Which card to use in South America?

[velli25]

Anyone have any experience on a card to use in South America? I've got a Wise and Revolut account

 

[SYD]

Anyone have any experience on a card to use in South America? I've got a Wise and Revolut account

As a Debit card or for cash at an ATM?

Also, where in Sth Am? They all operate differently.

Argentina, forget about using an ATM (huge fees, low withdrawal limits and not necessarily the best exchange rate. Foreign card payments attract a better exchange rate. Cash is still king however. Changing crisp US$50 and $100 bills for pesos was still very much the way to go earlier this year.

Uruguay, you can generally go cashless. Foreign CC/DC payments attract an immediate rebate of taxes (about 20% from memory). So silly to use cash.

Chile - couldn’t find a fee free ATM but cards were widely accepted.

 

[velli25]

As a Debit card or for cash at an ATM?

Also, where in Sth Am? They all operate differently.

Argentina, forget about using an ATM (huge fees, low withdrawal limits and not necessarily the best exchange rate. Foreign card payments attract a better exchange rate. Cash is still king however. Changing crisp US$50 and $100 bills for pesos was still very much the way to go earlier this year.

Uruguay, you can generally go cashless. Foreign CC/DC payments attract an immediate rebate of taxes (about 20% from memory). So silly to use cash.

Chile - couldn’t find a fee free ATM but cards were widely accepted.

Thanks mate.

Colombia / Chile / Peru / Argentina / Brazil / Mexico. It was for a debit card to withdraw small amounts of cash from ATM's at a time.

I found someones feedback on Reddit with the following:
These from my recent testing of foreign transactions in prep for our trip later this month. Only tested what we have not all, and only those that do not have explicit international transaction fees.

• Macquarie - good FX rate
• Up - good FX rate, ranked #2 because they closed the account of one family member who hasn’t used it for a year after it is used again to prep for this testing, and there is no way to re-open an account, thus we no longer all have an account each anymore, and for us it would only be a backup to Macquarie for those in the family still have accounts open.
• Wise - shows good base FX rate then has ~= 0.5% fee added to the rate, has monthly occurrence and amount limits, can pre-convert for supported currencies
• NAB (migrated from Citibank Plus) - FX rate has ~= 1.0% spread from spot rate
• HSBC - FX rate has ~= 2.5% spread from spot rate, can pre-convert for supported currencies
• For us the debit cards are mainly for ATM withdrawals, and backup if the credit card is rejected for some reason.
• We have the good old 28 Degrees credit card that we would prioritise to use wherever possible.

I think I'll go UP and suss out Macquarie / U Bank

 

[SYD]

Thanks mate.

Colombia / Chile / Peru / Argentina / Brazil / Mexico. It was for a debit card to withdraw small amounts of cash from ATM's at a time.

I found someones feedback on Reddit with the following:
These from my recent testing of foreign transactions in prep for our trip later this month. Only tested what we have not all, and only those that do not have explicit international transaction fees.

• Macquarie - good FX rate
• Up - good FX rate, ranked #2 because they closed the account of one family member who hasn’t used it for a year after it is used again to prep for this testing, and there is no way to re-open an account, thus we no longer all have an account each anymore, and for us it would only be a backup to Macquarie for those in the family still have accounts open.
• Wise - shows good base FX rate then has ~= 0.5% fee added to the rate, has monthly occurrence and amount limits, can pre-convert for supported currencies
• NAB (migrated from Citibank Plus) - FX rate has ~= 1.0% spread from spot rate
• HSBC - FX rate has ~= 2.5% spread from spot rate, can pre-convert for supported currencies
• For us the debit cards are mainly for ATM withdrawals, and backup if the credit card is rejected for some reason.
• We have the good old 28 Degrees credit card that we would prioritise to use wherever possible.

I think I'll go UP and suss out Macquarie / U Bank

Either MacBank or UBank would be excellent DCs to have in your wallet. You’ll get spot rate less a max 0.5% or less. At an ATM* or purchases.

*less any ATM operator fee charged.

I wouldn’t read too much into those quoted FOREX for different cards. I have 28° MC (primary card for purchases), ING, UBank, NAB Platinum Debit and now NAB for Citi DC and they’re all much the much.