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@Necromancer wrote:@I've been looking @ Chase, Citi and BOA, I'm personally not a fan of Cap 1. I'm seriously considering the Merrill+ tho.
OK, I understand not being a fan, but also depends on your goal. If you want to make ocassional foreign purchases and want them cheap, Capital One is fine (especially quicksilver) even if you never use it at home. But if you want a good card for everywhere (and QS still fits the bill!) and don't want Cap One, then yes, there are other good choices.
Just be aware when rewards don't transfer abroad. One example is Amex BCP/BCE, where the supermarket and gas rewards are US only. Of course, you don't want to use that anyway as it has a high FTF.
I would research the BofA travel rewards visa. It's 1.5 points on everything, and it's unlimited. Also, check out boardingarea.com for even better info. When I start planning for international trips, that's where I plan to go.
I don't get it. What's the big deal about the FTF anyway? Nothing to ruin your vacation over. It's a drop in the bucket, and you have paid for the major stuff such as airfare and hotel already, right? It's likely more emotional than anything else. I know some who changed jobs because they got tired of a daily $2 in bridge toll, but had no problem spending $4.75 on their latte! Or some for whom it's imperative to have a credit card that will give them 2% cash back at restaurants, and yet they don't think twice about whether their tip is 5% or 10%.
Barclay Arrival? 2% back on everything for travel expenses and 0 FTF.
It depends on your budget and choice of travel. If you are on a budget and price is your top priority, go with a travel cashback card such as the BofA Travel, Discover Miles, Barclay Arrival, CapitalOne Venture, etc. If you want miles / points that you can eventually accumulate for a nice luxurious travel, provided you can spend enough to accumulate those points, then go with a real travel card.
@too-much-time wrote:I don't get it. What's the big deal about the FTF anyway? FTF can add up to a lot of fees. If I had used a card with FTF during my last trip, the bank would have charged me in over 2000 in fees alone. So, why would I want to spend extra money on for no reason? Nothing to ruin your vacation over. It's a drop in the bucket, and you have paid for the major stuff such as airfare and hotel already, right? Hotel charges are done at checkout, unless you prepaid for the hotel, such as by booking it online via travel sites. Hence, they may be charged in foreign currencies at times. It's likely more emotional than anything else. I know some who changed jobs because they got tired of a daily $2 in bridge toll, but had no problem spending $4.75 on their latte! Or some for whom it's imperative to have a credit card that will give them 2% cash back at restaurants, and yet they don't think twice about whether their tip is 5% or 10%. I spend a lot on restaurant dining for example, so to me, a good restaurant rewards card is very important. Not including other cards, I can get over 500 in cashback from my Cash+ in this statement cycle itself. Yes, I can save more money by being a stingy miser and tip less, but if the server is providing me with great service, why would I want to be an **bleep** just because I want to save some money. I'm going to be spending the money on dining regardless anyways, so I might as well get some rewards back in return, without having to do it at the expense of others.
@too-much-time wrote:I don't get it. What's the big deal about the FTF anyway? Nothing to ruin your vacation over. It's a drop in the bucket, and you have paid for the major stuff such as airfare and hotel already, right? It's likely more emotional than anything else. I know some who changed jobs because they got tired of a daily $2 in bridge toll, but had no problem spending $4.75 on their latte! Or some for whom it's imperative to have a credit card that will give them 2% cash back at restaurants, and yet they don't think twice about whether their tip is 5% or 10%.
That's one type of vacation approach. Another is where while you have the US-X flight, once you arrive you travel around, buying flights, train tickets etc and finding hotels as needed. Here much of the cost of the vacation is charged locally, and FTF really adds up.
And even in the case you suggest, it's possible that the airfare booked on the carrier's website for example will be subject to FTF as it is considered international.
But yes, FTF is a first world problem, but so is almost everything (or everything) on this web site, AF, utilization, CLI etc, are all pretty trivial in the scheme of things.
Here are a few specific suggestions.
1. The debit cards offered by Fidelity, Schwab, and USAA tend to have no/low FETF, and have ATM surcharge rebates. These are good choices for getting cash out in foreign countries, and the Fidelity and Schwab accounts are open to anyone.
2. For chip & pin, some of the choices are SDFCU, Penfed, and USAA.
3. SDFCU also has an EMV prepaid card, which is kind of unusual. This might be helpful in certain situations where you want to make small casual purchases, and are concerned about fraud and security.
If it was me, I think I'd go travelling with a couple of MC/Visa no-FETF CCs, along with a no-FETF debit card that has ATM surcharge rebates.
@enharu wrote:Barclay Arrival? 2% back on everything for travel expenses and 0 FTF.
It depends on your budget and choice of travel. If you are on a budget and price is your top priority, go with a travel cashback card such as the BofA Travel, Discover Miles, Barclay Arrival, CapitalOne Venture, etc. If you want miles / points that you can eventually accumulate for a nice luxurious travel, provided you can spend enough to accumulate those points, then go with a real travel card.
@too-much-time wrote:I don't get it. What's the big deal about the FTF anyway? FTF can add up to a lot of fees. If I had used a card with FTF during my last trip, the bank would have charged me in over 2000 in fees alone. So, why would I want to spend extra money on for no reason? Nothing to ruin your vacation over. It's a drop in the bucket, and you have paid for the major stuff such as airfare and hotel already, right? Hotel charges are done at checkout, unless you prepaid for the hotel, such as by booking it online via travel sites. Hence, they may be charged in foreign currencies at times. It's likely more emotional than anything else. I know some who changed jobs because they got tired of a daily $2 in bridge toll, but had no problem spending $4.75 on their latte! Or some for whom it's imperative to have a credit card that will give them 2% cash back at restaurants, and yet they don't think twice about whether their tip is 5% or 10%. I spend a lot on restaurant dining for example, so to me, a good restaurant rewards card is very important. Not including other cards, I can get over 500 in cashback from my Cash+ in this statement cycle itself. Yes, I can save more money by being a stingy miser and tip less, but if the server is providing me with great service, why would I want to be an **bleep** just because I want to save some money. I'm going to be spending the money on dining regardless anyways, so I might as well get some rewards back in return, without having to do it at the expense of others.
+1. I was going to answer this, but enharu spelt it out very well already.