If you’re not careful, you can end up spending a lot of money on ATM fees, foreign transaction fees, and the like. Getting money from the ATM can add up, with foreign banks charging up to $5 for use of their machines. Credit card transaction fees often total 4% of a purchase (1% by Visa or Mastercard plus up to 3% by our issuing bank). Since we would rather spend our money on our travels, we did some research and are carrying:
Debit Cards/Checking:
- Fidelity mySmartCash: The number one
benefit of this account is free use of any ATM. They don’t charge you any ATM fees and refund any charges from other institutions. Woot! We expect to pay in cash the majority of the time since most places still don’t accept plastic. Cash is also less subject to abuse and we can just take out what we need rather than taking out the maximum to avoid fees. Btw– A lot of internet banks and local banks/credit unions offer the same use-any-ATM benefit since they don’t have a very broad ATM network of their own, but we chose Fidelity for its other features and since we already had Fidelity accounts. We have already had over $25 in ATM fees refunded!
Capital One No Hassle Miles Visa: First and most importantly, Capital One is the only major bank that doesn’t charge a foreign transaction fee to its cardholders. In fact, it actually eats the 1% that Visa charges. We wanted to have a Visa as our primary card since it is the most widely accepted card abroad. Plus, we will get 1 mile per dollar for the first $1000 in the billing period (~month) and 2 miles per dollar over $1000. Basically, with the way the miles are redeemed, that translates to 1 – 2% back as a credit towards future ticket purchases. With all the traveling we’re doing, we shouldn’t have any problem making use of that benefit. No annual fee, plus some other nice little perks (e.g. accidental death, blindness, or dismemberment insurance — yowza!).
Ameriprise World Elite Mastercard: Just to have our bases covered, and since we have had a card frozen when traveling before, we wanted to have a second credit card. Since we already had a Visa, we wanted a MasterCard, and we weren’t too worried about transactions fees in this case 
since we don’t expect to use this card very much. I came across this card that comes with a Priority Pass for you and any others on your card. The Priority Pass grants us each free access to lounges in airports around the world, many of which offer free drinks, food, and often showers and internet access. We are actually quite excited about this indulgence, especially for when we have long layovers! So we are getting two Priority Passes (which would cost $399 x 2 = $798 out of pocket) for an annual fee of $150. And we’ll just cancel the card when we get back and aren’t traveling so much. P.S. I’m actually writing this from a VIP lounge right now! We had a free dinner and drinks here and I’m using a free computer while Gray uses our netbook. Loving it.
- International Driver’s License: Should smooth the way if we want to rent a car.
- Priority Pass: Comes with our Ameriprise Mastercard. See above.
- Some cash in US dollars just in case, and to pay Visa fees upon entry into some countries. Already came in handy. (See Parque Tayrona entry.)
TP // Nov 19, 2009 at 9:51 am
Amazing *amazing* post. That’s good knowledge right there. I wish I were world traveling right now just so I could make use of it.
What’s the likelihood of keeping the Fidelity and Capital One cards longterm?
chaohaus // Nov 19, 2009 at 5:45 pm
Super useful stuff! I even have a mySmartCash account but didn’t realize it was so useful.
Michelle // Nov 21, 2009 at 1:51 pm
Great info folks – thanks for sharing.
carol // Nov 22, 2009 at 1:58 pm
wow, nice. you guys always exceed my expectations.
Manuela // Dec 1, 2009 at 12:19 pm
It surprises me how well-researched you are.
*rolls eyes*