We’re travelling to Italy for a couple of months next April and May (2013 – it seems an age away, but we’re counting the days).

We’re familiar with using plastic to get euros in Italy, and have used the ANZ travel cards in the past. But ANZ seem to be offering pretty ordinary conversion rates. – about 5% off the xe.com rates.

Can any Aussies advise on which plastic cards work best?

I’d post this in the Europe forum, but then I’ll get advice like “Use Wells Fargo” from our American brethren

Thanks

Hi Peter

The trip isn't that far away at all and I'd be certainly counting days. But you do have time to see what the various banks have on offer. This is one area where our US counterparts seem to be way ahead of us and seem to pay little or no fees to use their cards overseas.

I always thought my bank charged too much for the privilege and in the past I have used the travel cards as well purchasing at a set rate and then a charge of about $2.20 per withdrawal. I never experienced any trouble using these cards oh hang on maybe a little hiccough up in Istanbul but I always have a credit card etc as back up.

Surely by now our banks have become a little more competitive regarding overseas withdrawals etc. I would be very interested to hear what your research finds Peter as far as using say a Visa Debit card overseas for cash withdrawals.

not sure if this helps but if you have a Westpac ATM card the withdrawals from barclays are free.

Northie do you know if this extends to St George cards now that Westpac has taken them over?

Peter- I am not sure about the ATM aspect but overseas I use a credit card, but there are no annual fees, no charges to use card for purchases & a reasonable exchange rate. Used to be the Wizard card, originally issued by Aussie Home Loans (John Symons)- the card is now issed by GE Money is called 28 Degrees

Hi, not sure how well-travelled you are, but here is an extract from a trip report I posted a few weeks ago on the USA forum:
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On the majority of our overseas trips we have credit card issues, either getting money out of the ATM or using the card in a store, and this time was no different. A piece of good advice to novice travellers is always have an alternative back up plan and some cash. We had a credit card, a debit card and a prepaid money card – all with different banks. Each of them was rejected, one by one, in a large supermarket and I was getting quite embarrassed, when my husband just paid with cash.

The credit card was rejected again the same day in a different store but then one of the other cards was accepted. After that we had no more problems but were initially concerned there had been some fraudulent activity on the card and the bank had cancelled it. They couldn’t call us as our Australian phones didn’t work in America (old phones without triband or quadband, to anyone under 25 we probably seem like dinosaurs). We’re pretty sure it must have been our bank, possibly down for IT maintenance around midnight in Australia, or the swipe card terminal in the store may have been at fault.
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We did pay quite a bit in fees but usually figure it into the cost of the trip. Either way, you pay somewhere along the line. In our experience, you won't get a travel card, or ATM withdrawals, or foreign currency transactions for nothing.

Kay

G'day Peter

On Tripadvisor, conensus is the 28 degrees card mentioned above.

I'm hesding off in 7 weeks, (who's counting), including time in Venice, and will check it out. I usually just use my credit / debit cards, so I'll be interested in seeing if it's better value.

consensus!

Peter

Here's the link to Nick Booth's article on the topic:

http://www.nickbooth.id.au/Tips/Cards.htm

Margo, that's great - exactly what I was looking for. Many thanks.

Now, to find a house sitter that would like a couple of months in inner Melbourne ....

Good luck with the house sitter - I've just solved, I hope, exactly that problem in Sydney - someone who loves animals to serve the feline house manager!

I had dinner with a very well travelled friend last night - and she also recommended the 28 degrees card.

The keys to the Venice apartment arrived this week...7 weeks to go!