Does Bank Of America Credit Card Charge Foreign Transaction Fees

Have A No Foreign Fee Debit Card Handy

You probably won’t be able to use credit cards for all your international purchases if you travel abroad, so having a debit card will allow you to get cash in the local currency when you need it. Many debit cards also charge foreign transaction fees, so make sure to bring a Visa or Mastercard debit card with no foreign fee when you head out of the country.

Susan G Komen Cash Rewards Visa Credit Card From Bank Of America

The has a very interesting perk. During the first 90 days your account stays open, Bank Of America donates $3 plus 0.08% of all retail purchases to the Susan G. Komen foundation.

Every year you renew your card, the foundation receives $3. Its an easy way to contribute to the fight against breast cancer.

Best No Foreign Transaction Fee Credit Card For Dining Abroad

Why We Like It: If you’re someone who enjoys the finer things when you travel, you’ll appreciate this luxury card that not only allows you to avoid paying foreign transaction fees but also ensures you’re being well rewarded all along your jet-setting way. You’ll also enjoy saving some money with a $300 statement credit reimbursement each cardholder anniversary year to cover travel costs .

• USER SCORES

The Bonus: Enjoy 60,000 bonus Chase Ultimate Rewards® points after you spend $4,000 in the first three months. Your points are worth 50% more if you redeem them for travel via Chase Ultimate Rewards®, hence 60,000 points is worth $900. Those points could be worth even more, however, if you choose to transfer them 1:1 to one of multiple airline and hotel loyalty programs.

The Rewards: Earn 5 points per $1 on air travel and 10 points per $1 on car rentals and hotels booked through the Ultimate Rewards® portal immediately after earning your $300 annual travel reimbursement. Earn three points per $1 spent on dining out and on other travel that isn’t eligible for the annual $300 travel statement credit reimbursement, and one point per $1 on all your other purchases. Remember, too, that they’re worth 50% more, if you redeem for travel through Ultimate Rewards®.

Annual Fee:$550

Excellent

PROS:

CONS:

*Scores above reflect the results of surveys with actual cardholders. Full methodology below.

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Best No Foreign Transaction Fee Card For Tiered Travel Rewards

Why We Like It: This is a card with a slightly higher-than-typical annual fee, but it offers plenty of solid perks and rewards to justify it, plus that whole, “no foreign transaction fees” part.;American Express is a CardRatings advertiser.

• USER SCORES

The Bonus: Earn 60,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $4,000 on eligible purchases with your new card within the first six months of card membership.

The Rewards:;Earn four Membership Rewards® points per $1 spent at restaurants including takeout and delivery; four points per $1 at U.S. supermarkets ; and three Membership Rewards® points on flights booked directly with airlines or on amextravel.com. You can also earn up to $10 total in statement credits monthly, that’s up to $120 each year, when you pay with your card at Grubhub, Seamless, The Cheesecake Factory, Boxed, Ruth’s Chris Steak House and participating Shake Shack locations .

Annual Fee:$250

Good, Excellent

PROS:

CONS:

• The annual fee is a fairly hefty at $250.
• American Express cards aren’t as widely accepted, especially internationally, as a Visa or Mastercard. You may want to bring along another card when you travel overseas just in case.

*Scores above reflect the results of surveys with actual cardholders. Full methodology below.

How Can I Avoid Foreign Transaction Fees

Some credit cards don’t charge foreign transaction fees, as part of the cardmember perks and benefits package. Some credit cards also waive foreign transaction fees for the first year as a promotional offering.

You can also avoid foreign transaction fees by making purchases online only with international merchants that work with American credit cards and accept US dollars. When shopping online, make sure that their business is based in the US or that they accept a range of payment options that include US currency.

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Best No Foreign Transaction Fee Credit Cards Of September 2021

Discover the best credit cards for international travel.

Many or all of the products featured here are from our partners who compensate us. This may influence which products we write about and where and how the product appears on a page. However, this does not influence our evaluations. Our opinions are our own. Here is a list ofour partnersandhere’s how we make money.

ALSO CONSIDER:Best credit cards of 2021;||;Best travel credit cards ||;Best rewards credit cards ||;Best cash back credit cards;

Most credit cards tack an extra charge onto purchases made outside the United States.;If you’re planning to travel abroad, you’ll want to look out for these;foreign transaction fees .;They are assessed by your credit card issuer and are usually 1% to 3% of the purchase amount, with 3% being common. That amount might not seem like a big deal, but if you spent, say, $3,000 at a hotel, you could be looking at an additional $90 charge.

The best way to avoid foreign transaction fees is to get a travel credit card that doesn’t charge them. Fortunately, any travel credit card worth its salt including airline cards will not charge foreign transaction fees, so you have plenty of options. Some major issuers most notably Capital One and Discover don’t charge these fees on any of their cards.

Here are our favorite cards without the fee.

ALSO CONSIDER:Best credit cards of 2021;||;Best travel credit cards ||;Best rewards credit cards ||;Best cash back credit cards;

Wells Fargo Debit Card Foreign Transaction Fees

Lets start with debit cards. If you want to use a Wells Fargo debit card abroad, youll probably find yourself having to pay the fees youll find below. ATM fees will be dealt with separately below.

Your particular account might have a different breakdown of fees charged. If you think that might apply to you, check with Wells Fargo.¹

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Using Credit Cards Internationally

Which;credit cards work;worldwide?

Whether you’re in the U.S. or a foreign country, your ability to use;a credit card at a merchant depends on;whether the merchant accepts that card’s payment network. The four major U.S. networks ;Visa, Mastercard, American Express or Discover all have an international presence,;although to varying degrees.

In the U.S.,;Visa and Mastercard are ubiquitous. If a merchant accepts credit cards, it almost always accepts Visa and Mastercard, although there are a few exceptions, such as Visa-only Costco. Discover is a close third, just a hair behind the leaders. American Express is widely accepted, just not as widely as the other three. Smaller merchants, in particular, are less likely to take AmEx. Even so, when traveling in the U.S., you should be able to get by with a card on any of the four networks.

Outside the U.S.,;Visa and Mastercard are also dominant;worldwide networks. And while American Express has a strong presence overseas it has more cardholders outside the U.S. than in it doesn’t match the extent of Visa and Mastercard. Discover is a smaller player outside the U.S. If you’re planning to travel internationally and your primary card is American Express or Discover, it’s best to bring along a Visa or Mastercard as a backup.

Should I;use dynamic currency conversion?

Conversion Charges: Charges In Usd Vs Local Currency

Sometimes when you’re traveling abroad, a merchant may give you the option to convert your charges to USD instead of the local currency, in a process called dynamic currency conversion . We advise against choosing DCC, as you’ll almost always end up paying more.

The problem is that DCC nearly always results in unfavorable exchange rates. When a merchant processes your payment using DCC, they get to set the currency exchange rate, and this can add as much as an additional 7% to the transaction. Merchants are incentivized to pick an unfavorable rate, as this pads their profits as well as those of the third-party DCC service provider. To avoid being overcharged, choose to pay in the local currency instead. The currency conversion will be handled automatically by your credit card network using their exchange rate.

To add insult to injury, you may still end up getting charged a foreign exchange fee even if you use dynamic currency conversion and the transaction is performed in USD. All that needs to happen is for the transaction to pass through a foreign bank. Sometimes a card issuer specifically spells out how this is handled. The terms and conditions may specify if there’s a fee for foreign transactions in U.S. dollars versus local currency.

If your card issuer only specifies local currency fees, this means they don’t charge for transactions in USD. Due to the Truth in Lending Act, credit issuers in the U.S. are required to disclose all fees in the terms and conditions.

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How Much Are Foreign Transaction Fees

Most credit cards have foreign transaction fees ranging between 1% and 3%. That said, if there’s going to be a foreign transaction fee on your credit card, and there often is, it’ll probably be 3%.

The fees cover the bank’s expense for converting purchases from one country’s currency into American dollars. Some credit cards pass on the cost of converting that currency to the consumer, and some credit cards take the hit so you don’t have to.

But 3% doesn’t sound like much to pay for the convenience of using a card, right? Well, it adds up. Consider the following scenarios:

Most often, credit cards that specialize in travel rewards or tout themselves as great travel companions won’t charge foreign transaction fees, but that certainly isn’t the case across the board. In particular, if you have a no-annual-fee co-branded card that is, one that allows you earn loyalty points or miles with a given airline or hotel it could very well charge foreign transaction fees, so it’s always important to check your individuals card’s fee structure just to be sure.

How To Avoid Credit Card Foreign Transaction Fees

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Advertiser Disclosure: This post includes references to offers from our partners. We receive compensation when you click on links to those products. However, the opinions expressed here are ours alone and at no time has the editorial content been provided, reviewed, or approved by any issuer.

Whenever I travel abroad,;I carry at least one credit card that doesnt charge foreign transaction fees the surcharges issuers often levy to cover the additional cost of processing international purchases.

The typical foreign transaction fee adds up to 2% or 3% of the total transaction amount on credit cards, depending on the issuer and the currency in which the transaction is denominated.

On debit card transactions, the standard fee is 1%. That doesnt include potentially hefty withdrawal fees charged by foreign ATMs.

And if the buyer chooses to denominate a transaction in their home currency, it results in dynamic currency conversion fees, which can be even higher north of 5% of the transaction value in some cases.

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All For A Low $95 Annual Fee7

Talk to your Merrill® advisor today to apply or to learn more about the Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card. This offer may not be available if you visit Bank of America Financial Centers, or when calling Bank of America.

1 Bank of America® Premium Rewards® Grocery Store Enhancement Offer. From 5/3/2021 through 12/31/2021, you will earn 2 base points for every $1 of Grocery Store Net Purchases you make with your Premium Rewards card. Eligible merchant categories and the associated merchant category codes for Grocery Store Purchases are the following: grocery store and supermarkets , freezer/meat lockers , candy, nut or confection stores , dairy product stores , bakeries and Miscellaneous Food Stores . Grocery delivery and meal prep delivery services will be included if the merchant is assigned to one of the eligible MCCs. Excluded from this Grocery Store Category are superstores and smaller stores that sell groceries and other products. Merchants are assigned an MCC. We do not determine which MCC a merchant chooses to classify itself. Your purchase may not qualify to receive the Grocery Store enhancement earn rate if the merchant does not process transactions under the MCC that corresponds with the Grocery Store Category. This offer will not affect the points you earn on other types of purchases. There is no limit on the number of points you can earn.

Top Credit Cards With No Foreign Transaction Fee

Beyond our top picks, there are many more cards without FX fees, which we’ve highlighted in the table in the next section. Alternatively, check out some of the best credit cards for international travel, none of which charge foreign transaction fees.

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Best Business: Business Advantage Travel Rewards

30,000 bonus points when you spend $3,000 in the first 90 days.

• Why We Chose This Card:
• Pros & Cons:

We chose the Business Advantage Travel Rewards as our top pick for Bank of America business cards because of its competitive earnings on all spending and the ability to earn 3 points per every dollar spent when you book your travel through the Bank of America Travel Center. Regular redemption is as simple as requesting points be applied to travel purchases. The one-time bonus is valued at $300, which is excellent for a no annual fee business card.

• Earn unlimited points with no spending caps

• Easily earned, if modest, bonus

• Rewards boost with a high-balance bank or investment account

• Limited options for getting the best return on rewards

• No premium travel benefits

Read the full Business Advantage Travel Rewards credit card review

Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card: Best For Flexible Travel Rewards

• Rewards rate: 5X miles on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel; 2X miles on all other purchases
• Welcome offer: Enjoy a one-time bonus of 60,000 miles once you spend $3,000 on purchases within 3 months from account opening, equal to $600 in travel
• Annual fee: $95

The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card is not necessarily a premium travel card, but the 2X rewards on all purchases are still a deal for international travelers. Paired with a low annual fee and no foreign transaction fees, it has the makings of a solid entry-level card for travelers.

The flexibility comes in when you earn and redeem points. You can earn unlimited 2X points on all your spending. Then, you can redeem points by booking travel through the Capital One rewards portal, receiving a statement credit for recent eligible travel purchases or transferring miles to partner airline and hotel programs.

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The Best Personal Travel Rewards Cards With No Foreign Transaction Fees

Selecting a credit card that doesnt charge foreign transaction fees is a real benefit for the traveler. But, there are so many credit cards in the marketplace without these fees that savvy travelers will want to choose a card that delivers even more benefits.

Lets look at our picks for some of the top cards for international travel that have no foreign transaction fees.

The Amex Gold card has an identity problem. On one hand, it shines as an everyday rewards-earning card for spending at restaurants and at U.S. supermarkets, yet it also rewards specific travel purchases. And, at redemption time, Membership Rewards points earned on the card are there for good-value travel redemptions whether via Amex Travel or transferring points to airline and hotel partners.

We like that the card is so diverse and also that it also offers a generous upfront welcome bonus.

Bottom Line:;The American Express collection of no foreign transaction fee credit cards offers strong benefits for the frequent traveler and options equally suited to those with loyalty to a specific brand. A combination of cards could offer the perfect umbrella of benefits for the frequent traveler. See our full list of Amex credit cards if youre looking for even more choices from American Express.