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Home / Tips & ideas / Finances / How to use credit cards when travelling

How to use credit cards when travelling

August 28, 2015 by Gretta Schifano 17 Comments

Santa Maria Novella station, Florence, Italy. Copyright Gretta Schifano

Santa Maria Novella station, Florence, Italy. Copyright Gretta Schifano

Credit cards can be extremely useful when you’re travelling – as long as you ensure that you pay off the credit card balance in full every month. This is really important because if you don’t pay what you owe each month then you’ll end up being charged high levels of interest. The best way to make sure that you pay your credit card bill on time is to set up a direct debit for the full amount so that it’s paid automatically.

TSB have asked me to write about the benefits of using credit cards sensibly when you’re travelling. This is how we use our credit card when we travel.

Consumer Credit Act

Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act gives you legal protection when you pay by credit card, as long as the item or service costs between £100 and £30,000. The aim of this legislation is that you, as a credit card customer, should never have to pay for something which you don’t receive. You don’t even have to pay the whole amount by credit card to be entitled to this protection: you could just use the card for the deposit and pay the rest in cash if you wanted to, as long as the total cost is between £100 and £30,000. This means that if, for example, you pay for a holiday by credit card and the holiday company goes bust before you take the trip, your credit card provider has to reimburse you for the cost of the holiday. We always use our credit card to pay for expenses such as flights for this reason.

Bookings

We usually travel independently rather than going on package holidays and we always use our credit card to book flights, accommodation and hire cars online before we travel. We have to book in advance because we have to travel during the school holidays, the busiest and most expensive time to travel. If we didn’t have a credit card it would be very difficult to make our bookings – and we wouldn’t have the protection of the Consumer Credit Act.

Emergencies

Having a credit card when we travel gives me peace of mind in case something goes wrong. If we had an unexpected expense on holiday – for example if we lost our cash somehow or if our luggage didn’t turn up at our destination – then I know that we can use our credit card to help us (although we always have travel insurance too – read my post here about how to find the best family travel insurance).

Waiting for luggage to arrive at Gatwick airport. Copyright Gretta Schifano

Waiting for luggage to arrive at Gatwick airport. Copyright Gretta Schifano

Withdrawing cash

We don’t use our credit card to withdraw cash from cash machines when we’re abroad because of the cost involved. If you do use your credit card to withdraw cash when you’re abroad your card provider will charge you a fee each time. If you do use your credit card in this way it’s more cost effective to make a few, high value withdrawals than it is to make lots of low value withdrawals. If we need to withdraw cash when we’re abroad we use a prepaid currency card.

Making payments

Most credit card providers will charge a transaction fee (typically of around 3%) each time that you use your credit card abroad. There are some credit cards with lower transaction fees, and some with no transaction fees, so it’s worth finding out what your provider charges and possibly even applying for a different credit card to use abroad. We use a credit card with no transaction fees when we need to make payments abroad.

Street market, Bologna. Copyright Gretta Schifano

Street market, Bologna. Copyright Gretta Schifano

Do you use credit cards when you travel? If you don’t use credit cards, what payment method do you use?

Reward credit cards

Reward credit cards can help you to save up for travelling – you can read my post here about using reward cards.

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by TSB. All opinions, words and images are my own.

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Related

Categories: Finances, Travel advice
Tags: credit cards, travel money

About Gretta Schifano

I'm a freelance journalist and blogger specialising in family travel with teenagers, trips when parents manage to travel without their kids, and 50+ travel. I also write about vegetarian travel, parenting teenagers, adoption, SEN, ADHD and anxiety. My work's been published by the Financial Times, Guardian, Independent, National Geographic Traveller, Lonely Planet and others. I've lived and worked in Italy and Spain and am now based in rural south-east England with my husband, adoptive and birth kids and our dog. I previously worked as a social action radio producer for the BBC.

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Comments

  1. lisa prince says

    September 2, 2015 at 10:17 am

    oh im not sure i like the idea of credit cards but i think many would apreciate this

    Reply
  2. Rachel says

    September 1, 2015 at 6:02 am

    Thanks for the tips, I don’t have a credit card but my hubby does for work. I will be passing on your tips to him.
    Rachel recently posted…Fat To Fit Friday Week 1My Profile

    Reply
  3. Charly Dove says

    August 31, 2015 at 7:00 pm

    There are some really great points here Gretta, thank you so much for sharing. We don’t usually use a credit card on holiday, perhaps we should re-think that!

    Reply
  4. Emma says

    August 31, 2015 at 4:40 pm

    We’ve been caught out with transaction fees when abroad before so now I always check beforehand what the actual cost per transaction is. Credit cards are so handy when travelling though aren’t they?
    Emma recently posted…First day at school and a brilliant new initiativeMy Profile

    Reply
    • Gretta Schifano says

      August 31, 2015 at 5:46 pm

      They really are – as long as you’re as careful as you are!

      Reply
  5. Rachel says

    August 30, 2015 at 2:21 pm

    You make so many valid points and I always ensure mine is with me when travelling x
    Rachel recently posted…A dress fit for a QueenMy Profile

    Reply
  6. Mary Louise says

    August 30, 2015 at 2:19 pm

    We use a credit card when we travel especially for car hire and flights. We carry one each in seperate wallets in case of an emergency only. For all other holiday essentials we take cash x
    Mary Louise recently posted…One For The FamilyMy Profile

    Reply
  7. Kara says

    August 30, 2015 at 7:40 am

    I really don’t like credit cards but it makes sense to have one when travelling for emergencies
    Kara recently posted…Silent Sunday – 30th August 2015My Profile

    Reply
  8. Gemma says

    August 29, 2015 at 2:22 pm

    Great useful post, thank you
    Gemma recently posted…You know you’re a mum when….My Profile

    Reply
  9. Kate Williams says

    August 29, 2015 at 12:24 pm

    I got my first credit card for when I went on holiday to South Africa a few years back- they are much better than using normal cards abroad!
    Kate Williams recently posted…Win a super cute playhouse from Waltons!My Profile

    Reply
  10. cass says

    August 28, 2015 at 7:36 pm

    The protection you get when you pay by credit card is brilliant – I always use mine for large purchases too x
    cass recently posted…Five Frugal things I’ve done this week to save money {27th August 2015}….My Profile

    Reply
  11. Andrea says

    August 28, 2015 at 4:06 pm

    Some great points here, I will definitely come back to this post the next time we go away. Thank you!

    Reply
    • Gretta Schifano says

      August 28, 2015 at 6:32 pm

      You’re welcome!

      Reply
  12. Emma says

    August 28, 2015 at 3:42 pm

    This is a really useful post, and I rely on my cards a lot when travelling as it’s good to be protected when things go wrong. HOWEVER, here in Bavaria credit cards are not typical. Germans don’t trust them and it’s hard to find anywhere that will take a “foreign” card (apart from AMEX very rarely!) so do bring plenty of cash if you are visiting! 🙂
    Emma recently posted…Down the Rabbit Hole – Afternoon Tea at The SandersonMy Profile

    Reply
    • Gretta Schifano says

      August 28, 2015 at 6:33 pm

      That’s a really good point, thank you Emma.

      Reply
  13. Sarah Bailey says

    August 28, 2015 at 2:42 pm

    This is really interesting, I’m thinking of going away abroad and wasn’t sure the best ways to pay so thank you. x
    Sarah Bailey recently posted…JASON – Smoothing Coconut: ReviewMy Profile

    Reply
  14. Sonia says

    August 28, 2015 at 11:56 am

    Great tips, I don’t have any credit cards but we always put everything on my other half’s card when we go abroad x
    Sonia recently posted…Boo’s Picks from MelijoeMy Profile

    Reply

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