Travel is escapism, compelling, addictive and expensive! The plastic debit or credit card you rely on to make payments while traveling can incur extra pocket-burning costs, fees and charges faster than a jet.

Flights are booked, transport to the airport sorted, travel insurance bought, but what about your credit card? Depending on the country, using credits cards on an overseas trip can be more cost effective and safer than carrying too much cash or traveller’s cheques. However, it pays to be aware of exactly what types of fees will be charged to your card when you use it overseas and how much they will be. These vary slightly from one financial institution to another, so it pays to shop around – and know what to look for.

What to Expect

You can expect two main charges from almost every type of credit and debit card: an international transaction fee and a currency conversion fee.

Usually these two fees are charged together, with the international transaction fee including the currency conversion fee, which is about 1% of the total amount charged. The rest of the fee very much depends on the financial institution and the type of credit card you choose either VISA, MasterCard, Amex or Diners Club. Generally speaking, the rates vary between 1-3%, which might not sound like much, but these certainly add up the more purchases you make.

Comparison Chart: International Transaction Fees per Bank

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Who’s the Best for Fees?

For Visa, Woolworths offers the cheapest fees at 1.5%, with HSBC coming in second. MasterCards from NAB, Bendigo Bank and Woolworths are also a good deal at 2%. NAB also offer an American Express card at 1.5%.

One of the ways that you can reduce the cost of using your credit card overseas is to avoid making cash advance withdraws from ATMs. These not only incur the overseas transaction charges, but usually also begin to accrue interest charges from the time of the transaction which could lead to some nasty surprises once you return home, as these transactions do not qualify for the interest-free periods that normal purchase transactions do.

Also, note that in some countries, using a credit card to make small purchases or making cash advances is not as easy as it may seem. For example, Japan is a largely cash culture, with ATMs keeping business hours and many supermarkets and shops accepting cash only. In other words, don’t always assume credit cards will be accepted as widely as they are back home, and keep some cash on you, just in case.

Credit cards can be a convenient way to pay for many things as you travel, but it’s important to know exactly how much that convenience is going to cost you. Shopping around and reading the fine print is essential if you want to get the best deal on overseas transaction fees.

What Can You Do to Avoid Overseas Transaction Charges?

• There’s only 1 credit card that charges no overseas transaction charges and that’s the 28 Degrees Card
• Just because a card may have a lower overseas transaction charge doesn’t mean you dodge surcharges that retailers whack you with.
• Make fewer transactions. Easy!
• Think about loading up currency onto a prepaid travel card. But this requires a fair bit of planning to order & receive the card ahead of your departure date, load it up with enough money and logging to see how much you’ve got on the card can be a chore.
• Good ole cash ordered from a bank or post office before you leave. But then there’s no recourse if you have it stolen or lose it.
• Traveller’s cheques: here’s our blog post comparing traveller’s cheques to credit cards
• For expats going home, use a bank account with debit card in your native country.

Image: Glenn Loos-Austin

This is another post from Credit Card Compare Blog - The Credit Letter, a creative personal finance blog where we love to share money saving tips and credit card reviews to optimise your wallet!

We’ve all been there – on those travel ‘adventures’ we would rather not have had, when everything starts to go just a little bit pear-shaped. From lost luggage to lost family, we give you the top ten list of things you would rather not have happen, and some pointers that might help if they ever (unfortunately) do.

1. Lurking lurgies and occasional accidents

There’s simply nothing worse than getting sick while travelling, which is why this has made the top of the list. From stomach complaints to malaria, the health risks to travellers are very real and can be life threatening. Many countries simply don’t have the health services that you might need, and your life might depend upon being evacuated to another country for medical attention. It goes without saying that this is when a comprehensive travel insurance plan really pays for itself. Don’t leave home without one!

2. Thievery

Having your money, passport and other valuable items stolen makes it to number to on the list because it is, hands down, one of the most inconvenient things to happen while travelling. Having to spend days getting a new passport instead of sightseeing can simply ruin any adventure. You can fasten up the process of replacing tickets and passports by leaving a copy of them back at home with family or friends. It’s also a good idea to keep copies of any visas you might need to replace, in case you need to prove you actually have one. Also, make sure you don’t keep all of your money and credit cards in one place, so you have a back up if need be. Again, a travel insurance plan can save you a bundle, not only in terms of replacing stolen cash or valuable items, but also the costly fees for replacing important documents.

3. Lost Luggage

While most luggage turns up (eventually), it often takes time, time that you have to spend without your essentials. That’s why it’s always a good idea to carry a few spare items of clothing in your carry-on luggage. Airlines sometimes payout for lost luggage, but making sure your lost luggage is covered by insurance is an essential back-up plan.

4. The less-than-ideal neighbour

You’ve just settled yourself into seat 38A, when a screaming kid is plopped down next to you. Whether it’s them, a snoring businessman or other, less-than-ideal neighbours, you can ask to be re-seated if your flight is not too full. Unfortunately, if your flight is full, there’s not much you can do except grin and stick in some headphones.

5. The Credit Crunch

There’s nothing worse than getting back home and discovering your credit card has been charged an extra 2-3% for every charge you made while overseas. Before you head off, be sure you know exactly what your credit company charges for overseas purchases, as well as cash advances taken from overseas ATMs. If you’re not happy, shop around for the best deal well before leaving home.

6. Being hassled at airport security

As the rules relating to airport security gets stricter by the day, it’s all too common for delays to be caused by over-zealous security staff. You can get through security faster by making sure you remove coins from your pockets and take off your belt or other metal items on clothing. Try to avoid taking any liquids over 50ml in your hand luggage, putting them only in your check in baggage, or you might end up having to pay a lot for a little bag to put it in, or have to throw it away.

7. Missing your flight

Missing a flight can be extremely costly and annoying, especially if it also means you miss a connecting flight. If it is your fault and you don’t have travel insurance, unfortunately you either have to stay home or fork out for a new ticket. If, however, the airline is at fault, they will book you onto a new flight and pay for a hotel if that means staying overnight. Note this usually does not include adverse weather, which airlines generally do not hold themselves accountable for.

8. Cultural Faux Pas

It’s easy enough to do, but making a cultural faux pas can see you end up in a world of trouble, possibly even in trouble with the law. While this is sometimes unavoidable, it’s a good idea to get as familiar with your destination’s culture before you travel, and while you’re there, don’t be afraid to ask questions if you don’t understand something.

9. Crimes and misdemeanours

All too often unsuspecting travelers get themselves into trouble because they are not aware of the local laws. What is seen as a misdemeanour in one country can see you get jail time in others. If you do land yourself in hot water, be sure to contact your embassy immediately.

10. Getting lost

It might seem like a trivial point, but actually, getting lost can be frustrating, costly and even dangerous. Many global roaming mobile phones can access GPS mapping, but if you’re travelling light, don’t forget a paper map of the local area is not too heavy.

This was a guest post from World Nomads.

This is another post from Credit Card Compare Blog - The Credit Letter, a creative personal finance blog where we love to share money saving tips and credit card reviews to optimise your wallet!

Rugby fans who have bought tickets for the 2011 Rugby World Cup on their credit cards but only make the minimum repayments could still be paying for the event in 2025.

This astonishing fact was something that came up when I was talking to my mate last week about the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand. He was telling me how keen he was to get tickets to a few of the different games and the final. I told him I’d look at the prices and work out the best deal, what games he should go to, where, when and which seats would suit him best – that’s the kind of friend I am!

Anyway, I started to look into the ticket prices, availability, when and where the games were going to be played. Some of the first round and knock out games tickets cost from anywhere between $31 for the cheapest general admission tickets to $460 for the Category A seats to the All Blacks games.

When the quarter finals come around, the cheapest tickets are priced at $194, with the category A priced at $491; the semi-finals are a bit pricier than this coming in between $296 for the cheapies and $797 for the category A seats and for the final (which my mate was insistent on attending) the tickets were priced between $399 and $1278.

He was looking at a spending a ‘few bucks’ to get to the games he wanted. After I told him how much it would cost he said, “it’s all going on the credit card then.”

The other factor that played into this was the location of the games; they are placed all across New Zealand. I figured if he stuck to the Eden Park stadium where a lot of the games and the final were being played that would make the most sense. This also ruled out the option of general admission tickets, all the tickets for Eden Park are seated.

Anyway after a lot of discussion and working out of seats, games, quality view and the matches that he had to see we worked out a price of $2468. This gave him seats of either B or C grade to the first game, 4 others, a quarter-final match, a semi-final and the final.

He was more than happy to load this amount onto his credit card until I told him that if he only pays the minimum repayments he would be paying for the tickets for the next 13 years and 9 months!

This was calculated on the average credit card interest rate of 17.13% and minimum repayments of 2.5% a month. Also included is the $2614 in interest that he would pay on top of the ticket price! Basically he would be paying double the price of the tickets and paying it off well after the winning team goes into retirement!

My advice to my friend, and others like him, is to plan ahead and save up so you can pay the whole cost up front in cash or on VISA debit. Or pay on your credit card but pay off the amount the next month within the interest free period. Other than these two payment options, the next best case scenario is to pay off as much as possible up front to set yourself free from years of monthly repayments. Basically, if don’t remember anything from this blog post, remember this: don’t let your credit card balance float from month to month, always pay off more than the minimum repayments so that you can keep the amount of dollars in interest to an absolute minimum.

The Cheapest Low Interest Credit Card Offers

	Credit Card Offer	Purchase Rate (p.a.)	Balance Transfer (p.a.)		Annual Fee	Apply now
			rate	period
	ANZ Low Rate MasterCard Low interest rate. Design your own card. Fast 60 second approval.	0%	0%	3 months	$58	Editor’s Choice more info
	Citibank Clear Platinum Credit Card 2.9% for 12 months on balance transfers. Platinum rewards. 1/2 price annual fee 1st year.	11.99%	2.9%	12 months	$49	Editor’s Choice more info

This is another post from Credit Card Compare Blog - The Credit Letter, a creative personal finance blog where we love to share money saving tips and credit card reviews to optimise your wallet!

There a lot of credit cards that let you earn Qantas Frequent Flyer Points as you spend on that card. As you spend, you earn Qantas points. This equates to rewards for you in the form of cheaper flights, free-upgrades or a huge range of desirable consumer goods from the Qantas online store. And for Qantas, our national flag-carrying airline, it translates into increased loyalty and customer retention in the competitive airline world.

Are you aware of how much points are actually worth? Or how long it will take (how much spending will it take) to reach your goal of buying a particular flight or item in the Qantas online store using your QFF points? Do points values vary depending on what you buy? If you’ve got no idea of the answers then you wouldn’t be the only one!

It helps though to get a handle on these things so that you can make the most of your points earning potential. Here are a few basic facts…

It may surprise you to know that points are rarely worth more than 1 cent and can be worth as little as a third of a cent! How you spend/redeem your Qantas points is largely the determining factor as to how much its worth. If you make an award booking on a Qantas Flight, your points will be worth a high 1.1 – 1.3 cents each, but they can drop in value down to 0.3 cents when shopping at the Qantas Frequent Flyer store.

Have your calculator handy when you’re spending points because you can easily get a not-so-flash deal. Look at the retail price of an item you’re interested in and work out the value of points based on how many points Qantas is asking for the product.

For example, you can get an Amazon Kindle eReader for 38,000 points or a Webber Baby Q for 41,000 points. Retail value on the Kindle is $139 and on the Webber, $299 so if you do the maths you’ll discover that a Frequent Flyer Point is worth only about 0.3 of a cent on the Kindle and 0.7 of a cent on the Webber. I know where I’d be spending my points!

Bottom line: don’t’ assume points are always worth the same and make sure you’re getting maximum points value when you buy by simply doing the maths. You’re going to get the best points-value on the Award Flights so you might want to stick there if you can use the flights.

The Best Credit Cards with Frequent Flyer Points

	Credit Card Offer	Rewards Program	Purchase Rate (p.a.)	Frequent Flyer Points	Annual Fee	Apply now
	Qantas American Express Discovery Credit Card 10,000 bonus Qantas points. Earn 1 QFF point per $1 spent. Apply before 31 March 2012.	Qantas Frequent Flyer	20.74%	$1 = 1 QFF point	$0	Featured Card more info
	Westpac Earth Credit Card Cheap balance transfer. 60 Second Approval.	Qantas Frequent Flyer	19.99%	$1 = 1 QFF point (Amex)	$75	Editor’s Choice more info
	American Express Qantas Ultimate Credit Card Get 30,000 Qantas Frequent Flyer points for signing up. Ideal for big spend & heavy travel use.	Qantas Frequent Flyer	20.74%	$1 = 1.5 QFF points	$250	Editor’s Choice more info

This is another post from Credit Card Compare Blog - The Credit Letter, a creative personal finance blog where we love to share money saving tips and credit card reviews to optimise your wallet!

Travelling, especially travelling internationally can be a great bit of fun for many people; however, all that fun can also really stress your bank account. Actually, I’ve noticed that when people travel, they tend to spend even more money than they had expected. If you’ve travelled at all, you know that a fun and exotic location can really loosen people’s purse strings.

But just because you’re out travelling and seeing the world, it doesn’t mean that you have to overspend or waste money. After all, you want to save that money so you can afford to take another trip the following year.

So, I give you a few tips to help you avoid wasting money when you travel. In the comments section, please add any others you can think of in case I’ve missed them.

Stick to Your Travel Budget

Perhaps the most important thing you can do to avoid wasting money on your trip is to create a travel budget. Of course, then you have to stick to the budget. Use your travel budget to organise how you will use your money on the trip. What sorts of meals will you pay for? How much can you devote to sight-seeing and visiting interesting locations of interest? How much do you want to spend on lodging and transportation? When you plan your trip, think about these questions, and when you’re actually on your trip, keep yourself honest by sticking to these budgets! It’s the most essential method you have of controlling how you spend your money.

Research and Plan Your Trip

Of course, it’s hard to budget without having a travel plan. Here’s where you do all your research. Work out how much it costs to eat at certain restaurants or how much it’ll cost to stay at a hotel. Compare those figures to your travel budget. You’ll be able to see how much you can afford or if you have to adjust your budget or your travel itinerary. You’ll have to sacrifice some things for other things, depending on your financial situation. Once you leave on your journey, do your best to stick to the plan. Any time you stray from your plan, you risk spending more money than you had budgeted.

Have an Emergency Fund

You probably know, though, that there are some things for which you just can’t plan. Emergencies happen. You can get stranded at an airport for days on end. You could have a physical ailment that needs to be addressed in a foreign hospital. You might suddenly need to return home for a family emergency. Although you cannot specifically plan for any of these cases, you should at least have some sort of emergency fund to help you be prepared. Access to an emergency travel fund will make sure you can get out of a bind quickly, while keeping the rest of your finances protected.

Understand Exchange Rates

This is a pretty basic tip, but one that some travellers nonetheless forget about. When travelling abroad, it’s important to understand the most up-to-date exchange rates and how those rates will affect your ability to buy certain things abroad. Furthermore, you should ask your bank to help you understand any fees you will have to pay should you need to withdraw money from your account at a foreign ATM.

Avoid Tourist Traps

Finally, you should do your best to avoid tourist traps, as these places often sell products and services for much higher than the standard price that you might see in less touristy parts of the country. So often you can find similar products elsewhere in the less travelled thoroughfares. It might be worth it to make the extra trip so you can get that perfect memory for half the price.

Credit Cards for Frequent Travellers

	Credit Card Offer	Rewards Program	Purchase Rate (p.a.)	Frequent Flyer Points	Annual Fee	Apply now
	Qantas American Express Discovery Credit Card 10,000 bonus Qantas points. Earn 1 QFF point per $1 spent. Apply before 31 March 2012.	Qantas Frequent Flyer	20.74%	$1 = 1 QFF point	$0	Featured Card more info
	Westpac Earth Credit Card Cheap balance transfer. 60 Second Approval.	Qantas Frequent Flyer	19.99%	$1 = 1 QFF point (Amex)	$75	Editor’s Choice more info
	American Express Qantas Ultimate Credit Card Get 30,000 Qantas Frequent Flyer points for signing up. Ideal for big spend & heavy travel use.	Qantas Frequent Flyer	20.74%	$1 = 1.5 QFF points	$250	Editor’s Choice more info

This guest contribution was submitted by Tara Miller, who regularly writes for psychology degree.  She especially loves hearing back from her readers. Questions or comments can be sent to: miller.tara23@gmail.com.

Image: TheeErin

This is another post from Credit Card Compare Blog - The Credit Letter, a creative personal finance blog where we love to share money saving tips and credit card reviews to optimise your wallet!

Though “business travelers” is a catch-all term, it really doesn’t adequately describe these amazing individuals. After all, who else can contort themselves into an airline seat for hours at a time and still manage to get work done? Who else can create, assemble, and proofread an important PowerPoint presentation – all while sitting in an airport terminal? Who else can talk to one client on a cell phone while another one is on call waiting? Perhaps that’s why business travelers prefer to be called “road warriors.” Because their skills, acumen, and multitasking abilities set them apart from the common Aussie.

And these road warriors deserve a credit card that caters to their needs and rewards them for what they do best. Which is: get the job done.

For these esteemed men and women, here are three credit cards which will make their lives a little bit easier.

Citibank Platinum Credit Card

This card will begin helping road warriors right after they make their first purchase. Cardholders get a whopping 60,000 reward points deposited into their account – which is the equivalent of four round-trip flights between Sydney and the Gold Coast or $350 in gift vouchers. In addition to a bonus point for every dollar charged, using this card at Citibank’s bonus partners quadruples that ratio – enabling cardholders to quickly boost their rewards point totals. These bonus points can be redeemed for almost anything, from flights and hotel rooms to furniture and school fees. Road warriors even get a complimentary bottle of wine when they dine at participating restaurants.

Virgin Flyer Credit Card

This might be the ideal card for the road warrior who spends a great deal of time in the air. The rewards points on the Virgin Flyer card can be redeemed for flights on Virgin Blue, V Australia, Pacific Blue, and hundreds of international partners. Plus, those who fly on Virgin Blue can book a fellow traveller for free on a Flexible, Blue Saver, or Premium Economy ticket. Oh… and did we mention that new cardholders can enjoy 0% p.a. for the first three months on all purchases and balance transfers? That alone may be enough to push it to the front of road warriors’ wallets.

Qantas American Express Ultimate Credit Card

Road warriors hate having to mess with transferring rewards points to frequent flyer accounts – so this card does that automatically when they choose to fly on Qantas. Plus, when cardholders book these flights using certain Qantas services, they receive a free domestic return flight on several eligible routes; and this reward can be redeemed year after year. For road warriors who are looking to sign up for the Qantas Amex Ultimate card, not only will they benefit from getting three points for every two dollars spent on the card, they’ll get an extra 5,000 points after their first purchase using the card and 2,500 more bonus points when they book a flight through Qantas with certain Qantas services.

More Credit Cards for Frequent Travellers

	Credit Card Offer	Rewards Program	Purchase Rate (p.a.)	Frequent Flyer Points	Annual Fee	Apply now
	Qantas American Express Discovery Credit Card 10,000 bonus Qantas points. Earn 1 QFF point per $1 spent. Apply before 31 March 2012.	Qantas Frequent Flyer	20.74%	$1 = 1 QFF point	$0	Featured Card more info
	Westpac Earth Credit Card Cheap balance transfer. 60 Second Approval.	Qantas Frequent Flyer	19.99%	$1 = 1 QFF point (Amex)	$75	Editor’s Choice more info
	American Express Qantas Ultimate Credit Card Get 30,000 Qantas Frequent Flyer points for signing up. Ideal for big spend & heavy travel use.	Qantas Frequent Flyer	20.74%	$1 = 1.5 QFF points	$250	Editor’s Choice more info

This post was contributed by CreditCards.org, an American credit cards website.

Image: rotia

This is another post from Credit Card Compare Blog - The Credit Letter, a creative personal finance blog where we love to share money saving tips and credit card reviews to optimise your wallet!