. they don't convert to airline miles but you can redeem the points for $$ at a very good rate and they pay double points for T&E expenses.

not sure where you are located but you need a relationship with wells fargo and must ask your banker to apply for it for you. if you travel a significant amount overseas, it is worth going out of your way to get this card.
Is the 0% transaction fee for purchases made outside the US a benefit of the WF Signature Visa only? I have a Wells Fargo Mastercard and they charge me 3%. Didn't know Wells offers a good option to avoid the foreign transaction fee... do I need to ask my relationship officer to get me a Signature Visa?
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Old Nov 29, 2007 | 6:19 pm
  #32  
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Originally Posted by Rojo
Is the 0% transaction fee for purchases made outside the US a benefit of the WF Signature Visa only? I have a Wells Fargo Mastercard and they charge me 3%. Didn't know Wells offers a good option to avoid the foreign transaction fee... do I need to ask my relationship officer to get me a Signature Visa?
WF signature visa (or premier visa) is the one with 0%. Others charge 3%.
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Old Dec 5, 2007 | 10:44 am
  #33  
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Originally Posted by curious_miles
I agree with biggestbopper regarding the crappy customer service with cap1. Get a commerce bank ATM or credit card if you live in NY or NJ. 0% fee and ATM fee rebate if you have 2.5K in your account.
Is the 0% forex fee on all Commerce cards?

I see they have a new Biz card that gives 4points/dollar.
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Old Dec 5, 2007 | 12:14 pm
  #34  
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Originally Posted by bk3day
Is the 0% forex fee on all Commerce cards?

I see they have a new Biz card that gives 4points/dollar.
4 points is 1 cent at best.
Rewardwise, it's not a good card, but it's 0% foreign transaction + hopefully the customer service is better than cap 1 + commerce bank's check card has no ATM fee, and refunds the fee the other bank charges with account balance over 2.5K.

Besides ATM cards, there's not much benefit of using poor reward 0% foreign fee cards now. Amex starwood card foreign fee is 2%, but each spg point is worth 2 cents people say and at the end it's even, plus amex customer service is better than other cards. Citi amex platinum's foreign fee is 3% but it gives 3 thank you points per dollar, which is valued at least 3 cents, therefore at the end, even.

I would use citi amex platinum or amex starwood for foreign purchases and use commerce bank checkcard for ATM withrawals. cap1 used to have its edge when the other cards had poor rewards and hefty foreign fees, but not any more.
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Old Dec 6, 2007 | 11:50 am
  #35  
 
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Originally Posted by curious_miles
Besides ATM cards, there's not much benefit of using poor reward 0% foreign fee cards now. Amex starwood card foreign fee is 2%, but each spg point is worth 2 cents people say and at the end it's even, plus amex customer service is better than other cards. Citi amex platinum's foreign fee is 3% but it gives 3 thank you points per dollar, which is valued at least 3 cents, therefore at the end, even.

I would use citi amex platinum or amex starwood for foreign purchases and use commerce bank checkcard for ATM withrawals. cap1 used to have its edge when the other cards had poor rewards and hefty foreign fees, but not any more.
Of course, you have to shell out the foreign fees at the time you pay the credit card bill, while you may not find the rewards, other than cash back, immediately useful -- and they can be devalued at any time.
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Old Dec 6, 2007 | 7:22 pm
  #36  
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Originally Posted by hoosiereph
Of course, you have to shell out the foreign fees at the time you pay the credit card bill, while you may not find the rewards, other than cash back, immediately useful -- and they can be devalued at any time.
You have a point, but even though I have about 300K thankyou points, I am willing to buy 10K thank you points for 100 dollars NOW, despite "you may not find the rewards, other than cash back, immediately useful -- and they can be devalued at any time."

I value 1 TYP at a cent at least with the shortcomings you mentioned.
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