Best Credit Cards for Overseas Travel & Online Shopping

The fee-free 28 Degrees Global Platinum Mastercard and Bankwest Zero Platinum cards are among the best Australian credit cards for overseas travel and online shopping. They’re part of a range of credit cards with no international transaction fees – some of which even award frequent flyer points.

When you shop overseas or pay in a foreign currency online, it’s prudent to use a credit card that does not charge international transaction fees. Most Australian credit cards add a 3% international transaction fee when you buy something in a foreign currency or the transaction is processed outside of Australia. That’s in addition to any margin the bank is making on the exchange rate. This can really add up over time!

In this guide, we’ll show you which Australian personal credit cards to use to avoid paying international transaction fees.

Best credit cards with no international transaction fees

There are a handful of Australian credit cards without any international transaction fees that are ideal to use when you travel overseas. Some of these credit cards even have no annual fees.

There is also a selection of credit cards without forex fees that award frequent flyer points – although most of these cards do have annual fees. You can avoid paying annual fees on the CommBank Smart Awards and Ultimate Awards cards by spending a certain amount on your card each month.

Credit cards with no annual fees

Latitude 28 Degrees Global Platinum Mastercard

The popular Latitude 28 Degrees Global Platinum Mastercard has no annual fees and no international transaction fees, making it an ideal credit card for overseas travel and online shopping.

In addition, the 28 Degrees Mastercard comes with Flexiroam benefits and complimentary lounge passes if your flight is delayed by more than two hours, thanks to the Flight Delay Pass service. So, this is a great fee-free card to keep in your wallet when travelling overseas.

Bankwest Zero Platinum

As an alternative to the Latitude 28 Degrees Global Platinum card, Bankwest’s Zero Platinum card also has no annual or foreign transaction fees. As an added bonus, this credit card comes with complimentary overseas travel insurance. This is a benefit that the fee-free 28 Degrees Mastercard does not offer outside of special promotions.

Points-earning credit cards

If your goal is to accumulate a stash of frequent flyer points pronto, consider applying for a frequent flyer credit card in Australia that offers bonus points when you reach a minimum spend.

Commonwealth Bank, Bankwest and Coles offer a range of points-earning credit cards without international transaction fees…

CommBank Smart Awards

Launched in 2023, the CommBank Smart Awards credit card does not charge international transaction fees. It has a monthly fee of $19, which is waived for each month that you spend at least $2,000 on the card.

With a CommBank Smart Awards card, you’ll earn 1.5 CommBank Awards points per $1 spent up to $5,000/month. Alternatively, if you pay $60 per year to opt-in to earning Qantas points, you can earn 0.6 Qantas points per $1 spent. After reaching the monthly limit, you’ll continue earning points for the rest of that month at a third of this rate.

You can transfer CommBank Awards points to Velocity Frequent Flyer at a 2:1 rate, so that’s equivalent to earning 0.75 Velocity points per dollar spent. Or, you can transfer CommBank Awards points to a range of other frequent flyer programs – albeit at relatively unfavourable rates.

This credit card includes complimentary international travel insurance.

CommBank Ultimate Awards

The CommBank Ultimate Awards credit card also offers no foreign transaction fees on international purchases.

With this card, you’ll earn up to 3 CommBank Awards points per $1 spent overseas. Alternatively, you can opt-in to earning Qantas points (earn 1.2 Qantas points per dollar spent overseas) for an extra $60/year.

Unfortunately, you’ll only earn points at the full rate for the first $10,000 spent per month. After this, the earn rate halves. Also, this card is a poor earner for transactions in Australian dollars, which earn only 1 CommBank Awards point per dollar at the full rate. There is a $35 monthly fee which is waived if you spend at least $4,000 on the card each month.

As an added bonus, this card comes with two complimentary DragonPass airport lounge passes each year and complimentary travel insurance.

Bankwest Qantas Platinum

The Bankwest Qantas Platinum card awards Qantas Frequent Flyer points while waiving all forex fees on international purchases. This card has a $160 annual fee and gives 0.75 Qantas points per dollar up to the first $2,500 per month, after which the earn rate drops to 0.3 points per dollar.

Bankwest Qantas World

This is similar to the Bankwest Qantas Platinum card, except there’s a higher annual fee and higher earn rate. For serious overseas spenders, the $270/year Bankwest Qantas World card awards 1 Qantas points per dollar for the first $5,000 spent each month, reverting to half of that rate above that amount.

Both the Bankwest Qantas Platinum and World cards include complimentary international travel insurance.

Coles Rewards Mastercard

The Coles Rewards Mastercard has an annual fee of $99. It awards 2 Flybuys points per dollar spent in Australia or overseas up to the first $3,000 spent each month, with a halved earn rate for expenditure over this limit.

Flybuys points can be converted to Virgin Australia Velocity points at a 2:1 rate, with 1,000 Flybuys points worth 500 Velocity points. This is very much a no-frills credit card, but the Velocity points earn rate is competitive given the low annual fee and lack of foreign transaction fees.

Cards that have been withdrawn to new applicants

Macquarie Bank previously offered fee-free international transactions on its Macquarie Black and Macquarie Platinum Visa cards, which also awarded Qantas points.

ANZ also used to waive international transaction fees on its ANZ Rewards Travel Adventures card. Unfortunately, these cards have all been withdrawn from sale.

Travel money cards

If you’re travelling overseas, an alternative is to use a travel money card such as Qantas Travel Money.

Travel money cards allow you to pre-load foreign currency and lock in the exchange rate before you depart Australia. However, the value of travel money cards is questionable.

Although most travel money cards do not charge any ongoing fees, you’ll often receive a worse exchange rate than you would with a credit card such as the 28 Degrees Mastercard.

The ability to lock in an exchange rate in advance could work in your favour if the currency devalues… but it could just as easily work against you, so this is not inherently advantageous. Plus, the exchange rates used by travel money cards typically include a high margin.

Many travel money cards charge a non-native currency fee if you pay using a currency not pre-loaded onto the card. And if you overestimate your spend and have money left over on your travel money card at the end of your trip, you’ll be paying a second time to convert the foreign currency back to Australian dollars. That’s why prepaid travel cards are not necessarily the best value option.

Travel money cards are not suitable for hotel and car rental pre-authorisations as this will block you from accessing a certain amount of your own money for a period of time. For pre-authorisations, it’s much better to use a credit card.

Earning points with a travel money card

If you wish to use a travel money card, the Qantas Travel Money product (formerly Qantas Cash) isn’t too bad. The key advantage is the ability to earn frequent flyer points. You’ll earn 1.5 Qantas points per $1 spent in foreign currency with the Qantas Travel Money card.

Fee-free overseas ATM withdrawals

If you need to access cash in a foreign currency while you’re travelling, there are some great fee-free debit cards in Australia that offer overseas ATM withdrawals at no cost and no foreign exchange fees.

Instead of exchanging cash at the airport, you can simply withdraw cash as you need it from overseas ATMs without paying any fees. You’ll most likely get a better exchange rate, too!

For overseas cash withdrawals, this is a better option than using a credit card. This is because even credit cards with no international transaction fees on purchases, such as the 28 Degrees card, may charge a forex fee on cash withdrawals. These also tend to be treated as a cash advance, with high and immediate interest payable.

When withdrawing money or making a purchase overseas, beware of dynamic currency conversion. Always pay in the local currency!

Best Australian debit cards for overseas cash withdrawals

There are numerous Australian bank accounts with no monthly fees, no international transaction fees and no overseas ATM withdrawal fees. This means you can store Australian dollars in your transaction account and withdraw money from any overseas ATM as required.

You’ll usually get a decent exchange rate where the bank just uses the official Visa or Mastercard exchange rates. You’d just need to watch out for any withdrawal fees that may be charged by the ATM operator. (Many ATM operators do not charge any fees, but some do – this varies by bank and country.)

Be mindful that the interest rates on some of these accounts are very low. So they might not be suitable for storing large amounts of money in the long term.

Here are some of the best options…

Bankwest Qantas Transaction account

The Bankwest Qantas Transaction account removed foreign exchange and overseas ATM withdrawal fees in 2022. With this debit card, you’ll also earn 5 Qantas points per overseas ATM withdrawal.

You’ll also earn Qantas points on your account’s balance, although this doesn’t quite make up for the low interest rate.

ubank Spend account

ubank, a neobank owned by NAB, offers a fee-free transaction account with no international fees. You’ll get a Spend account, which you can use for overseas ATM withdrawals and purchases, as well as a Save account, where the balances earn interest.

ubank doesn’t have any physical branches, but you can easily do most things in the App. They do also have a call centre if you need assistance. Overall, this is a good no-frills option.

Other bank accounts

These other Australian bank accounts also have no international transaction or overseas ATM withdrawal fees:

• Bankwest Easy Transaction account
• HSBC Everyday Global account
• Macquarie Transaction account
• Up Everyday & 2Up accounts
• Suncorp Everyday Options account
• ING Orange Everyday account (must deposit at least $1,000 and make 5 transactions each month to get 5 free overseas ATM withdrawals in the following month)

See the Australian Frequent Flyer forum for more discussion on the best travel debit cards in 2024.

This article is not intended as financial advice. Consider your personal circumstances before applying for any type of credit.

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 70 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include economics, aviation & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.