The Best Travel Cards in 2025 & Why You Should Avoid WISE!

Still using Wise when you travel? You might be losing money. In this episode, we break down why both WISE and Revolut might not be the best option in 2025, and what you should be using instead.

We share our top debit and credit card picks for international travel, reveal hidden fees most people overlook (like dynamic currency conversion and ATM charges), and offer simple tips to help you keep more money in your pocket while abroad.

Cards mentioned: Starling, Chase, Trading 212, Monzo, Barclaycard Rewards, Halifax Clarity, Yonder, Currensea.

Plus: a clever hack to withdraw cash abroad without using an ATM.

Connect with us (via LinkedIn)

Jan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jan-watermann/

Jonny: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jonny-pease

Got a question or topic you want us to cover? Drop us a message at jonny@technicallymoney.com

Transcript

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:04:08
Unknown
Okay, so a lot of people still think The Revolut and Wise are the best travel cards,

00:00:04:08 - 00:00:05:03
Unknown
is that true?

00:00:05:03 - 00:00:13:20
Unknown
Well, in this episode, we're going to discuss why we think they're no longer the smartest choice. But first, we'll share with you the cards, both credit and debit, that we believe are

00:00:13:20 - 00:00:19:20
Unknown
these have the lowest fees, the best exchange rates, and in some cases provide the best rewards and additional benefits.

00:00:19:22 - 00:00:22:03
Unknown
So I'm talking cashback and insurance.

00:00:22:03 - 00:00:34:03
Unknown
We'll also share some general tips, like what's the best and cheapest way to get cash? And one of the most important things to remember when traveling abroad. How to never fall victim to dynamic currency conversion fees.

00:00:34:03 - 00:00:40:03
Unknown
We'll talk about that shortly. But first, Yann, you've obviously done a lot of traveling. Have you ever been rinsed by fees?

00:00:40:03 - 00:00:41:11
Unknown
Yeah, absolutely. Johnny,

00:00:41:11 - 00:00:59:10
Unknown
just a quick story about myself. Personally, I've been traveling for almost ten years now. Living kind of a digital nomad lifestyle. Visited over 50 countries within those ten years. And then for the first two years, like when I was still, inexperienced when it comes to to,

00:00:59:12 - 00:01:08:05
Unknown
Yeah. International banking. I just use my, my standard debit card for every transaction. Didn't really question it. Right. It was the most convenient thing available to me.

00:01:08:05 - 00:01:12:06
Unknown
Was actually recommended in a blog back then. As a good option for travelers.

00:01:12:06 - 00:01:16:12
Unknown
And then I kind of I kind of didn't really care about the fees. I didn't didn't notice them.

00:01:16:12 - 00:01:22:10
Unknown
it turned out I paid 1.75% of, on admin fees on every transaction I made with that card.

00:01:22:10 - 00:01:27:09
Unknown
And over the two years, I spent €45,000.

00:01:33:03 - 00:01:34:17
Unknown
Wow.

00:01:34:16 - 00:01:38:05
Unknown
1.75% is still less than what some providers are

00:01:38:04 - 00:01:39:11
Unknown
charging people today.

00:01:39:10 - 00:01:46:23
Unknown
So there could be someone watching this, listening to this thinking, you know, I'm interested in a debit or credit card for travel. And they could be getting charged 1.75%.

00:01:46:23 - 00:01:49:17
Unknown
I mean, Amex is still charging 2.99%,

00:01:49:16 - 00:02:09:18
Unknown
which is unbelievable. I mean, I spent six months traveling when I was about 19 or 20 years old, and I was withdrawing a lot of cash as well, and I was being charged, coincidentally $1.75 to withdraw, and I was withdrawing constantly and often, just like I was so stupid back then. I was withdrawing small sums of cash.

00:02:09:18 - 00:02:23:18
Unknown
Like, obviously you don't want to be carrying too much money around, too much hard currency. But we would always recommend try to withdraw a large sum of money to carry around with you if you don't want to constantly be going back to the ATM, particularly if you're getting charged to fixed fee like I was,

00:02:23:17 - 00:02:25:08
Unknown
but I racked up roughly,

00:02:25:07 - 00:02:28:21
Unknown
I think roughly 250 to $300 worth of ATM fees.

00:02:29:01 - 00:02:30:16
Unknown
It's such a waste of money.

00:02:30:15 - 00:02:38:03
Unknown
So some of the cards that we'll talk about today are going to prevent this from happening. We won't share anything today that will come with fees

00:02:38:02 - 00:02:43:05
Unknown
because you don't need to pay fees anymore. On international spending. There are too many good options out there available.

00:02:43:04 - 00:02:57:23
Unknown
all of the debit cards that we're talking about. They do offer either the mid-market exchange rate or the, the interbank rate that's provided by either Mastercard or visa, whatever. Second issue of their, and they don't charge any other fixed fees.

00:02:58:01 - 00:03:01:00
Unknown
And in general, they do offer a fee free ATM

00:03:04:05 - 00:03:07:09
Unknown
Yes. Yes.

00:03:31:21 - 00:03:33:14
Unknown
Yes.

00:03:33:13 - 00:03:52:11
Unknown
They were slightly better than Starling for international spending because you used to be able to get cash back. But you can't get cash back anymore. So they are similar. They're offering the same exchange rates through Mastercard. But where Starling edged them is that you can withdraw up to 300 pounds internationally every single day with Starling.

00:03:52:13 - 00:04:08:19
Unknown
With Chase UK you're limited to 1,500 pounds per month. Now, I don't think many of us are going to need much more than that each month. But in case you are going to be withdrawing money frequently while you're abroad, Starling would be the better choice. But otherwise, yes. Yeah, and there's very little difference between the two nowadays.

00:04:08:18 - 00:04:21:21
Unknown
Yeah. And then a few other honorable mentions. We have Monzo. But there's a limit on on free ATM withdrawals as well. We got Santander hedge, Virgin Money, Firstdirect and, Zopa. The biscuit account.

00:04:21:21 - 00:04:37:10
Unknown
of those again. Sort of align themselves with Chase UK and Starling. And this is what I'm talking about. Like there's so much choice nowadays. And all of these would make fantastic current accounts as well that you could use. So you don't necessarily have to get a card. Now specifically for travel.

00:04:37:09 - 00:04:38:05
Unknown
The best

00:04:38:04 - 00:04:43:11
Unknown
option, particularly from just tapping and earning rewards, is trading two, one, two,

00:04:43:10 - 00:04:50:18
Unknown
So if you do want to go and get reward if you're international spending, trading 2.2 is a good option because they offer 0.5% cashback.

00:04:50:17 - 00:04:57:00
Unknown
But also can the exchange rates that they're offering are the mid-market rate no spread.

00:04:57:00 - 00:05:03:09
Unknown
And we know that Mastercard, for example, when you Starling and Chase, you get Mastercard exchange rates. We know they have a slight markup,

00:05:03:08 - 00:05:06:07
Unknown
trading two on two are offering the mid-market rate.

00:05:06:06 - 00:05:07:19
Unknown
It's just as good as it can get

00:05:07:18 - 00:05:13:09
Unknown
and you're going to get 0.5% cashback. The only downside is that trading 2.2 aren't a licensed bank,

00:05:13:08 - 00:05:14:12
Unknown
and there are a couple of like,

00:05:14:11 - 00:05:16:00
Unknown
just annoying things.

00:05:16:00 - 00:05:22:13
Unknown
Yan. Like, if you want to withdraw money with trading too, until you have to use a contactless ATM, you can't insert the card.

00:05:22:12 - 00:05:25:15
Unknown
That card I believe cost for 95

00:05:25:14 - 00:05:30:00
Unknown
But trading two on two I think edges the other providers based on the 0.5% cashback.

00:05:29:23 - 00:05:40:07
Unknown
if you're going to go on holiday and you haven't paid for your hotel yet and you're going to put one, two, 3,000 pounds into a transaction, you want to be getting rewarded for that.

00:05:40:07 - 00:05:51:00
Unknown
And we'll talk about some credit cards, particularly one credit card that would be great for earning points while you're abroad. But this debit card, if you're going to be spending big on holiday, is probably your best option for trading two on two.

00:05:50:23 - 00:06:04:11
Unknown
And you can always combine it with, an option like Starling, which is great for ATM withdrawals. Right. So you, you have, like, the strength of one card combined with the strength of the other card. It's probably the best, best bet here, in my opinion.

00:06:04:11 - 00:06:08:19
Unknown
if you are withdrawing money as well, you've got to look out for ATM fees.

00:06:08:18 - 00:06:15:09
Unknown
And we know you. Analogously, you may have seen them those blue ATMs with the yellow urinate Euro net logo.

00:06:15:08 - 00:06:26:23
Unknown
They're everywhere. They charge awful fees on ATM withdrawals. But even today, when you go to a physical bank branch, which used to be probably your best option, even they're charging ATM fees. So you've got to be super careful when you're withdrawing money

00:06:26:22 - 00:06:28:02
Unknown
and at the same time as well.

00:06:28:02 - 00:06:31:20
Unknown
Look out for dynamic currency conversion. I mentioned at the start of the video, but that

00:06:31:19 - 00:06:32:21
Unknown
is where a

00:06:32:20 - 00:06:41:01
Unknown
ATM provider or a POS. So like when you tap to pay, that's when they'll prompt you and ask you if you want to pay in the local currency

00:06:41:00 - 00:06:46:13
Unknown
or in your currency. It's very tempting to want to pay in your currency because they'll show you two different exchange rates.

00:06:46:16 - 00:06:57:04
Unknown
They may show you two different flags, they may show you the Spanish flag in the UK flag, and you'll be like, oh, the Union Jack. Okay, I'll select that one. Exciting. But really what they're trying to do

00:06:57:03 - 00:07:04:11
Unknown
they're actually trying to manipulate you into selecting that, because then they can offer you their exchange rate from say, euro to sterling.

00:07:04:13 - 00:07:15:08
Unknown
And it turns out that that exchange rate can be terrible, much worse than the Mastercard exchange rate, much worse than the the mid-market rate, obviously. And you're talking in some cases, 10 to 15% markup.

00:07:15:07 - 00:07:17:10
Unknown
I don't know about Germany, yen.

00:07:17:10 - 00:07:26:02
Unknown
And some of the other countries that you know, you're really familiar with, but I do know places like Italy, like Poste de Italiana, I think is how you pronounce it. That might be awful, but

00:07:26:01 - 00:07:32:07
Unknown
that's like the local postal service in Italy. If you use their ATMs, they're always, in my experience, fee free.

00:07:32:06 - 00:07:41:12
Unknown
Quick Google search should also uncover the fee free ATMs in the in the country. In most countries that are fee free ATMs available. Then there's some exceptions, like Thailand, for example.

00:07:41:12 - 00:07:52:13
Unknown
Travelers to Thailand. They might have experienced this 220 baht ATM fee, that you literally, find in every ATM. But that's just because these, these, these banks, they kind of decided that's that's going to be the

00:07:52:13 - 00:07:53:15
Unknown
Yeah.

00:07:53:14 - 00:08:16:22
Unknown
way to avoid ATM fees. Totally, though. It's a quick, quick tip I would like to share. One I've used many times in the past, which I also, I think only recently learned about just a few years ago. Instead of withdrawing cash, just use, a money transfer provider like remit, like, which offers a cash.

00:08:17:00 - 00:08:33:08
Unknown
Yeah, cash. Cash as a receiving method, for you transfer and then send yourself cash and pick it up in a in a normal bank branch. Most always, it's mostly fee free. And, yeah, you might, might even, benefit from a promotional rate

00:08:33:08 - 00:08:35:07
Unknown
How do you collect it.

00:08:42:23 - 00:08:58:17
Unknown
Right. So you're doing. No. That's awesome. Yeah. So you're doing a cash pickup transfer. So using remotely and you're sending it to say UniCredit. You go into a branch and you've got your cash. And the only fee that you pay is the one through remotely.

00:08:58:16 - 00:09:06:12
Unknown
Wow. It's good. Yeah.

00:09:06:11 - 00:09:17:08
Unknown
rate. So effectively earning money doing that. And I've done it a few times. The sort of Western Union, which is a great provider for this. To many countries, there are some exceptions where Western Union is very expensive.

00:09:17:10 - 00:09:21:03
Unknown
So keep my own office. But it's. Yeah, in general, a great option.

00:09:21:03 - 00:09:22:17
Unknown
Okay. Let's talk about credit cards next,

00:09:22:16 - 00:09:26:03
Unknown
If you're looking to earn rewards, there are two that really stand out.

00:09:26:02 - 00:09:31:00
Unknown
The Barclaycard Rewards credit card offers 0.25% cashback.

00:09:30:23 - 00:09:35:16
Unknown
the Halifax Clarity credit card, which I have here, is quite a solid one as well.

00:09:35:15 - 00:09:40:15
Unknown
There's a couple of reasons that I like this one. Yeah, but the yonder credit card, we talked about it recently.

00:09:40:14 - 00:09:42:01
Unknown
It does have its flaws.

00:09:42:00 - 00:09:43:06
Unknown
if you were to get

00:09:43:05 - 00:09:43:10
Unknown
the

00:09:43:09 - 00:09:45:16
Unknown
paid plan with Yonder Yan.

00:09:45:15 - 00:09:59:16
Unknown
Yes, it's 15 pounds per month, but you get the first month free. And for that you get travel insurance, which someone could really benefit from. And you get five points per pound when you spend money, which can be very rewarding.

00:09:59:17 - 00:10:08:22
Unknown
Yeah. It's great if you have a trip planned. Right. And you know. Exactly. Okay. This is the the only trip you're going to do this year, for example. Can easily cancel after this one month, free trip period

00:10:15:07 - 00:10:37:02
Unknown
Yes. Yeah. Yeah. This, this one is fascinating. This one is fascinating to me because I don't really think it's sort of picked up or taken off here in the UK, but they're still around. A few years ago, I may have said, I don't think that they're going to survive a bit like curve. Kind of felt like they were sort of inventing, creating something that we didn't really need.

00:10:37:04 - 00:10:42:18
Unknown
But essentially currency works is like a layer on top of your normal card,

00:10:42:17 - 00:10:53:09
Unknown
That's through Open Banking Union. And it essentially just sets up a direct debit. So when you tap your currency card to pay, it then draws the money out of your main bank account

00:10:53:08 - 00:10:56:16
Unknown
it's not the best because there are limits to the free plan.

00:10:56:15 - 00:11:01:17
Unknown
So you get fee free spending with the mid-market rate up to 500 pounds.

00:11:01:17 - 00:11:03:21
Unknown
And then after that there's a 1% fee.

00:11:03:20 - 00:11:08:23
Unknown
There's also a limit on ATM withdrawals 200 pounds per month, and after that there's a 2% fee.

00:11:08:23 - 00:11:11:13
Unknown
So there are some caveats. I

00:11:26:07 - 00:11:27:04
Unknown
Yeah.

00:11:27:03 - 00:11:29:23
Unknown
only it was that simple my friend. Unfortunately no

00:11:30:03 - 00:11:39:04
Unknown
with the Revolut Free plan you you get the Revolut rate, which isn't the interbank rate, which isn't the mid-market rate.

00:11:39:04 - 00:11:49:19
Unknown
We know that there is a little bit of a mock up on that. It's probably more aligned with Mastercard rather than trading two, one, two, which I probably like the best possible rate available.

00:11:49:18 - 00:11:53:11
Unknown
Revolut also have weekend mock ups of 1% for the free plan,

00:11:53:10 - 00:12:00:01
Unknown
so you have to exchange currencies prior to the weekend to avoid that, which could be a hassle, but also does come with its benefits.

00:12:00:01 - 00:12:01:02
Unknown
For example, you can

00:12:01:01 - 00:12:10:00
Unknown
do it as a budgeting exercise so you exchange money ahead of time. You'd say, that's all I'm going to spend this weekend, so it's already done. Your budgeting that can be beneficial.

00:12:09:23 - 00:12:15:22
Unknown
ATM withdrawal fees, yen two and you only get 200 pounds of fee free ATM withdrawals with Revolut per month.

00:12:16:00 - 00:12:22:03
Unknown
That's not great, particularly when you're looking at Starling. You let you draw up to 300 pounds per day for free.

00:12:22:02 - 00:12:26:08
Unknown
And you don't get cashback when you're spending either. You get rev points, and with the free plan, you get

00:12:26:07 - 00:12:27:19
Unknown
You're going to get

00:12:27:18 - 00:12:31:05
Unknown
Like why we talk ref points? You don't even get that right. You got

00:12:44:06 - 00:12:54:17
Unknown
The yeah. Spare change.

00:12:54:19 - 00:12:58:03
Unknown
Oh.

00:12:58:05 - 00:13:03:12
Unknown
I guess it's a user friendly place to like to spend money. It's like a really nice app.

00:13:03:11 - 00:13:06:08
Unknown
It's difficult.

00:13:06:07 - 00:13:14:16
Unknown
speaking. Like, if there's one thing that Revolut does well, it's develop, develop apps. Right. And makes make make everything function really well together.

00:13:14:16 - 00:13:27:20
Unknown
Yeah, you've got a good app. You got an opportunity to do budgeting because you can exchange currencies ahead of time. And it's a multi-currency account. So you can hold different currencies. But apart from that it's pretty difficult to make an argument for Revolut.

00:13:27:19 - 00:13:34:20
Unknown
The free plan at least. You know with metal with ultra you get travel insurance is you get discounted lounge access or free lounge access.

00:13:34:21 - 00:13:42:22
Unknown
Those could be beneficial, but those aren't beneficial for traveling. But we're here to talk about the free plans only, and with Wise it's more of the same,

00:13:42:21 - 00:13:50:14
Unknown
you know, with probably even less. I mean, look wise will charge you a fixed fee. When you exchange currencies, you'll get the mid-market rate, but you'll always have a fixed fee.

00:13:50:13 - 00:13:54:19
Unknown
And if you're just constantly tapping wiser, renowned for being transparent with fees.

00:13:54:19 - 00:14:01:18
Unknown
But when you're constantly tapping that wise card, you know when you're tapping that wise God, going to quickly be able to see how much the fee is going to be.

00:14:01:17 - 00:14:05:06
Unknown
You do know you're going to get a good exchange rate, but you are going to get a fixed fee with wise

00:14:05:05 - 00:14:06:09
Unknown
you know, what else is there. Yeah.

00:14:06:09 - 00:14:17:06
Unknown
And what else do they have to offer? I mean, there's ATM withdrawal limits, which isn't good. But I'm talking about pros like what what do wise bring to the table that could benefit someone who's traveling. There's no reward scheme.

00:14:17:05 - 00:14:20:08
Unknown
You're right. Johnny, it's. It's really difficult to make an argument here.

00:14:20:08 - 00:14:21:12
Unknown
if we quickly recap.

00:14:21:11 - 00:14:36:00
Unknown
we've got to make sure that the card that you're using, whatever it is, is using the interbank mid-market rates, or at least Mastercard or Visa's exchange rates, because they're more or less on par with the mid-market. Right. There must be no fixed fees on international spending.

00:14:36:00 - 00:14:41:20
Unknown
None. So avoid American Express, avoid like Avios reward cards like the Barclaycard Avios,

00:14:41:19 - 00:14:46:17
Unknown
dynamic currency conversion. You've got to be paying in the local currency when you're spending money internationally.

00:14:46:16 - 00:14:48:16
Unknown
And then of course getting money out.

00:14:48:18 - 00:14:52:06
Unknown
How to get cash out. Yeah. Your advice on sending money to yourself

00:14:52:05 - 00:15:10:02
Unknown
Yeah, it's definitely good option. In case you still want to withdraw from an ATM, make sure to compare the fees beforehand. Right there. There. Really good blog articles from almost every country available, where ATM fees are being compared. And then just see whichever ATM is nearby and then choose it based on the fees.

00:15:10:02 - 00:15:17:02
Unknown
Don't just walk into an ATM, possibly a euro net one and then pay a yeah, really high fee.

00:15:17:04 - 00:15:18:13
Unknown
You might not even notice.

00:15:18:13 - 00:15:22:03
Unknown
and let us know if you have any questions on any of these cards that we've discussed today.

00:15:22:02 - 00:15:26:10
Unknown
and if you have any topic requests for future videos or episodes, just let us know.