The best travel debit and credit cards to use abroad

Monzo, Starling, Chase, Halifax Clarity and more compared for overseas spending.

If you’re heading out of the UK, using the wrong card for spending and cash withdrawals will mean you’re hit with extra fees on every transaction.

The good news is there are decent number of debit and credit cards which offer near-perfect exchange rates. Here’s our guide to the top specialist travel cards.

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Our top travel debit cards

The cheapest cards are usually specialist debit cards that come via specific current accounts. You don’t have to switch bank to get these – you can simply open up a brand new extra account, and many won’t perform hard checks on your credit report either.

If this is an extra account you get just for holidays, it’s easy to transfer money across, whether as a lump sum or as you go along, using your online or app banking. Or of course it could be your main current account where your salary is paid in each month.

A benefit of debit cards over credit cards is you won’t get charged interest to take cash out of an ATM, though as you’ll see a couple do have monthly limits on your fee-free spending or withdrawals.

It used to be there were only a handful, but there are quite a few to choose from. Here are our top picks.

Top pick: Chase Bank

Like the others in this guide, Chase’s digital-only account has no fees to use abroad or to withdraw cash.

Where it stands out over the others is you’ll get 1% cashback on all purchases (though this is capped at £15 a month) and 5% interest on “round-ups”. So you won’t just be saving money, you’re making it too.

You can also set up a separate account just for holiday spending which you can link your card to (before spending). This can segregate this cash from other money, helping you stick to budget.

You won’t be hard credit searched either, however it is smartphone only. Here’s our full Chase Bank review.

Other top fee-free current accounts

If you already have the following accounts and don’t fancy getting Chase, then you’ll be fine to just stick with them. They might have extra benefits such as higher interest on savings, or tempt you in with a switching bonus.

However, all will require you to use a smartphone, with the exception of Virgin Money. None of these banks will charge you to receive a debit card.

Bank	Free spending?	Free cash withdrawals?	Credit check	Extra info	Reviews	Smart Money People customer score
First Direct	Yes, Mastercard rate	£500 daily limit	Hard		our First Direct review	4.69 out of 5
HyperJar (prepaid card)	Yes, Mastercard rate	No cash withdrawals	Soft	Not a current account, so no FSCS protection	Not yet reviewed	4.89 out of 5
Kroo	Yes, Visa rate	£200 limit per month	Soft	ATM charges will apply from 31 October 2024	our Kroo review	4.9 out of 5
Monzo	Yes, Mastercard rate	£400 (Europe) / £200 elsewhere every 30 rolling days / Unlimited if Monzo is your ‘main bank’	Soft		our Monzo review	4.93 out of 5
Starling	Yes, Mastercard rate	£300 daily day	Soft		our Starling review	4.95 out of 5
Santander Edge	Yes, Mastercard rate		Hard	No extra charges on Santander machines	our Santander Edge review	3.85 out of 5*
Virgin Money M Plus	Yes, Mastercard rate	£500 daily limit	Hard	Can be opened and managed in-branch or via the phone	our Virgin Money M Plus review	4.29 out of 5

The following are also worth considering if you’re an existing customer or looking for extras like rewards and travel insurance.

• Club Lloyds Silver / Platinum: these packaged accounts come with a monthly fee, though you’ll get travel insurance and breakdown cover included. It’ll be fee-free on overseas spending and cash withdrawals from 1 July 2024
• Cumberland Building Society: fully fee-free but requires a £750 a month deposit to the account. Hard credit search
• Halifax Ultimate Rewards: another packaged account that will have free spending from 1 July 2024
• Santander (other accounts): you won’t be charged for cash withdrawals only if you use a Santander machine outside the UK
• TSB Spend & Save Plus: fee-free and the potential to earn £5 cashback a month, but has £3 monthly fee

Our top travel credit cards

Specialist credit cards can be great for overseas spending as long as you pay off the debt before any interest is charged.

Credit cards are particularly handy for things like hiring a car or putting deposits down on hotel rooms. The money can be held on these without leaving your account. You’ll also get Section 75 consumer rights protection.

With all credit card applications do make sure you check your eligibility first if you can. And remember to clear the balance completely every month to avoid interest charges.

Top pick: Barclaycard Reward

This Visa card from Barclaycard is our top pick for credit cards. It offers fee free spending and, unusually, ATM withdrawals – and there’s no interest on cash you take out. However, it’s still better for your credit report to use a debit card for cash.

There’s also 0.25% cashback on purchases at home and abroad. That’s great for holiday spending but there are better alternatives for spending in the UK.

However, if you do get this you won’t be able to get another Barclaycard, such as the Avios earning options.

Other fee-free credit cards

Card	Free spending?	Free cash withdrawals?	Credit check	Extra info	Smart Money People customer score
Halifax Clarity	Yes, Mastercard rate	Yes, but interest is added	Hard		4.29 out of 5
Natwest credit card	Yes, Mastercard rate	No (avoid)	Hard		4.79 out of 5*
Virgin Atlantic Reward credit card	In Europe, Mastercard rate	No (avoid)	Hard	Earn 0.75% Virgin points per £1	3.98 out of 5
Yonder (free)	Yes, Mastercard rate	Yes, up to £150 a day (but it’ll still show on credit report)	Hard, but uses open banking too	Earn points that can be used to redeem rewards	4.99 out of 5

Best smart travel spending cards

These cards aren’t normal debit cards, though they work just like one when you’re spending. You actually connect your existing current account or card to them via open banking. The conversion is made by the smart card at their exchange rate, which then takes the money from the underlying bank in pounds.

This makes it cheaper to spend overseas through other bank accounts that would normally be very expensive. They can be a great backup card, or even your primary travel spending card if you really can’t be bothered to go through the hassle of opening new accounts. There’s also no credit check.

Sadly, changes to Curve, our previous top pick, means it’s really not worth it. However you can still get these features from Currensea.

Top pick: Currensea

With Currensea there are three options, but the free “essential” tier has a 0.5% fee on top of the exchange rates every day of the week, making it a more expensive than our top debit and credit cards.

However there’s no monthly limit on spending with the card, and a decent £500 monthly free ATM withdrawal limit. Plus the card itself is free.

The big issue could be the limits on which banks it works with. Right now that list is only the bigger banks:

• Barclays
• Bank of Scotland
• Couts
• First Direct
• Halifax
• HSBC
• Lloyds
• Nationwide
• Natwest
• RBS
• Santander
• TSB
• Ulster Bank
• Virgin Money

When you sign up via this link you’ll be eligible for a £10 welcome bonus – however you’ll need to spend £150 in a foreign currency in the first six months to get the cashback.

Best multi-currency cards to lock in a rate

The cards mentioned above will convert fee-free, but only on or just after the day you make the transaction. This means you’re not in total control of your budget when you’re away. If the pound were to fall against where you’re spending, you’ll ultimately spend more cash.

But there are options where you can pay fee-free on cards where you’ve already converted your pounds into another currency. Though of course, this could mean you miss out if the rate changes in your favour.

There’s usually a slight markup on the ‘interbank’ or ‘mid-market’ rates. This tends to be lower than the Mastercard or Visa rates, so even with the fee they’re often comparable.

When you spend with them, you’ll spend in the local currency. If you don’t have the local currency, most will let you pay fee-free and convert at the current rate.

However, there are usually quite strict limits on cash withdrawals, so you’ll likely want another card on your trip. Plus most of these will charge you for a physical debit card, so you’ll be relying on virtual cards added to your phone’s wallet if you want to avoid this fee.

The following are ones worth considering:

Provder	Rate	Free cash withdrawals?	Card charge	Extra info	Smart Money People customer score
Revolut Standard	Interbank (+ 1% on weekends)	£200 limit per rolling month / max 5 withdrawals per rolling month	£4.99	Capped at £1,000 exchange per month	4.89 out of 5
Trading 212	Interbank + 0.15%	£200 limit per month	£4.95		4.75 out of 5
Wise	Interbank + min of 0.39% (varies by currency)	£200 limit a month / max 2 withdrawals a month	£7		4.71 out of 5
Zing	Visa rate + 0.2%	£300 limit a month / max 2 withdrawals per month	Free		no score yet