Which Card to Use for Travel: AmEx BCE or Chase Freedom?

[HiLine]

You should convert your BofA card to the BankAmericard Travel Rewards card to earn 1.5% cashback and pay no foreign transaction fees. 

[bribro]

If you don't want to apply for a new card, consider having a family member add you as an AU on one of their no-FTF cards. You win by not paying the FTF and they win by getting points from your purchases. Also be sure to charge your foreign purchases in the local currency. Sometimes merchants will try to offer "dynamic currency conversion," or whatever it's called, by converting the purchase into U.S. dollars, but the exchange rate is almost always abysmal.

[pats23]

I just got done traveling Europe and spent a day in Austria. I can't speak for Croatia but for all of Europe my plan was to use my CSP no tran fee however that was quickly spoiled. Every place in my experience in Europe is chip in pin. Thankfully my usaa is chip in pin. So I had to use that for about 3k worth of purchases. As much as the FTF sucks it never really adds up to all that much in the scope of vacation. So just a heads up might wanna look for a chip n pin card

[lg8302ch]

---

@HiLine wrote:

You should convert your BofA card to the BankAmericard Travel Rewards card to earn 1.5% cashback and pay no foreign transaction fees. 

---

+ 1

Was about to suggest the same but not sure if you still have it open ?  Also make sure you get a card with a chip (terminals in Europe quite often do not read magnetic stripes anymore) and do not count on Amex or Discover  - acceptance is terrible here.  Just yesterday tried to pay with my new Barclays Arrival in Germany and Switzerland and encountered twice the problem that the card was not readable as the machine was reading chip only.  BofA never any issue because their cards come with EMV chip !

[recordaras]

Thanks again everyone for your input. The chip&pin really is a valid concern - I'm starting to vaguely remember something about having issues with my Dutch debit card when my chip stopped working... And of course BoA has their Travel card in my "preapproved offers" list... I'll have to give this some more thought, maybe it will be more convenient to open one of those up.

And yes, I wish I could upgrade, but I closed my secured card the minute they wanted the next $39 fee after it unsecured. They actually randomly sent me another unsecured one about a month later, which I also closed once the AF posted (never even activated it - I was pretty sure it was some kind of mistake).

I wonder what my approval odds would be with them, considering we've had a somewhat shaky relationship with all those closed cards in the last year or two...

[lg8302ch]

I do not think you would have to worry about the closed accounts. The AF was a valid reason to close an account.  Looks to me that you should be good to go for this card. The BofA travel rewards card is a chip/signature card and not a chip/pin card. So you still sign the usual way but at least the card is readable in all merchants terminals. The smaller terminals read chip only and this is beginning to get real annoying.with the Barclays Arrival

[recordaras]

Thanks once again!!

Also, last question, do you think it would make sense to apply (*sigh* if I were to apply) AFTER my two new cards - the Chase Freedom and Amex BCE-  start reporting? Or no difference?

[09Lexie]

Apping after they report may hurt you due to a lower AAOA. Have you tried to have the BoA re-opened? I think I remember someone posting about getting their closed BoA re-opened. Then again, I don't know how long it took and if its even possible on a secured cc.

[recordaras]

Gah, so much for gardening.

Pulled the trigger - instant approval for 5K, my highest limit yet.

Now definitely no more cards for a very, very long time.

In any case, thanks to everyone for the advice! As much as I didn't want to open any more cards, having to deal with cash and outrageous ATM transaction fees in the absence of a chip card turned out to be an even less desirable option. If it wasn't for you guys, I wouldn't have thought of it.

[09Lexie]

Congrats! Nice limit too.