Jeremy talks about travel money for the United States

What cards did you take with you?
- Bankwest Qantas Platinum Mastercard
- American Express Velocity Platinum Credit Card
- Australia Post Load & Go Prepaid Travel Money Card
Why did you take these cards to America?
- Australia Post. Jeremy says he took the Australia Post Load&Go Prepaid Travel Money Card as his main source of funds when in the States. He says he took this card with him because it has low ATM withdrawal fee, and he was using this travel card to withdraw cash often.
- Bankwest. He says he took the Bankwest Platinum Qantas Mastercard with him to the United States because it allowed him to earn Qantas Points when he made a purchase on the card, and it does not charge a cross currency conversion fee. Jeremy says that this is pretty key, because usually when you take a rewards product overseas, the value of the rewards is eaten up by the currency conversion fee - so the rewards are worth nothing. That isn't the case with this card.
- American Express. The American Express Velocity Platinum Card was his backup credit card. Jeremy says he liked the fact he could have earned Velocity Points and well as Qantas Points and the Velocity Platinum gave him two points per dollar spent overseas.
Were there any places where you had trouble using any of your cards?
Jeremy says he tried to buy a 4G Verizon Wireless device and they only accepted U.S. Credit cards. He went to Walgreens supermarket and bought a prepaid credit card so he could then use it to pay for the internet connection. Jeremy says using credit cards over the counter for general purchases were never an issue.
How much cash would you take with you on a three week holiday?
Jeremy says It really depends on the person - so there's no hard and fast rule about how much money to take with you. For him, when he travels for business, his expenses are mainly food. Jeremy budgeted $50-$75 per day to cover breakfast, lunch, dinner and coffee in between. He says generally the cost of food is more expensive in Australia, but it depends on where you eat.
Jeremy's travel money tips for travelling to the United States
Jeremy recommends taking a combination of travel money options to the United States, or anywhere in the world for that matter.
- Rewards credit card. Bankwest Qantas Platinum is the only card that earns qantas points and has a 0% foreign transaction fee.
- Travel debit card. Use the Citibank Plus Transaction account and be treated like a customer with Citibank branches in the U.S. and globally. Avoid having the delays associated with loading funds onto a prepaid travel card. Jeremy says he ran out of time to apply for this one for his trip, but he will definitely apply before he next goes overseas.
- Travel money card. Good to have another card that isn't attached to a credit line or savings account.
- Cash. He always arrives in a country with $250 cash in local currency for cabs and emergencies.
what fees occur when withdrawing cash in the USA – what fees occur when you cancel the cash card upon return – is there a time limit to cancel the card upon return –
Hi Marilyn,
Thanks for your question.
Would you mind telling me which card you’re looking at and I’d be happy to provide you with the information regarding fees. You can also click through to the individual review pages of the cards to see an outline of the fees you will be charged.
I hope this has helped.
Thanks,
Elizabeth
Prepaid travel cards are good only when you want to lock in your exchange rate if you anticipate it might go against you (e.g. Aussie dollar losing ground against the greenback)
Otherwise, our advice is always use a combination of fee-free credit cards (28 degrees and Bankwest Platinum are the ONLY two cards in Australia that don’t charge currency conversion fees) and fee-free bank account (Citibank Plus being the ONLY product currently available in Australia with no overseas ATM or currency conversion fees).
This way you always get the absolute best exchange rate as you are tapping the wholesale interbank rate.