At a minimum, you should have a travel credit card that does not charge you international conversion fees. When making purchases abroad, you will always be better off declining the merchant’s exchange rate for US dollars in favor of opting for the local currency which will use the more favorable bank exchange rate used by your credit card as long as there is no international conversion fee.

 

Other perks to look for in a travel credit card are things like global entry application credit, primary car rental insurance, airport lounge access, a generous sign-up bonus. One of the most popular amongst my travel savvy colleagues includes all of these benefits, the Chase Sapphire Reserve card. Before you apply read up on the Chase 5/24 rule. It’s the reason I don’t qualify. I’ve been using my Citi Aadvantage Platinum select card to top up my American Airlines points since I was close to a flight award. A great website for answering questions about travel cards and effective strategies for accumulating and leveraging reward points is ThePointsGuy.com. 

 

 

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