Visa debit cards

[fifo]

I travel a lot. I keep a variety of cards in my stable of cc, debit, visa, amex, mastercard etc to allow flexibility
This is especially important as i'm planning on spending time in africa next year which I read is almost visa only.

I have not lived in australia for some time, yet all my funds will be there. So I have a hard time applying for new ccs and bank accounts. I've lost my anz amex,my commbank cards are alll mastercard. i've only one anz visa cc left (ridiculous priced cash withdrawls from os atm), now everything else is mastercard.

So since citibank has now moved to mastercard for their debit cards (this was my goto travel card, 0% fee for international transactions/atm withdrawl, raw visa rates), what options do people know about for a VISA debit card thats easy to get? ANZ travel card comes to mind (but is costly on fees, grrr).

Thanks in advance

 

[Punky]

ING has a visa debit - although being overseas you may not be able to meet the requirements of all the fee free stuff, but maybe the o/s transactions are fee free

HSBC Everyday Global is a Visa as well.


Not sure how easy any Australan bank account it to open. They all have their id requirements.

 

[opusman]

ING have some annoying requirements for free foreign transactions. You have to have $1000 transferred each month into the account from outside the bank, and you have to use the debit card for at least 5 transactions a month.

 

[RooFlyer]

Not sure how easy any Australan bank account it to open. They all have their id requirements.

Its gotten harder more complicated in the past 12 months. New 'money laundering' forms to fill out, but basically if you have the requisite ID (passport ideal), it shouldn't be an issue although, not being an Australian resident bight require some more hoops to jump.

Wondering why the OP prefers Visa (this is not an ad ...) over MasterCard?

 

[opusman]

Wondering why the OP prefers Visa (this is not an ad ...) over MasterCard?

Explained in the first paragraph:

i'm planning on spending time in africa next year which I read is almost visa only

 

[RooFlyer]

Oops yes, thanks.

I can't say I recall any particular bias from my trips there but good research is the key to good travel.

 

[fifo]

I still maintain my full id in australia, passport, address, drivers licence etc.
Only thing i cant do is get an aus credit card as that requires a job in aus. Well, i maybe could try with my job in qatar, but annoying and difficult i'm sure.

Any other ideas? that ing one may have been good, except for as you said, annoying transaction issues

 

[Cynicor]

Not sure where in Africa, but my folks and friends have had 0 issues on several trips and neither have a single visa card.

 

[fifo]

Not sure where in Africa, but my folks and friends have had 0 issues on several trips and neither have a single visa card.

Don't know them personally, but I assume they didnt travel through west africa....

 

[Cynicor]

Nope, but you didn't include that info in your post. Africa is a big place. Maybe be more specific and less snarky.

 

[fifo]

Yes this from the person who can't read that I value having a variety of cards in my stable from my op. Africa was just one part of the reason.
Only having one card format in your wallet is incredibly naive. I don't count Amex or diners as one of the useful ones in 3rd world. I've been in Peru for a week with no Master card access, came back on the week after. Lucky I had a visa

Nope, but you didn't include that info in your post. Africa is a big place. Maybe be more specific and less snarky.