Don't Get Hit With Foreign Transaction Fees When Traveling Abroad

Welcome to Saving Money with Andrew!

Using a credit card is one of the easiest ways to spend money when traveling outside of the United States, but figuring out what you’ll be charged requires checking the fine print. When I last traveled out of the country I simply used my favorite credit card (the Citi Double Cash), not realizing that it carried a 3% foreign transaction fee.

To avoid this happening to you, take these two steps before your next international trip:

Does Your Card Have A Foreign Transaction Fee?

Typical foreign transaction fees range from 0% (good) to 3% (not good). Fortunately, as I wrote in The Best Cashback Credit Cards of 2022, I swear by two cards—the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa (for Amazon and Whole Foods) and the Citi Double Cash (for everything else). The Citi Double Cash has a 3% foreign transaction fee, but the Prime Visa charges no fee for foreign transactions.

If you use a different card, check your card issuer’s website, call customer service, or just Google “[your card name] foreign transaction fee”.

Which Exchange Rates Does Your Card Use?

This is a smaller issue, but still worth checking. Helpfully, Visa offers a website where you can check their exchange rate, as does Mastercard. The Visa site will even tell you (in some cases) how close it is to market exchange rates, which are likely to be far better than the rates you can get at a currency exchange inside or outside the airport. It’s worth checking the foreign currency in advance to make sure the rates are competitive, especially for less common currencies.

Finally, one last tip—if a merchant in a foreign country offers to convert your bill to dollars, just say no. This option, called “dynamic currency conversion”, often results in significant hidden fees in the form of unfavorable exchange rates.

Some other great picks this week:

Three fascinating picks this week about the music world:

The Real Reason So Many Musicians Are Frustrated By Spotify is a fascinating interview with Damon Krukowski, former drummer of alternative band Galaxie 500, discussing how Spotify has changed the business of being a musician.

Inside the Lavish, Top-Secret World of Private Gigs is a great look at the world of private gigs for the 0.01%. Did you know:

In 1998, thanks to a reported just-under-a-million-dollars paycheck, Bob and Jakob Dylan co-headlined a show (for the technology-hardware manufacturer Applied Materials) for the first and only time.

And, Ted Gioia writes about The First Music Streaming Service, which operated from 1939 to 1959 and would play songs on-demand for 5 cents per song.

Finally, not music-related but very entertaining: The Not-So-Amazing Race: Texas to Vegas in a $2,000 Clunker

I hope this has been helpful. If you liked it, please share it on social media! Also, please send me your feedback, requests, and success stories.