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Travel credit cards
One of the cheapest ways to spend abroad
Updated 14 March 2023
If you're planning an overseas trip, or regularly buy from overseas websites, a specialist travel credit or debit card is one of the cheapest way to spend as it gives near-perfect exchange rates worldwide. This guide includes the top-pick travel cards, the cards to avoid, and how to check what your card's charging you.
Specialist overseas credit and debit cards give near-perfect rates, but there are two main alternatives to consider...
Prepaid travel cards have no credit check, plus give you the ability to lock in an exchange rate before you travel.
Top prepaid travel cards
Prefer cash? Useful if card isn't accepted, our tool helps you find the best exchange rates for your holiday money.
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How do travel credit and debit cards work?
Most credit and debit cards let you spend abroad, but will charge you for the privilege. Although your card provider gets near-perfect rates, it usually adds a 'non-sterling transaction fee' of about 3% – so £100 worth of foreign currency costs you £103.
On top of this, many debit cards charge a flat fee (typically 50p-£1.50) each and every time you spend overseas, regardless of the amount. Withdrawing cash usually attracts fees and unavoidable interest on credit cards. See hidden holiday spending charges for full details.
The good news? There are specialist travel cards that don't charge these fees, so you get the same near-perfect rate the bank does when it processes your transaction. This is usually a couple of days after using the card, so you won't know the exact rate you're getting at the time. If you're worried about currency swings, consider a prepaid travel card where you can lock in a rate.
A specialist card can save you over £100 per holiday
Here's how much spending $1,000 can cost in pounds (we assumed five $100 cash withdrawals and 20 transactions of $25 each on the cards):
- Top specialist credit/debit card repaid in full: £818
- Cash via cheapest bureau (pick up in London): £821
- Cash from M&S on the high street: £829
- Using a debit card with a spending charge: £872
- Changing cash at airport (not pre-ordered): £949
As you can see, the differences can be sizeable, yet the winners are simple. Apply for a specialist overseas card, then use it every time you go.
How much does your card charge?
Never just blindly spend abroad with ANY card, use our tool to find out what it'd cost you to pay with your existing plastic before slipping it into your suitcase. Then compare that to our top-pick travel cards which don't charge, so you're armed with the cheapest way to spend before you set off.
Let's make this plain: don't use the cards in this section for spending overseas. Unless you're spending euros in the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Norway, the cards below charge 50p-£1.50 for transactions on top of their normal exchange-rate charge.
Imagine you buy something for the equivalent of £5 in a shop in the USA. With the worst of these cards, it can end up costing £6.60 with the fee and charges.
The cards with a spending charge
| Debit card | Exchange load (mark-up) | ATM charge (i) | Spending charge (i) |
| Clydesdale/Yorkshire Bank (ii) | None | 3.75%, min £1.50 (iii) | 2.75%, min £1.50 (iii) |
| Intelligent Finance (ii) | 2.25% | £1.50 | £1.50 |
| TSB | 2.99% | 1.5% (min £2, max £4.50) | £1 |
| Bank of Scotland | 2.99% | £1.50 | 50p |
| Lloyds Bank | 2.99% | £1.50 | 50p |
| Halifax | 2.99% | £1.50 | 50p |
(i) Except on payments in euros within EEA. (ii) Existing customers only. (iii) Except on transactions in euros, Swedish krona and Romanian leu within the EEA.
Travel card need-to-knows
Top travel credit cards
These are the best credit cards to use abroad – all have no exchange fee when you spend on the card, and a couple even have fee-free and interest-free overseas cash withdrawals.
We've marked whether each card's a Mastercard or a Visa as it does make a slight difference to their exchange rates (Visa tends to be a touch better – see Mastercard vs Visa rates for more).
Top travel credit cards for new cardholders
| A travel debit card could be cheaper. If you're happy opening a new app-only current account and loading funds before you go, you can get near-perfect exchange rates and up to 1% cashback on most spending worldwide. See top travel debit cards. | ||
 Barclaycard Rewards Visa |
The top pick as it charges no fees or interest on spending AND overseas cash withdrawals, provided you repay in full. Plus there are a couple of perks – you get 0.25% cashback on almost all spending & it also gives five months free access to Apple Music, Apple Arcade, Apple News+ and/or Apple TV+. Just diarise to cancel after the five months is up if you don't want to pay the subscription fee. | |
- No fees on spending or ATM withdrawals overseas - 25.9% rep APR |
Check eligibility | |
| Apply* | ||
|
The Halifax Clarity is a long-term top pick as it has no fees on overseas spending and low ATM interest. You don't get charged interest on spending abroad as long as you repay IN FULL, but you will if you make cash withdrawals (about 5p per £100 per day) – so try to minimise these. | |
- No fees on spending or ATM withdrawals overseas |
Check eligibility | |
| Apply* |
||
| Next best specialist travel credit cards. Here are quick details of decent alternatives. | ||
|---|---|---|
| The NatWest Credit Card Mastercard |
- No fees on overseas spending, 3% fee (min £3) on ATM withdrawals - Up to 29.9% interest on cash withdrawals, charged daily until it's paid off - 12.9% rep APR |
Check eligibility |
| Apply* | ||
| Virgin Money Travel Credit Card Mastercard | - No fees on overseas spending, 3% fee on ATM withdrawals - 28.9% interest on cash withdrawals, charged daily until it's paid off |
Check eligibility |
| Apply* | ||
| Zopa Credit Card Visa | - No fees on overseas spending, £3 fee on ATM withdrawals - 34.9% interest on cash withdrawals, charged daily until it's paid off |
Check eligibility |
| Apply | ||
See all official APR examples. (1) All accepted get 0% for the first nine months on spending.
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Top overseas debit cards
It's also possible to get debit cards that don't charge a non-sterling transaction fee. With Chase, Starling and Virgin Money you'll need to open a new bank account, though Chase and Starling only do a 'soft' credit check to see if they want you as a customer.
While some of these accounts can be top-pick accounts to switch to in their own right – see Best bank accounts – if you're happy with your existing bank, you can open all these as a secondary account just for the debit card (assuming you pass the bank's credit check). Though unlike a credit card, you will need to preload your account before using it, which some find a pain. Currensea is different, as here you just open a debit card account that links to existing cards, it's not a bank account in its own right.
We've also marked whether each card's a Mastercard or a Visa as it does make a slight difference to their exchange rates (Visa tends to be a touch better – see Mastercard vs Visa rates for more).
Top travel debit cards
 Chase Mastercard |
Fee-free spending and cash withdrawals worldwide, plus an ongoing 1% cashback. Unlike the credit cards above, Chase only runs a 'soft' credit check when you apply – so there's no permanent mark on your credit report.
The cashback you can earn is unlimited for 12 months if you sign up before 1 May – after that it's capped at £15/month. From April you'll also need to pay in £500+/month. However, Chase is app-only, so you'll need an Apple iPhone or iPod touch running iOS 14.1 (or later) or a device running Android 8.1 (or later) to get it.
If you're thinking of switching to Chase, or using it as your main bank account, read our full Chase review. |
|
| - No fees on spending or at ATMs - ATM limits: £500/day, max £1,500/mth overseas - 1% cashback on most spending |
Apply* | |
 Starling Bank Mastercard |
Fee-free spending and cash withdrawals anywhere in the world. Like the Chase account above, Starling only does a 'soft' credit check (unless you also apply for an overdraft) – so if you don't get it, there won't be a permanent mark on your credit report. If you're thinking of switching to Starling, or using it as your main bank account, read our full Starling review. |
|
- No fees on spending or at ATMs - ATM limits: six per day, max £300/day |
Apply* | |
Virgin Money Mastercard |
Fee-free spending and cash withdrawals worldwide, but requires 'hard' credit check. As an added boon, it also pays 2.02% interest on credit balances up to £1,000 and comes with a linked easy-access savings account that pays 2.52% interest on up to £25,000. |
|
- No fees on spending or at ATMs - ATM limits: £500/day |
Apply* | |
Currensea Mastercard |
Currensea is a good option if you don't want to open a whole new bank account – though its rates can be slightly worse than the three above. Here you link your existing current account to Currensea's debit card. Then when you spend or withdraw on the Currensea card, it charges your linked current account in pounds, neatly avoiding your bank's exchange fees. On its free 'essential plan', Currensea has no ATM fees for withdrawals up to £500/month (it's 2% above), though it does have a flat 0.5% exchange fee on the interbank/Mastercard exchange rates it uses. This means the cards above usually beat it on rate for currencies such as Euros, US and Australian dollars, though there's not much in it. See full info on how Currensea works. |
|
- No fees on spending or at ATMs - Fee-free ATM limits: £500/month |
Apply* | |
Want to complain about your credit card?
If your card company has charged you the wrong amount, charged interest when it shouldn't have or its service has been atrocious, then you don't have to suffer in silence.
It's always worth trying to call the provider first to see if it can help, but if not, you can use free complaints tool Resolver. The tool helps you manage your complaint, and if the company doesn't play ball, it also helps you escalate your complaint to the free Financial Ombudsman Service.
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