Credit card without an extra fee for International transactions?

[kuzco-like]

Someone alerted me that my travel rewards credit card (Visa with CIBC) charges 2.5% for International transactions. I was already thinking of getting a 2nd, backup credit card for an upcoming trip. Does anyone know of any Canadian credit cards with a lower, or possibly no, rate for International transactions? I'm located in BC.

 

[Absimilliard]

Since Amazon Canada stopped offering their Visa card last April, the Marriott Rewards Premier Visa is the last card without extra Foreign Exchange fees in Canada. You pay directly what Visa charge to the card and you get 5x the points at Marriott hotels and 2x the points for dining, plane tickets and car rentals. The sign-up business is 30 000 points with Marriott.

It has a steep 119$ per year annual fee, but you get a voucher for a free hotel room on your "anniversary".

 

[efrant]

Unfortunately even the Chase Marriott Visa is now no longer taking new applications.

The only options are:

• Home Trust Visa -- doesn't charge the 2.5% f/x fee
• Rogers Platinum MasterCard -- charges the 2.5% f/x fee but gives you 4.0% rewards on f/x purchases, so you end up with a net benefit to you of 1.5%
• Fido MasterCard-- charges the 2.5% f/x fee but gives you 4.0% rewards on f/x purchases, so you end up with a net benefit to you of 1.5%
• A US-dollar denominated card -- though you still need US dollars to pay it off
• A points-earning credit card for which you value the points more than 2.5% (e.g., I would value Starwood points at more than 2.5c/point, so the value I would get from using my Amex SPG card would offset the 2.5% f/x fee).

 

[youngdeb12]

We have a USD pre-paid Visa through CIBC that I love. You can reload it online at any time, you get one free withdrawal from a bank machine each day (just pay the fee at the machine), and you can guarantee what rate you're going to get on your USD transactions. Helps you budget a bit as well and not overspend. We used ours in DL in January and had no problems. It's odd to rarely use the chip and PIN. Most of the times they just swiped it and it always showed the balance remaining on the receipt.

 

[efrant]

We have a USD pre-paid Visa through CIBC that I love. You can reload it online at any time, you get one free withdrawal from a bank machine each day (just pay the fee at the machine), and you can guarantee what rate you're going to get on your USD transactions. Helps you budget a bit as well and not overspend. We used ours in DL in January and had no problems. It's odd to rarely use the chip and PIN. Most of the times they just swiped it and it always showed the balance remaining on the receipt.

Having a USD card doesn't eliminate the problem of the 2.5% fee though, unless you already have US currency to load it up with -- if you have to exchange Canadian dollars into US dollars at the bank to load up your card, yes, you are essentially getting charged the ~2.5% by the bank rather than the credit card company.

 

[youngdeb12]

Having a USD card doesn't eliminate the problem of the 2.5% fee though, unless you already have US currency to load it up with -- if you have to exchange Canadian dollars into US dollars at the bank to load up your card, yes, you are essentially getting charged the ~2.5% by the bank rather than the credit card company.

At least this way you can control the rate that you are going to pay. I would rather know what the exchange is going to be beforehand. To me, travelling to the states, a FX charge whether it be to the bank/currency centre/credit card company is a given.

 

[FigmentSpark]

I haven't used it yet, but apparently CAA locations have a CIBC ATM that converts funds with no F/X. I don't know about a fee if you aren't a CIBC cardholder and I don't know how they set the rate, either. Also, that would mean taking out cash and possibly depositing it back to a USD account to use to pay off a USD credit card. Is the savings worth the gas and time? Not sure, but it's an option.

 

[kuzco-like]

Thank you, all, for your responses. I neglected to mention that I'm traveling outside of North America, and it looks like all of these responses are about using a cc in the US. (Please correct me if I'm wrong.) Sorry about leaving out that crucial bit of info.

 

[FigmentSpark]

The Rogers and Fido cards might work for you, then.

https://www.rogersbank.com/en/compare_cards



That 4% should cover whatever the exchange fee is. You can also go to the Mastercard website and check different currency prices their banks used with and without the fee to see if it's worth it to go that route:
https://www.mastercard.us/en-us/consumers/get-support/convert-currency.html

 

[kuzco-like]

The Rogers and Fido cards might work for you, then.

https://www.rogersbank.com/en/compare_cards

View attachment 272916

That 4% should cover whatever the exchange fee is. You can also go to the Mastercard website and check different currency prices their banks used with and without the fee to see if it's worth it to go that route:
https://www.mastercard.us/en-us/consumers/get-support/convert-currency.html

Awesome! Thanks FigmentSpark. I'll definitely check those options.

 

[Sue M]

I haven't used it yet, but apparently CAA locations have a CIBC ATM that converts funds with no F/X. I don't know about a fee if you aren't a CIBC cardholder and I don't know how they set the rate, either. Also, that would mean taking out cash and possibly depositing it back to a USD account to use to pay off a USD credit card. Is the savings worth the gas and time? Not sure, but it's an option.

Awesome! I have a CAA nearby. And I bank with CIBC. I’m going to check this out!

I usually use my CIBC US Visa, when in the states. Except for hotel and car rental. I use Alaska Mastercard for that.