Credit cards can be wonderful assets and can also be bothersome liabilities, especially when using them overseas. If you are planning a trip overseas, it may be best to not plan on using your credit card. However, if you are moving overseas, whether temporarily or permanently, and you wish to take a credit card, then there are some things you need to understand. This article will give a few problems with using credit cards overseas.
1. Many credit cards have a charge for using the card outside the United States. If you carefully check your credit card statements, some cards will apply a small fee for every transaction, which adds up quickly. Now as the credit cards are trying to push more things through to help them get more money, you really have to watch the fees add up. Most of the time, this disclaimer is found in the small print and would never be noticed until the bill hits your account. If a person is going to have a credit card and then get charged a fee for using it, then the card is probably no good. There are a few companies that will not charge their cardholders and these are probably the best to go to.
2. Often, a credit card will get declined in a foreign country every time you try and use it. Some companies put a hold on every transaction and you have to call to remove the hold and verify a lot of information. This can be very embarrassing and at the same time cost money to call the company and wait for them to take the hold off. Make sure and check with the company before you leave to a foreign country to make sure this is not the way they will do business. This is more inconvenient than convenient and would not be worth having a credit card like that overseas.
3. If you are not careful, you can have your credit card number stolen. You have to be careful where you use your card or someone else will end up stealing a lot of money from your account or at least try to. Make sure you are using your card at reputable places and even then, you must still check your account regularly.
Before using a credit card overseas, make sure that they stay in line with the three above mentioned ideas.