best credit card for paying overseas

Just looking for options.

I'm getting married to my fiance, hopefully this December in the UK and in a short time we will have to start paying folk. But we are living in Japan.

We're looking for a reasonable credit card company that uses Mastercard or Visa and doesn't come with a monthly/yearly subscription cost. We're also after one that comes with insurance while abroad. We don't mind if it's one where you need money in the bank beforehand. i.e. before you can buy anything using the credit card.

We can check those online, but we're having difficulty finding out if the companies charge a whopping commision on any oversea transactions (like when they convert the money). I'm not creditcard minded so I can't help her out.

Any suggestions of good companies with low rates?

Cheers

P.S. My fiance is Japanese, so it shouldn't be too hard to get the card when we find it. Unlike me. :(

Don't know if it's available where you are, but here in the U.S., Capital One offers Mastercard credit cards with NO foreign transaction fees. As far as I know, there aren't many that do this. It's the mail reason we got one.

I would look into visa over mastercard if you intend to use it to get cash advances in Japan as you can no longer use mastercard at 7-11 atm's for this purpose.

- Nowadays credit card companies are trying to keep their cost down, so if you go for cards with no annual fee, then overseas insurance tends to come on the condition that you buy the air ticket with that credit card. (If you go for Gold cards, with annual fee, then some come with overseas travel insurance without any condition.)

- You (or she) might want to think about what kind of other shopping you do - like a department store where she shopt often, then she could look into their card (with Visa or MasterCard). If she ever buys from Rakuten (online shopping mall), then Rakuten card is pretty good. No annual fee, online application, overseas travel insurance if air ticket is purchased with it, and you earn loyalty points when
shopping online on Rakuten.

- I don't know what you mean by whopping commission - when you use your Japan-issued credit card to purchase goods/services overseas, for example UK, the shop/service provider in the UK posts the sterling amount, and your credit card company, when biling you, uses that posting date's market exchange rate plus a small fee for conversion into Yen - very small considering what you need to go through if you tried to send a cheque or cash, etc., and I have never found the credit card company's rate unreasonable.

- I have not used a credit card overseas for cash advances - that will incur interest, so you would want to avoid that unless in emergency. (This is different from using your bank card to access your "own" cash in your deposit account from an ATM overseas.)

(BTW, I am a resident in Japan, and I have Rakuten card (I shop on their mall), so I have checked their services. I have a Gold card by a different company, for which I do pay annual fee but the unconditional travel insurance justifies the cost in my case.)

Oh, my post above was assuming that you (or your fiance) is going to get a card issued in Japan of course :)

Apologies if I misread your question.

My comment above applies only to foreign mastercards used in Japan.

I'm confused too, are you planning on getting a Japanese issued or UK issued card or do you not have a preference?

Cheers for all the replies.

We're planning on getting the card from Japan. I would have no chance in the UK, since I'm young, no residence or job in the UK.

We're not after cash advances. Basically we'll make a new Japanese bank account (in one of our names), put our wedding money into that account and use it to pay for stuff in the uk like venue hire, flowers etc. and then use it if we need to while we're on holiday in the UK.

We also found that there are lots of companies in Japan with no annual fee, but offer insurance. So we're good there because it's one of the main things advertised on the sales page. But thanks for the advice.

I haven't owned a credit card before, so I only know a little. Just don't want to be caught out by a hidden charge.

When you buy something abroad, I know it will be based on that days exchange rate but the whopping fee I was on about is just the commission they charge to convert it. We've found it hard to find an exact number on the sites we look at. I think we found that Mastercard charge around 1.6% which would be fine. But I'm worried that if we get a Mastercard that's linked with another company/ department store, there will be an additional percentage of commission. It's difficult to find the small print, especially when it's in kanji. :)

I'll have a look at Capital One tonight. Cheers for that. And also Rakuten.

I have heard that that currency conversion fee is better with Visa; this is something you don't find out until you get the card (or at least get the application form) and read the whole fine print.

Department store (or other store)-affiliated cards do not charge "extra" fees - that would mean putting their loyal customers at a disadvantage, why should they do that! Those "co-brand" cards are there to encourage people to become repeat shoppers at THAT department store, thus come combined with "house" loyalty cards, meaning, you use it at that department store (or chain), you earn reward points. But some are more geared toward shoppers rather than travelers, so not all come with travel insurance even if you bought air tickets with them (for example, Credit Saison's Club On Visa card, issued by Seibu group company).

If your fiance does a search and find "credit card comparison" kind of websites, there is one that is always listed as no annual fee and with travel insurance, but one of them automatically places your purchases onto revolving - a source of interest income for the card company -, and some others start charging annual fee from the second year. If you are going to stay in Japan, I believe there is one that is affiliated with the local utility company (in Tokyo area), that may be interesting as well, because you get annual fee waiver as long as you are using that card to pay the utility bill.

"When you buy something abroad, I know it will be based on that days exchange rate but the whopping fee I was on about is just the commission they charge to convert it. We've found it hard to find an exact number on the sites we look at. I think we found that Mastercard charge around 1.6% which would be fine. But I'm worried that if we get a Mastercard that's linked with another company/ department store, there will be an additional percentage of commission. It's difficult to find the small print, especially when it's in kanji. :)"

Hi Adam,
From what I understand about the foreign transaction exchange rate, credit card companies do not use the rate for that day. They can actually use the highest rate during that billing cycle.

Just an FYI, but debit cards do use the rate for that day.

aurora,

It was me who suggested that the day's rate would be used :)

As I look at my credit card's online statement, an entry for something I've bought overseas just several days ago has already been posted, with the applicable exchange rate alongside it. And the Yen amount is alongside it too. (From my experience, this is the final amount that goes onto the paper statement too.) So I think they use that posting date's rate, and do not wait until the end of the billing cycle and see what the highest rate is :)

I'm not sure about Japanese credit cards but my US visa cards use the daily exchange rate and post a few days after the transaction.

[We're not after cash advances. Basically we'll make a new Japanese bank account (in one of our names), put our wedding money into that account and use it to pay for stuff in the uk like venue hire, flowers etc. and then use it if we need to while we're on holiday in the UK.]
This sounds like you can use a debit card rather than a credit card, not counting the travel insurance, which I'd read the fine prints of any card very carefully what, when, who & how much covers.
Loyd Bank has the agreement with Bank of America for no fee & no transaction cost ATM use with the daily interbank exchange rate. You might check this out. We used Loyd Bank ATM in Kenya using BofA debit card w/ great exchange rate & w/o any fee/cost. BofA has offices in Japan.
I have two CCs, one exclusively to accumulate mileage & another for emergency & other misc. use. But I pay off the balance every month clean. Many falls into the trap & getting burned when they have a cash advance(high interest charge from day 1) or carry some balance over and have to keep paying forever, if only the min. is paid because of high interest rate charges.
Be careful w/ CC, if you are a first time user. It is a sure way to make them rich & you poor.

I can only speak for the U.S., but here, everyone (except the few who decided not to, like Capital One Bank) charge a flat 3% fee for every transaction in foreign currency, and also any U.S. dollar transaction that is conducted in a foreign country.