Travelling Abroad? Looking for an International Card? Here are Your Best Options

Using a credit card when travelling abroad is a really expensive affair. Currency conversion fee, foreign transaction fee, and the payment network fee can drain your bank balance. That’s why many travelling abroad opt for a prepaid card that is loaded with the currency of the place they’re visiting. Is it still the cheapest way of spending your money abroad? Let’s find out.

Forex Cards

These are prepaid cards. Banks as well as travel agencies sell forex cards. A single forex card can be used in multiple currencies without the need of carrying multiple cards for each currency. Here’s how the card works – you have to pay a fee to purchase the card which usually is around Rs.500 + GST (it can cost more depending on the card). Then every time you reload the currency, you will be charged a reload fee (usually below Rs.100). The amount to be reloaded to the foreign currency will be converted to the foreign currency at the bank’s or travel agency’s exchange rate for that day, which may not give you the best value for money.
The catch with forex cards is that if you’re travelling to multiple countries having different foreign currencies, then you have to reload money separately for each of those currencies. This can become expensive again, but not nearly as much as credit cards. But you will be charged a fee each time you check your balance, receive alert messages, and so on.

NiYO Card

This is also a prepaid card, however, it is an INR card but you don’t need to load money for different currencies. NiYO has partnered up with DCB Bank and Yes Bank to provide this card.
The card comes with a zero mark-up charge because the currency on the card at any given time will be INR and when you make a payment in a foreign currency, it will be converted to the prevailing Visa exchange rate to complete the transaction. This rate is usually very close to the inter-bank rate, one of the lowest exchange rates, hence, good value for money.
The card is supported by their online banking app where you can conveniently check your balance, view the prevailing exchange rates for the day for numerous currencies and so on. You can load money into this card via NEFT and use it worldwide in more than 150 countries. There are no charges for using the app for different functions.

Credit Cards

As mentioned earlier, credit cards are very expensive to use overseas because you are charged a foreign mark-up fee from the bank which is usually around 3.5% and can go up to 5%, the payment network fee, which is usually around 1%, and other fees. The only advantage of using a credit card overseas is that if you have a travel credit card, you could enjoy travel benefits such as earning accelerated miles on foreign currency transactions, complimentary travel insurance, airport lounge access, and so on. However, purely from a payment perspective, it is the most expensive on this list.

Here are some additional fees that can be charged to your card when you use it overseas:

• Cash withdrawal fee. This is charged by your card issuer.
• ATM withdrawal fees – fees charged by the foreign ATM for withdrawing cash.
• Fee charged for using an out-of-network ATM.
• Dynamic currency conversion fee. This fee is charged if you wish to pay in INR. 

If you’re travelling abroad any time soon and are looking for the cheapest way to pay for your purchases overseas, then do your research thoroughly to check what charges are levied on these cards. Pick one that works best for you.