So there was a thread going and they were saying what was the best credit card to use overseas, and someone suggested that the Capital One was the best for foreign exchange because they didn’t charge any fees and they’ll even cover the 1-2% that VISA/Mastercard charges. I found that shocking since, Capital One was the biggest postal mail spammer when I was in high school. I actually had a Capital One card back in the day. I think it had a $300 credit limit (or was it $500). Anyway, today I have a credit card with $12,500 credit limit, so credit limits are no longer really much of a worry for me. But I still found it shocking that Capital One is actually doing something good for the customers.
From this article, Overseas, the Shock of the Surcharge:
Many banks, including large ones like MBNA, now charge an additional 2 percent for foreign transactions on top of the 1 percent charge by Visa or MasterCard. Capital One, however, is traveler-friendly. Not only does Capital One not charge an additional foreign exchange fee, but it also does not even pass along the 1 percent currency conversion charge that Visa and MasterCard charge for all purchases made abroad.
I wonder if Capital One has any rewards cards… Would be nice to get 1-2% on top of that in foreign countries.
So the advice is, next time you travel, bring along your Capital One card. I’ll have to try to dig mine out of the gutter somewhere. I think I still have it back in LA.
Do note, not all countries are credit card friendly. Italy was very anti-credit cards and was pretty much cash based society. So is Japan. But France and England liked credit cards a lot. France liked credits so much that subway ticket machines would only accept credit cards with a smartcard chip in it. For us Americans that don’t have the smartcard/PIN protection on our credit cards, we had to go up to the counter and get our tickets the old fashion way through the teller. Transactions in the England subway station happened really quickly. You select your ticket on the screen, stick in your credit card, and immediately it spits your card back out along with your ticket. Either the transcation occured really fast, or the just took down your information, trusted you, and would process the transaction later. I mean they lose out maybe £5, but if they find out that the card is fake or stolen, they can just blacklist you next time.