Anyone have any recommendations for best no ForEx card given what's out there now? I don't think I'll qualify for any of the premier accounts so those are probably out.

Seems to me like best options would be the BA Visa card with 50k bonus points or one of the CapitalOne Venture cards.

Traveling to Europe for an extended trip starting next month and would love to avoid the surcharge. I fly AA mostly and as I understand it I can redeem BA miles for domestic AA flights very easily or use the BA miles to fly within Europe without paying the big fees for flying internationally on BA.

Primary card is the Citi AA MasterCard and would likely probably revert to that after the trip so this card probably wouldn't need to remain my primary.

Also looking for a good banking option with 0/reduced limited ATM fees/conversion rates if anyone has ideas. Thanks.

Another option would be the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card with 0% fee and 50,000 bonus points that can be transferred to Continental:

https://applynowdc1.chase.com/FlexAp...SJx4St3g&pvid=

Thanks. I primarily fly AA so BA is probably better option assuming I can use for AA domestically easily.

For anyone -- I've read through last several pages -- but just to be clear -- are these (the BA card and the CapOne) fully 0% no forex cards? Would I be paying any fees at all from either the bank or for example Visa?

One thing to keep in mind: Some foreign ATMs will limit you to small withdrawals, regardless of your limit with your own bank (in Peru, for example, I'm usually limited to $100 US or $500 PEN (about $180)), requiring you to do multiple transactions at the machine. So if you want to take out $500, that $5 fee is suddenly $25. FWIW, I've been using an ATM card linked to a Capital One money market account. Zero charges (from them) and they seem to use the day's bank rate. The only caveat is that the bank that owns the foreign ATM may charge a fee (which again, can multiple rapidly because of those withdrawal limits), but I've usually found that there's usually at least one bank that forgoes that fee, too, so with a bit of trial and error you can avoid all fees.

Good luck!

I bought two Groupon HK deals on my plain BA card a few days ago and they posted at $51.30 each with no other charges. The $399 HKD I paid converts today to $51.2901 USD, so it appears they're not hiding any fees.

All of the options you mentioned add one more "net" annual fee. Will you use the new card enough for that to be worth it?

Chase Priority Club Select Visa has no "net" annual fee. Ie, they have a $49 annual fee after the first year, but give you free notel night certificate every time they charge it.

(Chase also has a no-forex Hyatt card, but I don't know where it fits with "net" annual fees.)

Agree on the Chase Priority Club Select Visa due to the annual fee is more than paid for by the free night cert. Plus you also get 10% rebate on award redemption. The drawback is poor earning rate. So our PC cards are back up cards for international travels only.

We are lucky to have a 0 fee Citi Premier MC Card (converted from a PPE) and the 0 fee Old Schwab Visa now a generic FIA card. We carry all 3 on foreign trips but primarily use Schwab Visa because of the 2% straight cash rebate.

You can transfer the Chase Sapphire pts to BA too, no? At least that was the assumption I had when I got the card. So then you could use those BA miles for AA flights if you like!!

I would like to take a trip to Belize by booking with the hotel directly and I am seeing their prices quoted in US dollars. Do I get charged with the 1% fee on the Fidelity Amex even though the charge is in US dollars but originating outside of the USA? Does anyone have any experience with Belize charges? TIA

Most banks/credit cards charge an "international transaction fee" regardless of the currency the original charge was made in. Also, many hotels and businesses abroad quote in USD and accept USD cash as payment, but will often charge you in local currency if you use cc...IME you always do best when paying in the currency quoted - if they quote you in USD, but charge you in Belize $, they will likely use a conversion rate that ensures they get their $...

The only way to know for sure about the fee you will be charged is to consult your T&C and/or call a rep.

Many have given good advice on the cc...

If you're looking for an international card for occasional use, why not consider a no-fee card such as the Capital One go cash? Alternatively, you could apply for one of these more lucrative rewards cards, keep it for a year, and re-evaluate once the annual fee comes due.

As for bank accounts, my recommendation is the Charles Schwab High Yield Investor Checking account. No Forex fees, and unlimited ATM fee rebates make it pretty hard to beat for international travel.

I'm sure it's probably already mentioned but I like:

Capital One Venture card. I did the 100k match and later found out this card actually does not charge forex fees. I used it for Asia last month and it was great, at close to xe.com forex rates. Charged around $3k on it with no fees = love. This card is also 1% cash back and bonus 1% on travel, gas, groceries I think.

Another no forex fee card I know is the Hyatt Visa, but that card has an annual fee.

It's effectively 2% cashback if you redeem on travel: 2 points per dollar on all purchases (travel or not), which you can apply at a 1:100 redemption value on any travel related purchase.

The similar but no annual fee VentureOne also has no forex fees, you get 1.25% effective cashback. This is a better value if you plan to spend less than $7900 per year on the card (see my post here for the math).

I now use a combination of VentureOne and Penfed Amex for all my CC purchases in non-US currency, to avoid forex fees. Redeeming the VentureOne points couldn't be easier.

--Chris

Thanks for the clarification!

Venture is a pretty low $59 annual fee, so that's not too bad. I do at least 3-4 foreign trips a year so I think I can hit 10k pretty easily.

Further clarification: 10k on the annual fee version would get $200 in travel credits. Those are redeemable in two ways: Either for travel purchases you made with that card in the past 90 days, or for travel purchases you make (after you have the travel credits, which they call "miles") through their special booking site.

While there are no "thresholds", you cannot redeem for anything except full charges, except in the case of airline fares bought within the last 90 days on this card. So, for example, if you have $200 in travel credits, and want to reserve a hotel for several nights and that costs over $200, it's useless. If you have $200 in travel credits, and want to reserve a future airline flight that costs over $200, it's useless. If you have a $205 hotel charge you made the card in the past 90 days, it's probably useless.

(By "useless", I mean you can't redeem until you go even more years and accumulate even more points, while paying the annual fee each year.)

This is in contrast, to, say, the Priority Club Select Visa, which has a $49 annual fee after the first year, but that's more than offset by a free hotel night voucher after the first year. If you can use that hotel voucher, and occasionally use the hotel points for other free nights, Priority Club points never expire. So even if you decide to cancel the card, the points will not be lost. (Whereas at Capital One the points stay with the card, so until you use them up, you cannot cancel the card, though you may be able to downgrade to a no-fee version and keep the points, since I think the no-fee version is a downgrade only the earning side, not redemption side.)

So it may depend not only on your travels and spending, but on how you use hotels, and on the size of your typical travel purchases, and on whether you care where you book your travel, which would be better for you.