Which are the best Money Travel Cards or Credit cards to use in France?

[ehc]

Which are the best Money Travel Cards or Credit cards to use in France for one to avoid account fees, conversion/transaction fees, ATM Fees etc. ?

Supposedly Citibank Plus Everyday Account debit card does not charge an ATM fee or conversion fee - is that correct and what have you experienced with this?

28 Degrees Credit Card appears to offer advantages over others - comments please.

 

[stm1sydney]

Yes, the stock standard answer is 28 degrees credit card for CC purchases and Citibank Plus account debit card for ATM withdrawals (cash purchases). Travel money cards are a rip-off whatever your destination country.

 

[flying_duck]

ING (provided you meet their rules) also has a visa debit that they refund overseas/atm charges and there is no international transaction fee either.

• 
  International ATM withdrawal fee rebate
• Offer will apply for the next calendar month when you perform the following during the current calendar month:
  deposit at least $1,000 from an external bank account to any personal ING account in your name (excluding Living Super and Orange One), and
  
  from 1 March 2018, also make at least 5 card purchases using your ING debit or credit card (excluding ATM withdrawals, balance enquiries, cash advances and EFTPOS cash out only transactions).
  
  100% waiver of ING International ATM withdrawal fee of $2.50 and 100% of ATM fee
  • 
    International transaction fee waiver
  • Offer will apply for the next calendar month when you perform the following during the current calendar month:
    deposit at least $1,000 from an external bank account to any personal ING account in your name (excluding Living Super and Orange One), and
    
    from 1 March 2018, also make at least 5 card purchases using your ING debit or credit card (excluding ATM withdrawals, balance enquiries, cash advances and EFTPOS cash out only transactions).
    
    100% waiver of ING international transaction fee of 2.5% of the amount of the international transaction
    Merchants may charge you a separate fee for their services (which is not rebated under this offer).

Everyday Banking. Personal Banking with No Fees

 

[lovetravellingoz]

For our 11 week European Trip which starts this Saturday I have equipped myself and my wife with each the following cards:

For cash withdrawls or where credit is not an option
-ING Debit VISA
-Citiplus (Citibank have just changed this from VISA to MC - In Europe I expect this will not matter, and if it does I now have the ING Debit VISA)

For CC spend

• ANZ Traveller Cards (As have no international fees on transactions. Plus can used on the London Tube rather than get an Oyster)

BackUps: Varios Amex and other CCs. Plus a Westpac account Access Cards. We would only use this in case of emergency due to the fees. though with the Amex explorer the 2MR/$ does lessoon the pain somewhat.

We also have cash at both Westpac and Ing that we can access in 4 different accounts for transfers to any of the above (plus to pay our various bills etc).

• Lesson learnt there in the past as we only had cash in my wife's Westpac account which got locked as my wife overdid the incorrect password limit, and on calling westpac their advice was to go physically into the nearest Westpac Branch to unlock it!!!!!!!!!!! Which in the middle of a 9 day bicycle ride through Austria was not possible.
• So even though I have had for decades multiple CCs (and back in the day TC), I now also make sure that we have cash in several different bnak accounts at home too, just in case we ever get locked out again.

TIP. Make sure you also have any likely billers already added to all bank accounts as the SMS security to add a new biller may be an issue if your mobile is not working, was stolen, or you just do not have coverage then and there.

 

[NoName]

We are off to europe early Saturday morning with the CitiBank Plus locked and loaded. I don’t anticipate needing much more TBH.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Supposedly Citibank Plus Everyday Account debit card does not charge an ATM fee or conversion fee - is that correct and what have you experienced with this?

28 Degrees Credit Card appears to offer advantages over others - comments please.

Spot on.

The ING card comes with a while bunch of conditions... $1000 deposit. 5 transactions per month. Citi is set and forget!

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Yes, the stock standard answer is 28 degrees credit card for CC purchases.

I currently prefer the ANZ Traveller CC as it also does not have he international frees, but still earns points for FF.

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Spot on.

The ING card comes with a while bunch of conditions... $1000 deposit. 5 transactions per month. Citi is set and forget!

True, but I find the 2.8% interest that ING pays is quite good for my spending money reserve (I paid off all my loans late last year and so no longer have a mortgage offset account to use).

The 5 transactions I just pay online against my Telstra Bill or other bills. Though when OS will probably find minor spend items for the 5.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

True, but I find the 2.8% interest that ING pays is quite good for my spending money reserve (I paid off all my loans late last year and so no longer have a mortgage offset account to use).

If you have money lying around I find the Bankwest Qantas transaction account good. Zero interest (well, 0.1%) but you get 12 Qantas points for every $100 balance you have in the account per month. I find the points (converted to ticket value) outweigh the 2.8% interest, and no tax payable on points earning.

 

[hasselbladsnapper]

A word of warning with the CitiBank debit card ..... ensure you use your pin in Australia before departing. I had been only using PayWave at home, and when in Europe trying to use an ATM a pin was requested. Entered my pin, but as the card had not been used in Australia within 6 months ... so no cash given!!. At least my wife had used hers with the pin at home, and it did work with an European ATM. In the end luck prevailed, but two cards are better than one. Make that $20 withdrawl at a Westpac ATM before departure, to ensure the pin will work OS.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Yes! Excellent reminder.

In fact it's not just PIN related. Even if you have a PIN but have not used your account for 6 months or more, it will be temporarily blocked. Making a $20 withdrawal every few months solved the problem. (Luckily I got caught out the day before departure when I went to the bank to make a withdrawal just to 'make sure' the card was working ok and I had the right PIN)