How to choose the best bank card for travel

Now hardly anyone will argue that a bank card, whether it is made in the form of a plastic card or a virtual card in a smartphone with NFC function, is one of the most convenient, profitable and secure means of payment when traveling around the world. However, not all bank cards are equally profitable. We have prepared a guide from our experience to help you choose the best map for travel:

What should be the ideal map for travel

So, if you are looking for the most profitable travel card, it should meet at least these requirements:

• So that the card balance never runs out (this is a joke 😊)
• There is no commission for cash withdrawals at ATMs, when paying at payment terminals in stores and paying online.
• Interest is charged for the balance on the card, and preferably not much lower than deposit rates.
• Availability of an interest-free period for repayment in case the balance goes into negative territory. This service is also called "installment" or "grace period".
• There is no condition that there is a minimum balance on the card balance, below which the service fee starts to be charged.
• Live cashback is credited (real money to the account) for all purchases, not just in partner stores at inflated prices or points burned through time.
• There are no forcibly imposed and automatically connected services, such as insurance, SMS notification fees, etc.
• The card is accompanied by free travel insurance. It is included in many banking products, but most cardholders do not even suspect that they have such insurance.
• the card must be personalized and embossed, i.e. the number and other inscriptions on it are not made with paint, but with embossing or extrusion, i.e. convex. The fact is that non-issued cards may not be accepted in some cases, for example, as collateral when renting transport.
• the card must be multi-currency or in one of the stable international currencies used by the payment system for intermediate conversion, i.e. in US dollars or Euros.

The last point requires further clarification. The fact is that if you have a ruble card, then the conversion when withdrawing cash and paying, unless it is dollars or euros, will occur twice: first from the national currency to dollars or euros, and then from dollars or euros to rubles. For example, you pay for a purchase in a Thai supermarket, and in this case the transaction chain will look like this: Thai baht -> US dollars -> rubles. This is the order of operation of payment systems that issue cards, and it does not depend on the bank, so there is nothing to be done. Therefore, we recommend that, if possible, immediately start a card in US dollars or Euros, and then you can pay around the world more profitably than in rubles.

How and where to find the perfect travel map

Of course, we all understand that it is impossible to find the perfect bank card for travel that meets all the requirements above, since banks need to somehow earn on commissions and maintenance. Therefore, we will have to look for the closest to it. To do this, select the most important points for you personally above, and start searching:

The easiest option is to consider the card product options that your salary Bank offers, or the bank in which you hold deposits (deposits), are a holder of a brokerage or individual AIs. As a rule, such banks are the most loyal and can offer individual conditions. By the way, as our practice of making deposits and cards shows, you can even bargain with the managers of some banks about the size of the service and commissions.

If you did not find such a card at" your bank", look at other options. For example, one of the most progressive and systemically important Russian banks, Tinkoff, offers excellent card options for travelers and a well-developed online infrastructure for remote work with personal accounts and currencies. Here are the most interesting options for products from the bank's line:

You can issue one of the Tinkoff cards using the links, everything happens online. After that, a courier will deliver it to your home or office. You will manage accounts and finances in L/C on the bank's website or through the application, and solve all problematic and non-standard issues through the support chat.

If you prefer banks with more traditional service through offices, then you can choose one of the Alfabank cards:

• 💳 VISA Alfa Travel credit card / Up to 8% miles and 60 days no interest on loan
• 💳 Alfa Bank Credit Card 100 days no interest / 100 days no interest on loan
• 💳 Alfa Travel and Alfa Travel Premium Debit cards / Up to 11% miles, free annual maintenance and accrual of up to 7% on account balance.

Tricks of banks to fork you out a little

And here are the tricks of banks that you should pay attention to in order not to get into additional and unexpected expenses:

• High or hidden maintenance cost. Almost any card, especially credit cards, has the cost of servicing in one form or another. But when choosing, you need to monitor the size of this service, since many banks in advertising declare free service, but a detailed study of the conditions turns out that it is valid only for the first month or year, for example.
• Mandatory irreducible balance for zero maintenance. Sometimes in advertising they loudly declare "zero" service, but later it turns out that the service fee is not charged only if you have an irreducible balance on your account, for example, at least 50,000 rubles. So only the amount of the balance will become less, a considerable monthly cost of maintenance begins to be written off.
• Cash withdrawal fee. There are cards that offer very good cashback conditions and there is no service fee, but you can withdraw money even at the bank's own ATM only with a commission.
• Free cash withdrawals are only valid for a limited period. Again, the advertisement states that there is no commission when withdrawing cash from ATMs around the world, but in fact it turns out that this offer is valid only a few months after registration.
• High penalties for delay. If the credit card balance goes into the red, not only interest is charged for its use, but also very high penalties for late repayment.

That's all, but if you still have questions or ideas about finding bank cards for travel, you can share them in the topic on our forum.