Travel and CC

[Necromancer]

I've got 2 trips to take next year, 1st part of the year I've got to go to Europe for 3 weeks, will be in England, Germany, Belgium, and Switzerland. Then at the end of the year I've got to go to Australia.  My question is which cc to use/get for these trips, preferably without FTF?

Of my current cards the Barclaycard Ring has the lowest FTF, so unless I apply for another card this will be the one I'll have to use.  My other question is which is more universally accepted overseas, MC or Visa?

Current Cards::

Amex Gold Rewards Plus ( has 2.7 FTF)

Amex BCE (has 2.7% FTF)

Barclaycard Ring (has 1% FTF) 

Discover (No FTF, but not universally accepted)

Chase Freedom (has 3% FTF)

Citi DP (has 3% FTF)

Local CU Visa (has 3% FTF)

Inquires: Ex 2, Eq 2, TU 1

AAoA 10 years 3 months

Baddies (1) 30 day late 2/11

Scores in Sig

[user5387]

I believe that MasterCard is the most widely accepted card worldwide.  But I would suggest researching the specific countries you're going to, where the situation might be different.

Another thing I'd suggest asking is how you plan to use the card.  Will it be primarily at airlines and hotels, or retail stores, or unattended kiosks?  Beyond the FETF angle, you might want to look at chip & pin issues and so on.

Also, if you want to get access to local currency, you might want a no-FETF debit card lined up by the time you travel.

[Necromancer]

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@user5387 wrote:

I believe that MasterCard is the most widely accepted card worldwide.  But I would suggest researching the specific countries you're going to, where the situation might be different.

Another thing I'd suggest asking is how you plan to use the card.  Will it be primarily at airlines and hotels, or retail stores, or unattended kiosks?  Beyond the FETF angle, you might want to look at chip & pin issues and so on.

Also, if you want to get access to local currency, you might want a no-FETF debit card lined up by the time you travel.

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Thanks for the info, Hadn't thought of a debit card hmmm.  How would I got about finding out country specifics for cc acceptance?  The card will be used for a majority of my spending while abroad, everything will be placed on one card to keep accounting of expenses simple.

[user5387]

You could try posting on FlyerTalk, or doing Google searches.

For example, I tried this Google search:

   mastercard acceptance australia

and found a useful article, that basically says that MC / Visa are fine, but Amex is more problematic.

But a lot of it depends on your usage scenarios.  For example, your experience at a large hotel is likely to be different than at a street vendor.

If you want to deal in cash at all, or at vending machines and kiosks, the debit card / chip & pin issues might be important.  One place to get some ideas on this would be the various product offerings on the SDFCU site.

[Necromancer]

Thanks for the follow up and information. I've been searching and reading up since posting. 

[lg8302ch]

Visa and Mastercard are the networks to go in Europe. Discover has the best exchange rates for me (compared to BofA TR, Cap1 CR, Barclays Arrival..will compare Chase Marriott in the near future) but the acceptance lacks. I do not even look for the Diners card logo anymore but simply insert the card...results were very surprising: terminals with Diners logo = card not recognised (maybe lack of chip?) but in many cases got processed without the logo being present. So I always enter it but be ready to use another card. Just recently found out that Discover honored the gas station 5% category in Switzerland...that was a nice surprise and I will for sure use my next rental with Discover again.

[bluewillow]

I have Chase United Airlines card and they no longer charge an FTF

[kkapdolee]

Have you considered opening Cap1 Quicksilver?

1.5% back on everything. No FTF. No AF. Visa.

[Necromancer]

I've been looking @ Chase, Citi and BOA, I'm personally not a fan of Cap 1.  I'm seriously considering the Merrill+ tho.

[longtimelurker]

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@kkapdolee wrote:

Have you considered opening Cap1 Quicksilver?

1.5% back on everything. No FTF. No AF. Visa.

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And failing Quicksilver, any no AF card from Cap One has no FTF.  These charges add up quickly, especially in high-cost places like Switzerland.

In all of those countries I haven't noticed any significant difference between Visa and MC.   If one is accepted the other is nearly always accepted as well, whereas Amex and Discover have much lower acceptance.   Of course, there may be individual exceptions, but for those countries MC vs Visa shouldn't be the major criteria for deciding.