Best Credit Card for Travel

[Blake&Lee]

Hi all,

Hoping someone can help me out chosing a credit card to take overseas with me as I am doing a 3 month road trip in the USA later this year.

I have search this forum, among other websites, and without a doubt can see that the Wizard Clear Advantage is by far the most recommended given that it has no fee for overseas purchases. I plan on booking alot of accomodation using the credit card rather than using it to withdraw money as I will have travellers cheques and a cashpassport (or similar) for this purpose.

My concern is that given the recent sale of Wizard's businesses to both Aussie (for the home loans) and GE Money (for the credit cards) I am having trouble confirming if the clear advantage credit card still has no fee for overseas purchases. I have seen GE Money still offers the clear advantage credit card on its website however it does not list the no fee for overseas purchases as a feature of the card anymore.

Can anyone confirm if the clear advantage, particularly for NEW customers, still does not have a fee for overseas purchases?
If not what is another card that people recommend?

In my attempts to gather information I also rang a Wizard branch here in Perth and spoke to a guy who had just sold his branch a week ago (to Aussie I guess?). We got chatting about the Wizard credit cards and his advice was to not even bother applying for one as he was of the opinion that GE Money were also looking to offload their credit card business and pull out of Australia.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Blake

 

[jgm]

I've had my Wizrd Mastercard since 2006, & it has always been GE Money. I'm about to head OS this week, & haven't had any notification that anything has chaged.

 

[Archphoto]

Forget Citibank as an overseas card. Have used on a few occasions and had my card cancelled twice with no contact to advise me- send a letter to my home address instead!! Kinda tough to check if you're away for a while.
Could have been very sticky - not everybody accepts AMEX, if not for my other VISA card.

Even when I have advised them I will be travelling, sure enough if I've made a purchase, they call and want to re-issue again. Have cancelled and chosen ANZ Gold FF Visa - these guys are great; never had a problem and if there is a query, they actually CALL ME on my mobile number to check.

 

[HardieBoys]

I lost my wallet whilst overseas last week. First time this has ever happened.

Westpac were great: put a stop on the cards for 2 weeks, just in case they were recovered, then I wouldn't have to re-apply, change automatic payments etc. Ordered me a new ATM card, which was waiting for me when I got back. (Separately, over New Year, was in South America, when Westpac MC wasn't accepted for purchases. Called Westpac reverse charge, they sorted the issue out.) With Westpac, you do have to advise them if you are travelling, or they will put a hold on your card if they notice something out of the ordinary: they'll try to call your mobile first, but if they can't reach you, the card is stopped, and you have to call them.

American Express - which I had always believed had the best card replacement service - were terrible. Firstly, their website doesn't work properly on an iPhone, which means it's hard to look up the number for lost/stolen cards. If you call the number directly, you get put through to an automatic menu that asks for your card number, other ID, and so on. When I got through to a human operator (based in Australia), they had no idea of the country I was in (in southern Africa), and then ummed and ahhed about whether or not they could get a card to me. After some time, I was informed that it would take over a week at best to get a replacement card to me. I informed them of my location and duration of stay. The following morning (10 hours later), Amex called my Sydney office to speak with me. Given that I was in a country that they'd not heard of only 10 hours before, it's beyond belief that I would be available to take a call in Sydney only 10 hours later.

AmEx called me on return to organise a replacement card. I expressed my extreme displeasure, and they provided the usual apologetic spiel. They then checked their system again, and learned that in fact they could have provided me with a temporary card - albeit without a magnetic strip - at my location. More apologies about the staff not knowing this when I called. Overall, I spent $90 on phone calls to Amex whilst abroad, to get incorrect and unhelpful advice. Amex did agree to credit me $90 as a goodwill gesture, which I think is fair enough.

 

[Archphoto]

Hardieboys,

I have Secure Sentinel - no problems calling every card supplier - one call does the lot, plus they cover my mobiles, passport etc.

Travelling as often I do, this gives me peace of mind every time I step onto a plane. Well worth the $40 or so I hand over every year.

Maybe something to look at - it covers you OS as well as at home.

 

[mos]

Hi Blake,

I applied for a new Wizard clear advantage card in late November, used it overseas in December/January and didn't have any additional charges for purchases or cash advances. They only approved a really small credit limit, but because I was using it for cash advances I kept the card in credit to avoid interest charges. I think I paid a total of 17c fees to Wizard over 4 weeks.

Haven't had any notification of a change to those conditions; from what I gather, GE didn't (couldn't?) sell off the credit card business, but maybe they are trying to shut it down by declining applications. Couldn't hurt to try, I guess.

Enjoy the trip!

Cheers,
Michael

 

[HardieBoys]

Archphoto,

I hadn't really thought about the sentinel service until this most recent trip. Generally, it's not been a problem, but I'll look into it.

HB

 

[Flashback]

I think this is also a timely reminder that it's a good option to keep copies of each card's phone number handy on you, whether it be with your passport on a bit of paper, or in your phone.