Find the Best No Foreign Transaction Fee Credit Cards

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Ever felt like you’ve been ripped off when you use your credit card internationally? Chances are, you’re right: most dock you 3% of every dollar you spend overseas. But these cards will save you a pretty penny with waived foreign transaction fees, bonus travel rewards, killer signup offers and more. Read on for our review of our favorite credit cards with no foreign transaction fee, as well as a comprehensive, continuously updated list.

A Few of Our Favorite International Credit Cards

Best airline credit card: The Capital One® Venture Rewards Credit Card

Use miles on: Any airline or hotel – miles are redeemed against ANY travel expense

Capital+One Venture+Rewards Credit Card
The Capital One® Venture Rewards Credit Card has a special place in our hearts, and is one of our favorite credit cards, hands down. It gives a solid 2 No Hassle Miles for every dollar spent, which are redeemable against any travel purchase. You aren’t tied to any airline or hotel, you don’t have to jump through hoops to get your rewards, and you can book through Kayak, Expedia or whatever discount site you like. The $59 annual fee’s waived the first year, but it comes with a 10,000 Capital One No Hassle Miles℠ signup bonus. Obviously, it has no foreign transaction fee, but it also has no blackout dates and no expiration on your miles.

Best no-fee, cash-back card: the Capital One® Cash Rewards - $100 Cash Back Bonus

Use rewards on: Anything, it’s cash!

Capital+One Cash+Credit+Card Credit Card
The Capital One® Cash Rewards - $100 Cash Back Bonus doesn’t only help you dodge foreign transaction fees: It also has no annual fee. But this doesn’t mean you’re sacrificing rewards: You get a flat 1.5% cash back on all purchases – 1% on all purchases, and a 50% rewards bonus every year – plus a $100 signup bonus. Wherever you are in the world, there’s nothing quite like earning rewards in the world’s reserve currency.

Best signup bonus: the Chase Sapphire Preferred

Transfer points 1:1 to United MileagePlus, Southwest, British Airways, Korean Air, Ritz-Carlton, Marriott, Hyatt, Priority Club, Amtrak

Chase Sapphire+Preferred Credit Card
The Chase Sapphire Preferred is another great travel rewards credit card, and our favorite in Chase’s lineup with a fantastic signup bonus of 40,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards. The points are worth 25% more when you redeem them for travel through Chase’s booking tool, an opportunity offered on no other personal Chase credit card. It earns 2 points per $1 spent on travel and restaurants and 1 point elsewhere, but provides opportunities to up that rewards rate. In addition to the perennial 25% points bump, you earn a 7% points dividend at the end of the year on all points, spent or unspent. Your rewards rate could be as high as 2.68% and 1.34%. The stellar bonus and the waived first-year fee practically scream grab and go.

Credit Cards With No Foreign Transaction Fee

These are all credit cards that charge no foreign transaction fees at all. Are we missing anything? Let us know in the comments below.

List current as of February 25th, 2013.

Are Stated Foreign Transaction Fees Representative of Reality?

Now, in addition to what the banks claim they will charge you in terms of “foreign transaction fees”, you are also faced with the exchange rate that your credit card issuer uses to convert the currencies. And if you’re a cynic like me, you may wonder if they charge you hidden fees and unfair exchange rates on top of the disclosed rates. We reached out to our readers in April 2010′s Hong Kong Dollar FX survey and Euro FX survey, and were able to buy the same item at the same time with 10 credit cards from leading US card issuers. Note that Hong Kong dollars don’t fluctuate much, because they are pegged to the US dollar. The Eurois a different story entirely, especially given the budding European debt crisis.

Conclusion

Surprisingly, everyone keeps it pretty straightforward and honest, so it pays to look for the card issuer with the lowest advertised foreign transaction fee rate.

Foreign Transaction Fee Survey Results

In the tables below, there are a few Amex and Fidelity results that differ from the expected values by a few cents. We re-ran the experiment on a few of these cards with transactions that were closer to $100, and these anomalies disappeared.

HKD survey:

Disclosed FX Fee Estimated Charge for HK$15 Actual Charge for HK$15
Paypal N/A N/A $1.99
Bank of America 3.0% $1.99 $1.99
Citi 3.0% $1.99 $1.99
Citi Amex 3.0% $1.99 $1.99
Chase 3.0% $1.99 $1.99
Wells Fargo 3.0% $1.99 $1.99
US Bank 3.0% $1.99 $1.99
Zion’s Bank 3.0% $1.99 $1.99
American Express 2.7% $1.98 $1.99
Fidelity 1.0% $1.95 $1.95
Capital One 0.0% $1.93 $1.93
HSBC Premier 0.0% $1.93 $1.93
Schwab 0.0% $1.93 $1.93
Exchange Rate at Time of Transaction $1.93

Euro survey:

Disclosed FX Fee Estimated Charge for €2 Actual Charge for €2
Paypal N/A N/A $2.77
Bank of America 3.0% $2.79 $2.79
Citi 3.0% $2.79 $2.79
Citi Amex 3.0% $2.79 $2.79
Chase 3.0% $2.79 $2.79
American Express 2.7% $2.78 $2.80
Fidelity 1.0% $2.74 $2.76
Capital One 0.0% $2.71 $2.71
HSBC Premier 0.0% $2.71 $2.71
Schwab 0.0% $2.71 $2.71
Exchange Rate at Time of Transaction $2.71

Current foreign transaction fees for US card issuers

Issuer Foreign Transaction Fee
Air Force Federal Credit Union 1%
American Express 2.7%
Bank of America 3% (Visa/MC), 1% (American Express)
Barclays 3%
BB&T 3%
Capital One 0%
Chase 3% *
Citibank 3%
Citizens Bank 1.5%
Comerica Bank 3%
Commerce Bank 0%
Discover 2%
Heartland Bank 3%
KeyBank 3%
Fidelity 1% (American Express) 3% (Visa)
Fifth Third Bank 3%
First National Omaha Bank 3%
Horizon Bank 2%
HSBC 3%* (0% for Premier)
Navy Federal 1%
Nordstrom fsb 1%
Pentagon Federal Credit Union 2% (0% for Promise)
PNC 3%*
Schwab 0%
Simmons Bank 3%
Sovereign Bank 3%
State Farm 1%
US Bank 3%
USAA 1%
Wells Fargo 3%
Zion’s Bank 2%

* While HSBC and Chase offer lower charges to a small number of “premier” customers, the majority of their cards charge 3%.

  • Guest

    Hi. Our son is going to Ireland for Spring Term(May) and then got a 2 month internship in London. We were looking for a PREPAID with no foreign transaction fees that we can reload on-line in case of an emergency?? The only one I can find is the American Express Prepaid…I have no idea if that is accepted in enough places? Do you know of a visa/mastercard prepaid with no foreign transaction fees? Especially one I could go buy and NOT have to order online?? NEED ASAP he is leaving in 2 weeks for Ireland. THANKS!!!

  • Philip Ross

    The Harvard Card is now the Barclaycard Rewards Platinum MC. Same low interest rate and no foreign transaction fee.

  • Colorpencilart

    1 percent fee I love USAA has been the choice of our family for everything.

  • MRV

    Just adding my two cents:

    I am travelling in Europe. I lost my card and called Capitol One to have them mail the replacement to my vacation home in Switzerland. They tell me that as a matter of policy they do not mail cards overseas. Only to my registered US address !!!?? And this is supposed to be a Capitol one card designed for foreign travel. I am also cancelling and going with another issuer.