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Just wanted a bit of advice on what card to get for my non £ spending. I had & liked the Tandem credit card when it was free and worked well for me, so something similar. I need it to book and pay online as well as general spending abroad, mostly euro zone occasionally USD, I don’t tend to use ATM for cash whilst abroad. As I’m usually aiming to hit a spending target I had been using one of my Amex cards but would like a better option. Thanks
The Virgin card doesn’t charge for euro and certain other European currency transactions. For USD there aren’t many options – you could load Revolut from a bank account so you’re not paying FX fees.
Curve allows you a certain amount of foreign spend with no FX fees during the week as well, including a limited amount of ATM withdrawals, there’s an article on here somewhere!Halifax Clarity, if you need the reassurance of 24/7 telephone support from people who mostly know what they are doing, should your card get blocked or lost etc.
Good luck with that if using Revolut etcThanks Anna Just had a quick look at Virgin but think they still charge for online purchases. Thanks Aston Will take a look at the Halifax Clarity
No points/cashback with Halifax Clarity so a pointless card. Link a points/cashback card to Curve.
Virgin Atlantic credit cards shouldn’t charge for online purchases if in Euro currency.
Chase works well as no fees and 1% Cashback
If you lose your Revolut card lock it in the app and transfer any funds whence they originated! It goes without saying that you should have a back up. I take Curve, Revolut, at least one Amex plus my bank debit card as an absolute last resort when I travel anywhere, plus a wedge of cash which has been travelling around with me since before the pandemic, so few places actually require it these days!
As hugog suggested Chase is your friend here
Curve – if it still works- so you can keep meeting spend targets.
Halifax Clarity if you don’t care about points or spend targets, lots of good feedback over years on that.
Revolut – others may differ but too many bad stories. Even though their story had to get better recently as they wanted a banking licence.
Starling is OK with currencies and nice app.
Wise remains excellent and is everything Revolut isn’t.
Chase sounds excellent especially the early-period 1% and all good if they stay in UK and develop other products.
Metro Bank Current Account
https://www.metrobankonline.co.uk/bank-accounts/i-want-some-information-about/using-my-card-abroad/
I suppose there’s always Google Pay or Apple Pay?
I suppose there’s always Google Pay or Apple Pay?
Do they not have foreign exchange fees?
In addition to above consider Virgin Money M+ debit card as no fees on cash or purchases. There will be one or more offers floating around for switching to the current account, and the various caashbaack offers will outstrip the flat 1% on Chase for most people.
Suprised at the number of debit card recommendations here, given that Section75 is even more powerful and even more useful for overseas spend, especially given the relatively far greater difficulty in pursuing things yourself.
But realistically, most foreign spending is going to be meals, hotel bills etc, not really the stuff you’re going to want to claim back. If I was planning a significant purchase I’d also made sure I paid for it with a card which offered an appropriate level of protection – as long as the FX fee didn’t outweigh the advantage of actually buying it overseas!
I typically use Revolut on weekdays and Curve (with a backing credit card which has around 1% back in points, e.g. barclaycard avios) on weekends. This is because Curve charges 0.5% extra on weekends, whilst Revolut (I think) charges 1%.
I typically find that Curve exchange rates are, on average, around 0.6% worse-off than that with Revolut for EUR/GBP conversions, so that’s something to take into account.
Halifax Clarity & Starling for me and personally saving 3% is better than worrying about about points or spending targets
I keep a santander zero card for that prupose but unfortunately I just checked its been discontinued.
To be honest the Amex PRG isn’t a bad shout with its double points on foreign spend to offset the 2.99% transaction fee, especially if also trying to hit the bonus spend target.
By the way @kevinchoi, the weekend charge with Revolut is 0.5%. Load it with the required currency on a weekday to avoid the weekend charge.
Great thanks for all the recommendations
No issues spending in EUR online on Virgin Credit Card – I know it says that in Ts&Cs but I’ve never seen any charges for advance hotel bookings etc.
Barclaycard Rewards Visa. Marginally better then the Clarity as it gives 0.25% cashback (plus additional at the Barclays cashback site).
Almost perfect forex rate as with Clarity. Market was showing 1.136 to the euro yesterday and my apartment booking went through at 1.13 works with any currency online or in person.
I use Chase for most spending and then Santander Zero (now discontinued but you could get Halifax instead) for anything I want credit card protection on
I always book travel and important things on a proper credit card without an intermediary service — that would be my HSBC Prem or Barclays Hilton right now.
Most foreign spending on Chase.
Curve backed by Barclays Hilton as backup.
Thanks everyone really appreciate all the replies, I’ve gone with Chase for now as that’ll suit my current needs.
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