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Credit Cards Latest News Credit card use abroad costs Aussies over $300 million per year
Credit Cards Latest News Credit card use abroad costs Aussies over $300 million per year Credit card use abroad costs Aussies over $300 million per year
Consumers who use credit cards abroad regularly are being advised to check whether they are expensive to use overseas.
It has been estimated that Australians spend well over $300 million on unnecessary debit and credit card fees for using their plastic during trips abroad.
This boils down to roughly $192 million in foreign currency fees – a percentage of the transaction value charged by the credit card supplier – and $142 million in international ATM fees, with some credit cards charging as much as $10 to withdraw cash at international ATMs.
The average currency conversion fee is calculated at 2.7% of the transaction value, while average withdrawal fees are $5 per transaction.
The ideal travel companion, it would seem, is the 28 Degrees / Wizard Advantage MasterCard, which has no annual fee, no conversion fees and no ATM fees.
Other credit cards charge below these averages too. A low-fee credit card for foreign travel could offer a considerable saving on unnecessary fees, and may be a useful option for regular travellers that are not otherwise finding the right rewards from their current credit cards.
St. George credit cards charge a 3% foreign currency transaction fee, with a 2% cash advance fee. This is the same for Westpac. American Express credit cards tend to have lower foreign currency exchange fees, at between 1.5 and 2%.
Generally, it is worth factoring currency conversion fees into your travelling budget. In the grand scheme of things, though, spend time shopping carefully for the credit card that best suits your needs. You can find your ideal credit cards here, at Which4U.com.au.
Joe Letts
Monday, 16 January 2012 14:56
Comments (2)
The comments listed below are opinions held by the individuals posting and are not endorsed by, or representative of opinions held by which4u.com.au. We cannot be held responsible or liable for the accuracy or content of any comments submitted. We reserve the right to publish, remove or edit comments as we see fit.
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Joe Zingher 2012-01-16 20:54:10Actually, the fees aren't the scandal, the body count is. Police data show that 1 murder in 12 involves an ATM in some fashion. That explains why ATM fees are so high. The banks are deducting the litigation costs from overhead and letting the crimes continue. They've incorporated murder as part of the business model. They fought like hell for 40+ years to keep that data from the public and were successful. But, police software finally caught up with with them. Over 1200 murders in one year alone, http://h20cooler.wordpress.com/2012/01/11/the-empty-building-hypothetical-redux/
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Keith [Editor] 2012-01-18 16:23:21Hi Joe. Many thanks for your comment. This is interesting, and certainly a strong research interest of yours.
It might be argued that, as with many other banking charges, it's a scandal of sorts that fees can differ quite so much. But the issue of fees does pale somewhat compared to crime.
Is your research able to correlate between withdrawal fees and the banks whose ATMs are targeted in any way? That would be interesting from a personal finance perspective.
We ran a story in November on ATM Security, which was reposted at GovernmentAlert.com.au. There are - apparently - plans in place to improve security from some quarters. There's even a rumour that real brainpower may be deployed.
Have you been able to make any suggestions on how ATM security could be improved? Somehow, it's difficult to imagine credit card users managing without them. We still need access to cash at irregular hours.
Thanks for reading.
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