Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

What is the best credit card for foreign FX spending when someone else is paying?

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We write a lot on Head for Points about ways to minimise the 3% foreign exchange fee added to most credit and debit card transactions outside the UK.

For personal travel you might want to get a separate free credit card to use abroad.  There are no travel rewards card without a foreign exchange fee, although the Virgin Atlantic credit cards are fee-free in the Eurozone.

best credit card for foreign FX spending

Another option is to get a free card from Currensea. Currensea is a simple but clever idea. You pay abroad with your Currensea Mastercard debit card. Currensea translates the cost to Sterling with just a 0.5% fee (83% less than most cards charge) and withdraws the money from your bank account.  Currensea also works off the spot rate, giving you an extra saving from the wholesale rate used by your card company.  You can find out more by clicking here. Currensea is free so there is no risk in giving it a try.

You can also look at debit cards from the like of Revolut. Curve Card is also an option although it has got increasingly confusing to use, with different FX rules applying based on your type of card, the day of the week and the currency you are spending in.

If you have a Limited Company, you DO have a credit card which has 0% FX fees and earns 1 Avios per £1the Capital On Tap Business Rewards Visa. Our review is here.

You may choose to act differently when travelling for work

When you are travelling for work, however, your credit card bills will be reimbursed by your employer.  There is no incentive for you to get a separate 0% foreign exchange fee card.

I won’t focus on credit card spend bonuses here because those don’t change whether you are spending in the UK or abroad.  I just want to look at cards which increase your earning rate for FX transactions.

best credit card for foreign FX spending

Here are your two options for reward cards which have extra bonuses for foreign spending but in return add on an FX fee of around 3%.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold offers double points when you spend abroad, which means 2 Membership Rewards points per £1.

This translates into two Avios or other airline miles, four Hilton Honors points, three Marriott Bonvoy points or six Radisson Rewards points amongst other things.  The card is free for the first year.

Interesting, The Platinum Card from American Express – which has a £575 annual fee – does not offer this benefit.

FX spend may also help you trigger another Amex Gold benefit. You receive 2,500 bonus Membership Rewards points for every cumulative £5,000 you spend, up to a maximum of 12,500 bonus points per year. This means that a £5,000 spend in a foreign currency would earn 12,500 Membership Rewards points – 5,000 base points, 5,000 FX spend bonus points and a 2,500 points bonus for hitting another £5,000 mileston.

Our American Express Preferred Rewards Gold review is here. You can apply here.

best credit card for foreign FX spending

HSBC Premier and Premier World Elite Mastercards

The two HSBC Premier cards offers double points abroad.

On the free card, this means you are earning 1 Avios or other airline mile instead of the standard 0.5 miles per £1.

On the World Elite card, which has a £195 annual fee, you would be earning 2 Avios or other airline miles instead of the standard 1 mile per £1.

You must have a HSBC Premier current account to apply for either of these cards which has strict eligibility criteria. HSBC Premier is free, however, so if you do meet the income criteria then it isn’t a bad option for your day to day banking and is (just) a step ahead of your average current account.

Our HSBC Premier credit card review is here and our HSBC Premier World Elite card review is here. You can apply here.

Conclusion

As you can see there are a couple of good options here that can get you a return of around 2% on your non-Sterling spending. This assumes that you value an Avios or airline mile at 1p.

That is less than the 3% foreign fee you are incurring, of course, which is why these are not attractive deals for personal use, just for business expenditure.


best travel rewards credit cards

Want to earn more points from credit cards? – October 2024 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current sign-up bonuses.

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

50,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

18,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:

American Express Business Platinum

Up to 80,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

Get up to 40,000 points as a sign-up offer and FREE for a year Read our full review

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

10,000 points bonus – plus an extra 500 points for our readers Read our full review

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback when you spend at least £2,000 per month.

Barclaycard Select Cashback Business Credit Card

Get 1% cashback when you spend at least £2,000 per month* Read our full review

Comments (51)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Brian P says:

    1. Curve + Barclaycard
    2. Mbna horizon

    If I value avios at 1p, then Barclaycard giving 1.5% return then curve still gives better returns than horizon even at weekends.

    I have a £1k foreign spend limit, was a bit thrown by Ron’s £500 comment..

  • Vahan says:

    So playing the avios game with a multi-year card churning strategy and holding multiple cards at any given time is the simpler solution? I certainly had a simpler life since cancelling all credit cards and switching to a single Chase card a few months ago.

  • Jonathan says:

    The HSBC cards are also the best option going for earning SQ KrisFlyer points

  • Softy25 says:

    Interested at your article however when I travel for business it’s my own company so as both MD and CFO I care. I find Revolut and Capital on Tap are great value and I get a few reward points with COT thrown in.

  • broomy23 says:

    Chase debit for me, guaranteed 1% and fee free. Credit card for purchases over £100 though.

  • Dev says:

    For work travel, BA Amex PP with the Barclaycard Avios a close second (in case of refusal to accept Amex). Might as well hit a significant chunk of the voucher targets with someone else paying!

    For personal travel, MBNA Horizon all day long. In fact, i used it non-stop in Kenya whilst I lived there for 3 years! Fantastic product!

  • NFH says:

    On the topic of cards for work, do Amex corporate cards give Membership Rewards points on one’s own personal MR account? Does this vary according to each employer’s policy?

    • Rob says:

      If it offers points, you get them. However some employers negotiate lower fees from Amex in return for not giving points.

  • Julia says:

    Are FX fees treated any differently if you are running a balance on the underlying card? I’d imagine there is some pecking order where credits get apportioned to.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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