Credit card points earning abroad…be aware

You would have seen me extoll the virtues in recent articles of using points earning credit cards to help build up your airline miles balance. When you’re in the UK or the country it is issued in, using one of these cards is the default option for me. If you’re abroad, then you need to be more careful.

American Express Cards are a BIG no when travelling…at least for me

Firstly, you will find that in a lot of European or Asian countries AMEX acceptance is lower than major cities in the UK - that will be the biggest hurdle to using these credit cards when abroad. The next issue is the foreign transaction fee which is set at 2.99% on card transaction or 2.99%/GBP 3, whichever is greater, on cash withdrawals. All cards earn the same rate per GBP as in the UK, e.g. 1 point per GBP on the Platinum Card, besides the Gold Card which offers double points per GBP abroad (2 points per GBP). In my opinion, the extra points per GBP doesn’t outweigh the cost you will be incurring from the transaction itself. Everyday I will take saving money over spending it on unnecessary items like foreign exchange fees. After all, the objective of earning points is to ultimately save money on flights in the future - there’s not much money saving if you have spent actual money on getting them points in the first place.

What’s my preferred option then?

Not one to give up, I still want to have the option to earn points when making transactions outside the UK. When I’m in most of Europe, I opt to use my Virgin Atlantic Credit Card - ironically where Virgin Atlantic doesn’t serve with direct flights. If you are making an in-person card transactionwithin the European Economic Area you can earn Virgin Points and not pay a foreign transaction fee. Virgin Money explicitly state the following currencies do not charge foreign transaction fees:

• Euros

• Swedish Kronor

• Romanian Lev

The following countries are part of the EEA, but they are not explicitly listed on the Virgin Money website, so I cannot confirm if they are exempt:

• Bulgarian Lev

• Croatian Kuna

• Czech Koruna

• Danish Krone

• Hungarian Forint

• Polish Zloty

• Icelandic Krona

• Norwegian Krone

If I’m in one of the first three listed currency areas, I would definitely go ahead and use my Virgin Atlantic Credit Card to earn Virgin Points abroad at either 0.75 per GBP for the free card or 1.5 per GBP on the premium card. For me, it is a no-brainer.

However, not all my travel is not going to be within the EEA. So we need more options. Enter Curve Card.

Wait…what’s Curve Card?

Curve Card isn’t a credit card or current account in itself. Curve operate a mobile app which allows you to add existing Visa or MasterCards to it. They issue you with a Debit MasterCard which, when used, recharges transactions to your existing cards. Why is this useful? Curve have no foreign transaction fees on purchases and allow you to withdraw up to GBP 200 per month for free - in any foreign country, not just the EEA.

For me, this flexibility makes Curve a go to when travelling outside the EEA or as a backup to my Virgin Card within it. Ultimately, Curve is a key part of my travel toolkit for making transactions abroad. Even if you link it to a non-points earning card, you will be saving money versus traditional high street bank debit or credit cards - many of which charge high foreign exchange fees.

I’ve been usign Curve for a number of years, if you’ve not signed up yet then feel free to use the link below. I will benefit and you will benefit too :).

And finally…

I also use a Starling Bank Personal Current Account. It’s not my main UK current account but the main attraction being it 0% foreign exchange fees on both transactions and cash withdrawals. Besides their great app, this can be a good option to transfer money into when you’re abroad ensuring that even above the GBP 200 threshold for Curve - you can still save money on withdrawing cash. I’ve been with Starling since 2017 and I particularly found it useful when visiting Asia, especially when using apps like DiDi and Grab for taxis and electronic payments.