How to avoid card and ATM fees abroad

Most card and ATM fees abroad come from four things you can control: your own card’s foreign transaction fee, saying yes when a shop or ATM offers to charge you in your home currency, ATM operator fees you did not read, and taking cash on a credit card. Check your card’s terms before you go, pay in the local currency unless you have compared the markup, read the fee screen at every ATM, and keep your home number able to receive texts so your bank can reach you if it blocks a card.

This guide does not rank cards or banks or quote typical fee percentages. Fees differ by card, so your own card’s terms are the numbers that matter.

Check your own card’s foreign transaction fee

A foreign transaction fee is a charge your card issuer adds when you use the card abroad. In the US, the official interpretation of the credit card disclosure rules (Regulation Z) says this fee includes any fee the issuer charges for purchases in a foreign currency, purchases that take place outside the United States, or purchases with a foreign merchant. That last part means it can apply to an online order from an overseas shop, not just to purchases on your trip.

How to find your own fee:

• On a US credit card, the application and account-opening disclosures use a standard table. The same CFPB interpretation says that if no foreign transaction fee is charged, the issuer can either leave the “Foreign transaction” heading out or show it with “none”. Look for that heading.
• Look up the agreement. The CFPB keeps a public credit card agreement database with general terms, pricing and fee information from hundreds of issuers. For details about your own account, the CFPB says to contact your issuer, which by law must make your agreement available on request.
• For any other card, such as a debit card, read the fee schedule in your bank’s app or website, or ask the bank. Ask about purchases and ATM withdrawals separately.

Pay in the local currency

Dynamic currency conversion (DCC) is the offer you get at some card terminals and ATMs to be charged in your home currency instead of the local one. Visa describes it as the option to pay in your home currency, which includes an exchange rate and additional fees. If you decline, you pay in the local currency and your own card provider does the conversion.

Photo by Blake Wisz on Unsplash

What the EU rules require

The European Union tightened the rules with Regulation (EU) 2019/518. Its recitals say earlier information rules had not made conversion charges at ATMs and points of sale transparent or comparable, which “increases the risk of payers choosing expensive currency conversion options”. These rules are now in Article 4 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1230, which repealed and replaced the older regulation. Under them:

• Anyone offering currency conversion at an ATM or a point of sale must state the total conversion charge as a percentage markup over the latest euro reference rate published by the European Central Bank, before you pay.
• They must also show the amount in the merchant’s currency and the amount you will pay in your account’s currency.
• Before the payment starts, they must tell you that you can pay in the merchant’s currency and let your own payment provider do the conversion.
• Your own payment provider must publish its markups too. After a card payment or ATM withdrawal in an EU currency other than your account’s, your EU bank must send you an electronic message showing its markup (you can opt out).

The 2019 regulation applied most of the point-of-sale and ATM rules from 19 April 2020, and the electronic message rule from 19 April 2021. These are EU rules. Outside the EU, read what the screen actually shows rather than assuming the same disclosures.

What to do at the terminal

Visa says merchants and ATMs that offer DCC must show the amount in both currencies, the exchange rate and any markup or fees, must give you the choice, and must not choose for you. It also says that if you do not see those details or feel pressured, you should decline the conversion and report it to your card issuer, and that declining will not affect your ability to pay or withdraw cash. If you cannot see the markup, choose the local currency.

ATM operator fees and how ATMs show them

An ATM that does not belong to your bank can charge its own fee on top of anything your bank charges. Where the rules require it, the ATM tells you on screen before you commit:

Where	What the rules say	What to do
United States	The CFPB says the fee amount appears on the ATM screen or a printout, and you can cancel without paying it (archived 2013 CFPB post)	Read the screen and cancel if the fee is too high
European Union	Under the EU payment services directive, a party charging for a payment must tell you before it starts, and you only have to pay charges whose full amount was shown in advance. Independent ATM operators must show withdrawal charges before the withdrawal and on the receipt	Read the fee and conversion screens, and cancel or use another machine
Anywhere else	Rules vary by country	Treat every fee and currency screen as something to read, not click through

The same ATM may also offer to convert the withdrawal into your home currency. That is DCC again, and the advice above applies.

Cash or card

For most purchases, paying by card in the local currency is the simplest option, as long as you know your card’s foreign transaction fee. Cash is still worth having as a backup. The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office advises travelers to make sure they can access enough money for unexpected costs or if their main payment method fails, for example if they lose their phone and cannot complete two-factor authentication.

Photo by Nick Pampoukidis on Unsplash

Get cash with a debit card rather than a credit card where you can. The CFPB says taking cash from a credit card at an ATM is a cash advance, which is treated as a short-term loan and can be expensive: there may be a flat or percentage fee, additional ATM fees, usually a higher interest rate than for purchases, and interest that starts as soon as you withdraw the money. Check your card’s cash advance terms before you rely on it.

Do you need to tell your bank you are travelling?

It depends on your bank. Some large issuers have stopped asking. Chase says it no longer accepts travel notices and that in general no additional action is needed before a trip, though it may contact you to confirm a purchase. Barclays says you do not have to tell Barclaycard when you travel, and that it will contact you on your mobile number if it spots anything unusual.

What both point to is the same: your bank needs to be able to reach you. Before you go, check your bank’s app or website for its own travel advice, and make sure it has your current mobile number.

Keep your home number reachable for bank codes

If your bank texts you a security code or a fraud check while you are away, that message goes to your home number. Keep that line active.

• Use Dual SIM if your phone supports it. Apple’s Dual SIM page says you can have two active numbers, for example one for your home line and another for your travel line, and that only one number at a time can use mobile data.
• Ask your carrier about texts abroad. The FCC notes that higher roaming rates can apply to text messages, and that some functions, such as texting, might not work on a foreign network even when calls do.
• Use a travel eSIM for data. A data eSIM can handle your internet while your home SIM stays in the phone. Pelesim, for example, says your physical SIM stays in your phone and keeps handling calls and texts while its eSIM handles your travel data. Compare options in our top 5 unlimited data eSIMs list or the country lists for Europe, Japan, the USA and Thailand.

What to do if your card is blocked abroad

If a payment is declined, call your card issuer. The CFPB says a declined charge usually means a problem with the account or a credit limit, and sometimes a technical glitch between the merchant and the issuer, and that you should call the issuer to find out why. The issuer’s number is usually printed on the back of the card.

Calling from abroad is the hard part. Before you travel, find your bank’s number for callers outside your country on its website or card and save it with the + and country code. A messaging app will not reach a bank’s phone line, because those apps call people who use the same app over the internet. To reach a bank, use your own number on roaming or Wi-Fi calling, or an app that calls the regular phone network, such as CallTuv. CallTuv calls landlines and mobiles in more than 200 destinations from a web browser, iPhone or Android, pay as you go with no subscription needed, credit that never expires and rates from $0.03 a minute. No app is required if you call from the browser, and free verified caller ID can show your own number, which helps when a bank wants to recognize you. It makes outgoing calls only and cannot be used for emergency calls. Our guide on how to call home from abroad covers every option.

Keep a second card stored separately from your main one, so a single block does not leave you without a way to pay.

Before you go checklist

• Find the foreign transaction fee and the ATM withdrawal fee for every card you are taking.
• Check your credit card’s cash advance fee and interest rate, and plan to avoid using it for cash.
• Decide now: when a terminal or ATM offers your home currency, you will pay in the local currency unless you can see and compare the markup.
• Check your bank’s app or website for its travel advice, and confirm it has your current mobile number.
• Save your bank’s number for overseas callers in + format, for every card.
• Keep your home SIM active for texts, and ask your carrier what receiving texts abroad costs.
• Pack a backup card and keep it apart from your main card, plus some local cash for emergencies.
• Set up a way to call a landline from abroad before you need it.

For the rest of your trip prep, see our travel packing checklist and our roundup of the best travel apps.