STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

jettie · Kate Spade

Charges for International Credit Card Purchases

Cricket · Gucci

Hmmm... It's been a while, but when we lived in Europe, I don't remember paying any fees. We just payed the exchange rate of the day we purchased the item, IIRC. If you get a cash advance in Euros, then there would be a fee for that. We used our credit cards all the time when we traveled, and I just don't remember there being any issues. And my husband would have balked at it, let me tell you. I think at the time we had a Citibank card and maybe Chase, so maybe start there. Amex is always good for travel too. We have one now and I use that pretty much exclusively.

halah · Kenneth Cole

You should call your credit card company to make sure but I haven't been charged any fee for using my credit cards. I've also noticed I get a pretty favorable exchange rate on the transactions too.

For cash I just carry enough US cash to get me through the US airport and then use my bank card at an ATM when I arrive in the country to get local curr.

Metric · Gucci

Make sure you call your cc co and let them know that's what you'll be doing. I've met people while travelling that have had their cc frozen due to "suspicious" overseas purchases (that was actually theirs) and have been stuck with no $$$.

shopboston · Nine West

I just looked into this over the holidays since I travel a lot to Canada. There used to be tons of credit cards that charged no fees but no they all basically do. The one with the lowest fees that I found was actually the Target visa card which charges 1% per foreign transaction (the one you can use everywhere, not the store-only one). Some credit cards charge 2-4%! It's probably safer to carry around your credit card than lots of cash.

There are websites that list different credit card fees for comparison.

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/cc/20010416a.asp

There are some banks (e.g. Bank of America) that have foreign "partners" where you can use ATMs without fees. You can check with your bank to get a list for Rome.

halah · Kenneth Cole

I just read that article! Crap I need to go back and look at my Chase transactions on my last trip, I don't remember seeing a fee...how sneaky! Thanks for sharing...

This makes me like Discover so much more. They don't charge a fee and they have the best customer service (I've had to dispute charges before made with that card). It sounds like if you can do it in time it would be worth it to apply for a discover card.