A month in Ireland - most economical card?

[Franklint]

Hi everyone,

I am an armchair points enthusiast and was hoping I could pick your collective brains about some upcoming travel.

I'm going to Ireland for a month in January, probably with a week in London tacked onto either end. I'm likely going with China Airlines, as the massive savings offset what I'll lose in points (I think). I'm looking into the best use of funds while I'm over there.

I'm with Westpac, which doesn't seem to offer a very good deal when it comes to overseas use (2 EUR or 3% and a fairly poor exchange rate). I can't really see any reason I wouldn't apply for the 28 Degrees travel card, as it has a good rate and almost no fees. If I need to withdraw cash (I will probably just keep a small amount on me all the time), then I could use either my Westpac card or the 28 Degrees, depending on which was cheaper.

Can you think of any better options, or pitfalls I need to look out for?

Thanks a lot,
Will

 

[piratematerial]

As ever, depends what you're aiming to do with your points and how much you value the various points programmes (some people might stomach the 3% Amex Forex tax to get Membership Rewards), but Coles Rewards Mastercard and ANZ Travel Adventures are the only Aus credit cards I'm aware of that offer no international transaction fees as well as paying rewards points. The Coles card is uncapped but you can only really transfer to Velocity (1 point per $ when there's one of the regular 15% transfer bonuses on), and you have to deal with the morons at Citi who manage it. The ANZ one pays 0.75 Velocity pp$ but only up to $2k per month, after it reduces to 0.25 (you can also transfer to Singapore, Cathay and Air NZ but the rates aren't great).

ING, Ubank, Macquarie and Citi all offer debit cards with free international withdrawals.

 

[Franklint]

As ever, depends what you're aiming to do with your points and how much you value the various points programmes (some people might stomach the 3% Amex Forex tax to get Membership Rewards), but Coles Rewards Mastercard and ANZ Travel Adventures are the only Aus credit cards I'm aware of that offer no international transaction fees as well as paying rewards points. The Coles card is uncapped but you can only really transfer to Velocity (1 point per $ when there's one of the regular 15% transfer bonuses on), and you have to deal with the morons at Citi who manage it. The ANZ one pays 0.75 Velocity pp$ but only up to $2k per month, after it reduces to 0.25 (you can also transfer to Singapore, Cathay and Air NZ but the rates aren't great).

ING, Ubank, Macquarie and Citi all offer debit cards with free international withdrawals.

Thanks piratematerial. I should possibly clarify that I'm actually not that hung up on earning points while overseas, as my overall spend is likely to be quite low. I'm more interested in the most preferable day-to-day fee structure, such that I lose as little as possible to conversion and overseas transaction fees.

 

[piratematerial]

All of the free international transaction cards are much of a muchness when it comes to conversion rates. It will save you a fortune over 3% or $4 per transaction.

If you're not bothered about rewards go with one of the free debit cards and save yourself an annual fee. The Macquarie transaction account is good and doesn't require your pay check to be debited to get the benefits.