Seems like an oxymoron, emphasis on the moron, but hear me out!
I will be going overseas soon and my Visa wants to charge me 3% for international purchases whether made in US or foreign currency. Paying 3% for every purchase is just too high in my opinion. An alternative could be that I use my debit card. However I don't want to keep all the money I've saved in a checking account. What if my debit card is lost or stolen? Then that all that money would just be gone. Same goes for withdrawing cash from local ATMs. The money would still have to be available in the checking account. So while having some cash available is a good idea and what I intend to do, I believe having a credit card to pay for things would be a safer bet.
So how will I avoid that 3% international transaction fee? By using my newly acquired Capital One credit card. It's like this: Visa charges 1% for international transactions, then the issuing back tacks on another 1 or 2%. With Capital One, not only to they not charge an additional 1 or 2%, they do not pass along Visa's 1%. So I'll be paying zero extra for using that card. I applied online and was approved instantly for more than what I would use while overseas. I get the card an other info in a couple weeks. I may call sooner to find out my billing cycle dates, give them the dates of my upcoming trip, and make sure they don't charge a fee for inactivity. I only plan to use this card for my vacation. I'll pay it off when I get back then put it away somewhere. Of course, I'll monitor the card monthly to make sure there is no unauthorized activity going on.
Hopefully everything will go smoothly with little to no drama. I'll keep you posted!
Subscribe to:
Comment Feed (RSS)
|