Thursday, May 14, 2009

Credit Cards

I admit that I'm one of those Gringos that hates to needlessly part with my hard-earned cash. Some people might think I'm a tightwad, but I prefer to think of myself as either frugal or thrifty.

One of the things that always irked me was the 3% transaction fee that American credit card companies charge on all purchases outside of the USA. So far, I've only been able to find three credit cards that do not charge this fee: cards issued by Capital One, Charles Schwab, and Discover.

While Discover cards are not widely accepted outside of the USA, they are accepted throughout Central America. So I got one and enjoyed using it during my trips to Honduras. Usually people looked at the card, and would ask what type of card is this? This made it even more fun to use. But no more...Discover started charging a 2% foreign transaction fee effective this month. So I'll retire it to my credit card cemetery in my dresser drawer.

Between Charles Schwab and Capital One, I prefer the Schwab card because in addition to not charging that pesky foreign transaction fee, it also pays me back 2% of total purchases. The Capital One card gives airline points, so I'll keep it for backup.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I had read somewhere that Capitol One was the way to go. Thanks for the input.

Generation Y said...

This entry was really helpful, thanks! However, what I read of the rest of your blog is so snooty and ridiculous it made me balk. Upon reading your profile and interests though, I got a better understanding of you as a person. So here's to you moving to Honduras! Good riddance. And when you represent the United States in other countries, try to bite your tongue and maybe we won't get such a bad rep. Thanks again!

Stephanie said...

We recently wrote a post on credit cards and another one on debit cards for expats and people traveling abroad. You can check them out at

http://www.moveglobally.com/blog/2009-02-best-credit-card-for-travelers-and-expats/

and

http://www.moveglobally.com/blog/2009-02-best-atm-check-debit-cards-for-expats-and-travelers/

Would you mind adding our blog to your blog links?

Saludos!

Stephanie