With summer travel on the horizon, WalletHub today released the results of a nationally representative International Credit Card Survey gauging people’s opinions on various aspects of spending money abroad, along with editors’ picks for the Best International Credit Cards of 2023 and a new Currency Exchange Study that highlights easy ways to save.
- Credit Card Security: 57% of Americans wouldn’t feel safe traveling abroad without a credit card.
- Foreign Fees Domestically: Roughly 2 in 3 people don’t realize foreign fees can apply without foreign travel.
- Swearing Off Foreign Fees: 56% of Americans say they would never get a credit card that charges a foreign transaction fee.
- Fee Consciousness Rises: 43% more Americans than last year say they care a lot about foreign transaction fees when applying for a new credit card.
- Exchange Rate Ignorance: More than 3 in 4 people don’t know that using a credit card gets them the best exchange rate when traveling abroad.
- Fee Awareness Lacking: Nearly 2 in 5 Americans don’t know whether their credit card has a foreign transaction fee.
- Savvy Traveler Savings: A no foreign transaction fee credit card saves travelers an average of 7.9% relative to airport currency exchanges and 7.3% compared to the average bank/credit union.
- Best International Credit Cards: Based on a comparison of 1,500+ credit cards, the WalletHub Awards for 2023’s Best International Credit Cards go to the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and Bank of America® Premium Rewards®. Both have $0 foreign fees and great travel rewards.
