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For travel, is there any benefit to using TransferWise's debit card over a traditional debit/credit card that advertises 0 foreign transaction fees? I remember
by ss3000 6y ago
For travel, is there any benefit to using TransferWise's debit card over a traditional debit/credit card that advertises 0 foreign transaction fees?
I remember somewhere about how the conversion rates are dictated by Visa/Mastercard on most credit/debit cards. Wondering how those rates compare to TransferWise's, and if their extra fee on top is justified.
Some examples:
https://www.schwab.com/checking https://www.schwab.com/checking
https://creditcards.chase.com/rewards-credit-cards/sapphire/preferred https://creditcards.chase.com/rewards-credit-cards/sapphire/...
- hocuspocus 6y agoMastercard's FX rates are pretty competitive. Visa used to be expensive, but it seems they've caught up lately. So in practice, the main difference is that Transferwise uses an instant "mid-market" rate at the time of the transaction, and then applies its fees (which are very reasonable on common pairs). Mastercard and Visa use a daily average rate that is not computed until the day after. In the end, Transferwise can sometimes be a little better, sometimes a little worse. They should all be within 0.1%. So, to answer your question, no it's not really worth it for you. Only Revolut regularly beats everyone else since they don't charge any fee on top of their spot rate on most common pairs, except for the weekends.
- fpoling 6y agoIn Norway when a bank advertises 0 transaction fees they skip roughly 1.8% that Visa charges for doing currency exchanges.
- hocuspocus 6y agoVisa doesn't charge this fee, it's your bank.
- dannyw 6y agoVisa and MC charges 0.6% on forex.