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.