A large range of credit cards offer traveling perks. These include airport lounge accesses, saving on foreign transaction fee, travel security and some even give out rewards or bonus points that you can redeem for free hotel stays and free flights!
If you are looking to make the best of it, you might want to take a good look on the all the options available in the market. You can choose depending on the traveling needs, perks of the card or other things you find important.
Choose The Best Credit Card For International Travel: 9 Easy Tips To Keep In Mind!
Having to decide on one card from so many options can be tricky. What do you need to focus on? Benefits? Rewards? Anything you go for must suit your travel plans and preferences. But we are here to help you on the way!
Following are few tips you should keep in mind while choose the credit card for international travel:
1. Always go for a card that is accepted worldwide. Some safe choices are Visa, Mastercard and American Express. Also the card should save you from foreign transaction fees so you don’t end up paying extra for EVERYTHING you buy.
2. Look for the latest cards that have introduced chip and PIN technology. They are a big help when you are traveling abroad.
3. Take a good look whether the card is offering bonuses or not. The best credit cards for international travel often give out bonuses and rewards on specified purchases.
If you are keen enough to look into details may be you will find a card that matches your spending pattern. That’s an extra cherry on the top!
4. Make sure that the credit card will cover for travel insurance. These include interruption coverage, trip cancellation, insurance in case of lost baggage and especially the travel accident insurance.
5. Look for a card that offers access to different airport lounges. More specifically, choose a card that caters for airports that you visit most often.
6. Always choose a card that has a high evaluation marks in customer service satisfaction. They are handy in emergency situations.
7. Aim at finding a card that suits your travel needs. For example, some cards maybe offering good redemption options but not at the places you are planning to go to.
8. Both TSA Precheck credit or Global entry are a big YES. These benefits not only save you time but also create a sense of safety by letting you enjoy expedited airport security.
9. If you stick to particular hotels or airlines for the international travel, then choose the card most suited for them. On the other hand, if you are always shifting from one offer to another, choose a card that is more flexible.
Best Credit Cards For International Travel
1. Capital One® Venture® Rewards Credit Card
This credit card has been classified as a “general-purpose travel” card. It offers several excellent reward benefits.
The only drawback is that the card would not be very welcoming when it comes to sign-up bonus. The card offers 50,000 miles as a reward after you spend $3,000 withing the first 3 months which is very less as compared to other credit cards fit for international travel.
With that issue aside, the Capital One® Venture® Rewards Credit Card offers innumerable travel benefits. It covers for travel accidents, provides automatic insurance for a loss and saves you extra charges while purchasing airfare.
Besides this, the card also offers up to $100 credit towards TSA PreCheck or Global Entry. The annual fee is waived for the first year. You will not have to deal with foreign transaction fee either!
Another perk for being a Capital One® Venture® card-holder is that you get to enjoy a reward of 2 miles/ every dollar spent. You can transfer the earned miles to several other airlines or exchange them for future travel rewards.
2. Discover it®
With Discover it® credit card, forget to worry about black-out dates!
Any Discover it® card-holder can redeem the miles earned through the card in form of statement credit or even cash! Also, the features like freezing your account instantly or getting an updates on FICO score further add to the charm of the card. But what about travel benefits?
Some users review that Discover it® is not the best choice when it comes to international travel. This is because it does not have a robust worldwide reach. However, that is not entirely true.
Besides the unlimited bonus that the card has to offer, with Discover it® your earnings will be automatically matched by the end of the year. Another huge attraction is that you will be assigned Social Security Number alerts make the card use safer when you are on the go.
3. Capital One® Venture One® Rewards Credit Card
Travel perks are only second to the amazing sign-up bonus this card has to offer. On just spending of $1,000 in the first 3 months of the card use, you can get up to 20,000 miles as a starter!
Furthermore, the VentureOne® has a number of travel partners. The extended warranty is also a huge catch for the users. This means you get additional warranty on items you purchase with the card and that too with no extra charges.
The Capital One® VentureOne® rewards Credit Card is best fit for occasional use. It will let you maximize your rewards without any hassle of annual fee.
4. Chase Sapphire® Reserve
What the Chase Sapphire® Reserve card has to offer is a rare find. It not only give $300 annual travel credit to cater for your travel purchases but also awards 3X points after that whenever you travel.
You can also use the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal to earn an extra 50% boost on travel bookings. Also the annual fee may not be waived off for the first year but it is feasible enough to manage anyway.
One of the best travel perks that the Chase Sapphire® Reserve has to offer is the lost luggage reimbursement. This is a sort of a money-back for the things lost or damaged during a trip on buses, airlines or trains.
Chase Sapphire Reserve card has also been ranked as one of the best card for lounge benefits. You just have to enroll yourself one time to avail worldwide Priority Pass™ that will let you access more that 10,000 airport lounges around the world.
5. Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
This is another option worth considering when you are going for international travel and dining. In fact this card does not have much to offer beside ongoing rewards on worldwide travel.
One amazing travel perk that has attracted many users to this card is the primary auto rental waiver. This generous offer will cover up the car to its actual car value. Isn’t that great?
You can not forget about the sign-up bonus when talking about the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card. You can earn $750 for travelling with you 60,000 bonus points that you will awarded after you spend $4,000 within the first 3 months of the card use.
6. Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card
You just can’t count the perks of this card on fingertips. It offers an amazing sign-up bonus along with 2X points for Southwest purchases. You can also enjoy car rental purchases and partner hotels.
That’s just the beginning! With the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card you will not have to worry about black out dates or seat limitations. However, you have to pay the $69 annual fee that is waived off for the first year.
The card also covers for baggage delay insurance like many other best credit cards for international travel. If you have to spend cash on buying essential items when your baggage was delayed for up to 6 hours, the money will also be reimbursed.
7. Wells Fargo Propel American Express® Card
The credit card will award you a welcome bonus of 20,000 points on $1,000 expenditure within the first 3 months. The points you earn through this card are very flexible. This means you can redeem them for cash back, travel, or gift cards.
The only drawback is that you can’t transfer the earned points to other loyalty programs. However, that’s a small issue to deal with a card that is offering lost luggage insurance, no foreign transaction fee as well as cellphone protection plan.
If your cellphone is damaged or stolen, the Propel card will let you reimburse $600 which is a very generous offer for frequent travelers.
The perks of the Propel card are not only restricted to traveling. You can also earn 3X points on transit, dining, gas stations purchases and on a number of streaming devices. These are the categories on which everybody is spending now and then so you can expect to easily gather some points.
8. Bank of America® Travel Rewards Visa® Credit Card
This card beats many good options both in sign-up bonuses and in the case of ongoing rewards. In addition to this, the card also frees you from foreign transaction fee making it an ideal choice for worldwide travel.
The Bank of America® Travel Rewards Visa® Credit Card is also one of the few cards to have assigned a PIN to your account. You can then use international kiosks that need the 4-digit secure number.
You can receive the PIN through online banking or via their Mobile Banking app.
9. Capital One® Spark® Miles for Business
To spice things up in the very start, the Capital One® Spark® card offers 50,000 miles on the purchase of $4,500 withing the first 3 months of the card’s use.
With this card you can get $100 for TSA PreCheck or Global Entry. There is also no foreign transaction fee. The Capital One Spark Miles for Business frees you of black out dates and seat restrictions.
10. The Platinum Card® from American Express
The annual fee here might seem like a lot in the first look but if you use the credits offered by the Platinum card® wisely, you will do more than just recoup the cost.
It has been ranked as one of the best cards for annual travels. With this credit card, you can earn $200 annual airline fee credit applicable to checked baggage. You can also enjoy up to $200 Uber credit. Just what you need to make the travel worthwhile.
11. The American Express® Business Gold Card
The American Express® Business Gold Card has grabbed the attention of many with its flexible offers and rewards. Although the annual fee is a little higher than other, the rewards and benefits are very generous.
With the Business Gold card, you can earn up to 35,000 Membership Rewards on a spending of $5,000 within the first 3 months. The best part is you get four points for every dollar spent on airfare, grocery store purchases, gas stations and many other options.
Last Words: Use The Credit Card In The Best Way
There are a few tips you should always keep in mind when you are a credit card holder on an international trip.
First of all, protect yourself against thieves and pickpockets. Preferably, write down the key details of the account and the phone number of credit card’s company on a separate note and keep it aside from your wallet.
Also, we suggest that you use the ATM transactions only if needed in emergency. Even when you have a credit card that does not charge any foreign transaction fee, you might have to pay a hefty amount on advance processing.
Lastly, never lose the receipts. You might think you don’t need them but that is hardly ever the case. You can use them to clear customs or discuss extra charges once you are back home. All in all, they can come in very handy so it wouldn’t hurt to keep them safe.