Money and insurance
Travel cards: what to look at before opening another account
There is no single best one for everybody: there are six conditions that separate them. What they are, how to compare them, and when changing bank is not worth it.
Tomás Berruezo 6 min Photo by Kristijan Arsov on Unsplash You will not find a list of recommended cards here, and that is deliberate: the terms change every few months and a recommendation from a year ago can cost you money. What does not change are the criteria.
The six conditions that decide it
- The currency conversion fee: the charge that shows up most and varies most.
- The fee for ATM withdrawals abroad, and whether it has a minimum per transaction.
- Which exchange rate it applies and at what moment it fixes it.
- Whether it is debit, credit or prepaid, because many car hires and hotels only accept credit for the deposit.
- Which insurance comes with it and under what conditions it kicks in.
- What happens if you lose it: blocking from the app and getting a new one issued while you are away.
The fourth is the one that complicates the most trips: arriving at a car hire desk with a debit card and discovering it will not do for the deposit.
When opening another account does NOT pay off
- If you travel once a year and always inside the area that uses your own currency: there is no conversion to save on.
- If the estimated saving on the trip is less than the time and the paperwork of opening it.
- If you already have a card from your bank with reasonable terms abroad and you have never looked at them.
That last point settles more cases than it seems: plenty of people open a new account without having read the terms of the one they already have.
What is always worth doing
Carrying two cards from different issuers and keeping them apart. It is more useful than any fee optimisation, because it covers the real case: a block, a loss, or a shop that does not take one of the two.
And the fee you avoid for free, without changing bank, is in paying by card abroad.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best card for travelling?
It depends on your terms and on the destination. What you compare is the currency fee, the ATM fee, the exchange rate, whether it is debit or credit, the insurance and what happens if you lose it.
Do I need a credit card?
For many car hires and some hotels yes, because the deposit is held on credit and they do not accept debit.
Is it worth opening an account just for travelling?
If you often travel outside your own currency area, it can be. For one trip a year within it, almost never.
How many cards should I take?
Two, from different issuers and kept separately. That covers a block, a loss and shops that do not take one of the two.
