Thrifty Thinking - International Credit Card Survey

 With summer travel on the horizon, WalletHub today released the results of a nationally representative International Credit Card Survey gauging people’s opinions on various aspects of spending money abroad, along with editors’ picks for the Best International Credit Cards of 2024 and a new Currency Exchange Study that highlights easy ways to save.

 
Key Findings:

• Waste of Money: More than 4 in 5 Americans say foreign transaction fees are a rip-off.
   
• Foreign Fee Awareness: Nearly 1 in 3 Americans don’t know whether their credit card has a foreign transaction fee.
   
• Foreign Fees Lurking Domestically: Nearly 2 in 3 Americans don’t realize foreign transaction fees can apply without foreign travel.
   
• International Travel Concerns: 52% of baby boomers say they worry about card loss/theft the most when using their credit cards internationally, while 34% of Millennials are most concerned about foreign transaction fees.
   
• Exchange Rate Stunner: 82% of Americans don’t know that using a credit card gets them the best exchange rate when traveling abroad.
   
• Savvy Traveler Savings: A no foreign transaction fee credit card saves travelers around 6.5% relative to airport currency exchange services and banks.
   
• Best International Credit Cards: Based on a comparison of 1,500+ credit cards, the WalletHub Awards for 2024’s Best International Credit Cards go to the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and Chase Sapphire Reserve®. Both have $0 foreign fees and great travel rewards.

 
“Most people agree that foreign transaction fees are a rip-off, according to a new WalletHub survey, and that’s without even realizing that foreign fees can apply to orders from the U.S. placed with a foreign merchant. More than 2 in 5 people say they’ve been charged a foreign fee on an online purchase, for example. Despite how common and unpopular foreign fees are, around one-third of us still have no idea whether our credit cards charge foreign fees. Figuring that out before your next trip abroad or major purchase from an international merchant is a must. A credit card with no foreign fee can save you 3% in fees and more than 6% on currency conversion, according to WalletHub’s research.”

- John Kiernan, WalletHub Editor
 


 

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