Best Travel Debit and Credit Cards
Debit Card
What to Look for in a Debit Card
- NO Withdrawal Fees: Many banks charge a flat fee every time you use an international ATM with your debit card. Determine what the per transaction fee is and keep that in mind. Most online banks offer ATM fee reimbursements because they do not offer their own ATMs.
- NO Transaction Limits: While not prevalent in the U.S., we have met some travelers who say they have a maximum number of transactions for withdrawing money from the ATM before additional fees kick in. Check to make sure whether you have a limit and strategically withdraw money.
- No Maintenance Fees: For the long-term traveler, check with your bank to determine if you have any maintenance fees on your checking or savings accounts. Sometimes bank clerks can help you create a program to deter these fees.
Debit Card Best Use
In addition to our Schwab account, which is our primary designated travel debit/ATM account, we also each individually maintain our own savings and checking accounts with other banking institutions. These individual accounts also have auto-pay features already set up to pay credit card bills we did not feel the need to transfer to Schwab. Having individual savings and checking account outside of Schwab also allows us with a backup access to cash via ATM if our primary debit card is not accessible. The caveat is that our backup banking institutions do not offer ATM fee reimbursements, so we do not use it unless we have no choice. We periodically fund our Schwab account through wire transfers, which unfortunately costs us $3-5 per transaction and take 3 business days to process.
CHARLES SCHWAB
High Yield Investor Checking Account
The Charles Schwab High Yield Investor Checking Account is available for U.S. residents and is our primary debit card for making withdrawals from ATM machines around the world. This debit card is accepted in around 90% of the ATMs we have tried around the world as there are some banks that may not recognize or process a foreign debit card. The main reason we use Schwab as our debit card is because it offers unlimited ATM fee reimbursements when withdrawing money which normally run between $2-$5 per transaction. On your statement, you will see the ATM fees charged on your account, but a prompt ATM fee reversal will be applied immediately. We only use this as our debit card to withdraw money as there is no reward for using this card as a credit card and there are better options for credit card uses.
- No foreign transaction fees
- No ATM fees (you will see it on your statement, but you will have unlimited reimbursements for fees charged from foreign ATMs/banks)
- No maintenance fees
- $0 minimum balance
- $26 per overdraft transaction
- If you lose your ATM card, you can get a new ATM debit card sent to you via FedEx in around a week after speaking with customer service and filling out a form.
- Banking is done mostly online or via mobile as there are a limited number of branches scattered around the U.S. Customer Service Representatives (CSR) are very quick and responsive on the phone and via chat.
- If you are traveling long-term (or more than a month), you need to notify Schwab you are traveling (specific dates and locations) or else they will lock your debit card and render it useless as a preventative measure for fraudulent transactions. You can easily remedy this by updating your travel plans via an online form which is currently only available on desktop computers and not via mobile (at least 3 days in advance) or also by speaking directly with a CSR via chat or phone (for more immediate access).
Credit Cards
What to Look for in a Good Travel Credit Card
- NO (or Low) Foreign Transaction Fees: Some credit cards and debit cards charge Foreign Transaction Fees, a percentage of your purchase made on your credit card or debit card. Determine what this percentage is. There are some that offer 0% FTFs and others that charge a small percentage.
- Different Credit Card Companies: Make sure you carry a Visa AND a MasterCard since some countries more widely accept one over the other. Discover Card is hardly used and American Express is only accepted in luxury businesses.
Our Best Travel Credit Card Recommendations
Before we left on our trip of a lifetime, we made sure to maximize the credit card rewards (reward miles and reward points) because it came at no additional cost to us by signing on at least 7 months in advance before leaving (for some programs, it takes 3-4 months to earn bonus rewards by meeting minimum spending and another 3 months waiting period for your reward miles to become usable). We both have excellent credit scores, pay down our bills every month and do not carry payments or pay hefty interest, and only planned on keeping the credit card for less than a year (to avoid the annual fee). Since opening all of these credit cards we recommend below, we only kept our primary card, the Capital One Venture credit card. We were able to use these cards on our normal day-to-day spending on groceries, utility bills, entertainment, auto insurance, travel insurance, purchases for our trip, and we were able to even pay our rent with a credit card. By using credit card instead of traditional methods of direct deposit or checking required some additional fees, but the overall payout of a free flight outweighed those small fees.
More About Travel Hacking
We are not the best at travel hacking and still have much to learn as there are many who are pros at travel hacking who are able to not only get flights for free, but are also able to get upgraded to fly first-class by accumulating massive reward points or free hotel night stays. Reward programs allow you to earn double or even triple points by either staying at affiliated hotel chains, dining at specific restaurants, or purchasing special deals. Below are some people who have done it well and can offer wisdom on this aspect.
- The Points Guy
- Chris Guillebeau
- Travel Hacking Cartel
- “Guide to Travel Hacking” by Matthew Kepnes, nomadicmatt.com
CAPITAL ONE
Venture® Rewards
Our primary credit card with zero foreign transaction fees that we use to earn reward points through our day-to-day spending. We are able to use the Capital One Purchase Eraser to erase expenses or redeem reward points on travel-related expenses in our statement including transportation (flights, car rentals, and even Uber and Lyft rides) and lodging. These allow us to erase numerous small purchases rather wait to accumulate enough miles to book a flight redemption. Capital One also offers an alternative credit card called VentureOne with $0 annual fees, though reward points for spending are not as high.
- No foreign transaction fees
- Earn unlimited 2X miles per dollar on every purchase
- Plus, earn 40,000 bonus miles (equivalent to $400) once you spend $3,000 on purchases within the first 3 months
- Annual Fee: $0 intro for the first year; $59 after that
CHASE
United MileagePlus Explorer
We each applied for this credit card for the 30,000 miles one-time reward bonus for United Airlines and cancelled it before we were hit with the hefty annual fee of $95. When you cancel your credit card, your points are transferred into your United MileagePlus account and you can redeem your miles by booking a flight with any of the partners in the Star Alliance network by booking here.
- No foreign transaction fees
- Earn 30,000 bonus miles after you spend $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open
- Earn 5,000 additional bonus miles after you make a card purchase and add an authorized user to your account during your first 3 months as a cardmember
- Earn 10,000 additional bonus miles each year on $25,000 net purchases
- Additional bonuses include 2x rewards for booking on a United ticket purchases, free checked back for yourself and companion, (2) United Club passes for the first year and each year on your anniversary
- Annual Fee: $0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $95
- United MileagePlus miles expires after 18 months of last credit card use
CITI
AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World MasterCard®
We also applied for this credit card to reap 30,000 miles one-time reward bonus for the American Airlines AAdvantage program and cancelled it before we were hit with the hefty annual fee of $95. When you cancel your credit card, your points are transferred into your American Airlines AAdvantage account and you can redeem your miles by booking a flight with any of the oneworld airline partners here. This card allowed us to redeem a one-way flight from Hong Kong to Prague for 25,000 miles for only $35 for taxes and fees.
- No foreign transaction fees
- Earn 30,000 American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles after spending $1,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening.
- Additional bonuses include 2x rewards for booking an American Airline ticket, free checked back for domestic flights, Group 1 Boarding on domestic flights, and save 25% on eligible in-flight purchases on American Airlines flights.
- Annual Fee: $0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $95
- American Airlines AAdvantage® miles expires after 18 months of last credit card use
CHASE
Sapphire Preferred
Only May was approved to receive this credit card which offers a generous reward of 50,000 miles, except it comes with a requirement of a higher quarterly initial spend of $4,000. Once that requirement was met, she called to cancel and the customer service representative offered her $500 credit via check rather than try to book a reward flight worth $625 on their website.
- No foreign transaction fees
- Earn 50,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
- Earn 5,000 bonus points after you add the first authorized user and make a purchase in the first 3 months from account opening
- Earn 2X points on dining at restaurants and on all travel from airfare and hotels to taxis and trains
- Get 20% off travel when you redeem for airfare, hotels, car rentals and cruises through Chase Ultimate Rewards. 50,000 miles would be equivalent of a $625 flight
- Annual Fee: $0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $95
Disclosure: I do not have a degree in finance nor am I being paid to promote these products. These are personal referrals based on personal experience. Be sure to read the credit card offers on their website as programs and rates may change.