🌍 Guide · 2 min · Updated 2026-08-01
How to Find a Card With No Foreign Transaction Fee
A few points of foreign transaction fee add up over a year. Check your own card in 3 steps, then build the cheapest combo.
1. Where to check
- Search the card's Terms & Fees for "foreign transaction fee" / "currency conversion fee".
- Ask the issuer directly: "Is there a fee on foreign-currency purchases, and how much?"
2. Numbers to look for
- Foreign transaction fee: 0% is best; 1%–3% is common.
- Currency conversion fee: incurred if routed via USD; UnionPay usually waives it.
- Cash advance fee/interest: check if you'll withdraw cash.
3. The optimal combo
A no-FTF card plus a UnionPay card covers most cases: UnionPay in non-USD regions to skip the conversion fee, the no-fee card elsewhere.
Verify: plug your card's fees into the
CardAbroad calculator to see how much cards differ on the same purchase.
→ Open the calculator
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Related: cheapest way to spend abroad.