Travel Money Card Comparison July 2022

We'll be leaving soon for our epic USA trip! So this weekend I did some research on the best deals for Travel Money Card and foreign exchange and thought I'd share a summary here comparing card fees, transfer costs and ATM withdrawal fees etc. For travelling, I plan to take a combination of AUD/USD cash, Travel Money Card for ATM cash withdrawals and use a debit/credit card with no international transaction fees for in-store and online purchases so that I can minimise the amount of cash that I carry around. If you have been travelling overseas recently, would love to hear what Travel Money Card you used or how you managed your foreign money - share down in comments below!

Quick note: The Boy read a few online reviews that highly recommended a newcomer to International Money Exchange scene called WISE. Apparently during Covid when many people worked remotely from home, many got employed by overseas companies and used WISE accounts for their salary to be paid into. WISE offered decent exchange rates and minimal account fees. After our research, I do think it's a great card to sign up for traveling but we were worried that the physical card may not arrive in the snail-post in time for our trip so we also got back-up cards from different banks. 

The fees and rates in my post are current as of my research date 09/07/2022 and fees listed are in AUD$. You may want to check the individual websites and products for more up to date information if you are reading this post at a later date. This post is not sponsored and the information is based on my interpretation of the information to help me decide which cards to use. However, in case you are thinking of signing up I do have a WISE referral link available. 

Commonwealth Bank Travel Money Card

WISE Multi-Currency Card

Travelex

Latitude 28 Degrees Global Mastercard

Overall, WISE has the best exchange rates (with a small 0.44% fee of your transaction amount)

In the end, we decided on the WISE card along with using pre-existing 28 degrees credit card with no international transaction fees, plus a CBA/Travelex travel money card. However, at the end of day unless your expenditure is huge, the savings do come down to dollars per transaction though could potential all add up at the end. 

Some additional perks that I've saved links for to come back later: 

• Latitude 28 Degrees Credit Card perks: if you register your card when you travel and your flight is delayed by two hours or more, you can get travel lounge access (or equivalent).
• CBA Travel Money Card offers complimentary insurance on items purchased with the Travel Money Card, subject to T&C's (basically it does not cover accidental loss, such as leaving it in car overnight or leaving it behind at the hotel/airplane). Details in the Product pamphlet. 

Anyway, super excited about our upcoming trip! I'll report back on how we go with our Travel Cards and if we get hit by any hidden fees as well as of course photo diary of our trip :)

xx
Choco

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