What is the best Credit Card to use when travelling outisde the country?

[Tirong-say]

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Akoa kay BPI corporate card man, pero okay ra baya...........

[blueblueblue]

I have always used my HSBC visa cc when I go abroad. I usually set a budget for food, accommodations, transportation fare and the like, and exchange currency before I leave. With this, I really rely on my credit card for shopping and other unexpected purchases. I had no problems for the past years of using my card abroad because for me it's more convenient then exchanging a large amount of pesos to USD or the country's currency and not having to use them after. Alkansi nsad cge pa-change2. So far ok rsad ang exchange rate sa HSBC.

Recently lng ko ngka-problema nila. Sa previous travels nko, I never informed HSBC na mularga ko. Sa kdgahn times nko ni-gamit sa akong card abroad, ok pirmi. But pgMarch 2010, embarrassing kau akong experience. I used my card in one store and pgswipe sa store personnel sa machine, ni display btaw na ug 'call bank.' Ni-try sila call sa HSBC Phils then no answer, almost midnight na nuon to. So the personnel just told me to come back the next day. Pgbalik nko sa next day same ghapon, 'call bank' and pgcall nila sa bank ang reply ky 'no approval.' Lagota nko uy ky kabalo gd ko na dako pko ug credit limit. Hibong jd ko why no approval. Nka-ahat ko ug call long distance sa HSBC Phils cust service.

Sus pgstorya namo g-hold nila akong account for security reasons daw. I understand their point ky makita na nila naay transactions abroad. If SOP na nila, why just now? Sa many times of using my card before, ok rman kau maskin wala ko nitawag to inform them of my travel. First time nko experience in-ato. Ang gkalagotan jd nko ky nghold2 sila but wala gni sila ng effort ug contact nko to verify if ako ba jd. Gpasagdan ra nila ang situation.

Makita sd nila sa transaction history nko na it wasn't my first time to use my card outside the Philippines. Mayta wala nlang sila nghold2 if dli sila mu verify. Wala sd ko kabaw sa ilang plano if ig abot nko dri Phils ko nila sultian. Ambot lng jd. 3 days ra jd akng vacation and nasayang ang 1day nko cge blik2 sa store and cge call nila. One thing sd, ni adto ko HSBC branch didto na country and wala jd sila ma-offer na help. After sa cge long distance na normalize akong account pg 3rd and last day nko. Ending daku kau akong phone bill tungod cge tawag long distance sa HSBC phils cust service.

Bad experience kau to for me. Gnhan ko continue pa nila ky not considering this, ok rman ang HSBC but mka bad trip lng jd kani nahappen.

[Hotmomma]

Visa or AMEX

[rambutan]

mabuhay miles..
mc man guru ni.. "sayang ang miles".. hehehe

[a_girl]

ive been to singapore last august and i used my citibank mastercard in almost all my transactions there. there was no conversion fee when i checked my bill. the exchange rate imposed by citbank was i think reasonable.

besides, u cant rely on using cash on all ur purchases abroad as some immigration imposes a limit on the amount u can bring in to their country, i.e. for singapore 10,000 singapore dollars

so make sure a credit card is handy when travelling abroad

I think u've made a very good statement here and that's what i've also observed when I travelled to Hongkong just last March. Although I used HSBC, I can now conclude that using International Credit Cards may be more beneficial when purchasing abroad coz they do not charge conversion rates (at least for HSBC & Citibank, well... there's always an exception with other int'l banks).

Bringing in lots of cash is not a good idea. It's better to bring your ATM card that has a Cirrus, Maestro, Visa, Mastercard logo printed on it and just withraw cash in ATM's abroad (they charge only USD3.5 or P160 per withdrawal compared to your expense in buying Dollars in cash).

I have observed that local banks' (ex. Metrobank & RCBC) credit cards charge more in currency conversion, so even if they dont put any conversion fee in your CC statement, the converted amount in Peso is relatively higher compared to International Banks (HSBC & Citibank).

So with this we already have an idea on what to do to get more value out of our money when travelling abroad.

[a_girl]

I have always used my HSBC visa cc when I go abroad. I usually set a budget for food, accommodations, transportation fare and the like, and exchange currency before I leave. With this, I really rely on my credit card for shopping and other unexpected purchases. I had no problems for the past years of using my card abroad because for me it's more convenient then exchanging a large amount of pesos to USD or the country's currency and not having to use them after. Alkansi nsad cge pa-change2. So far ok rsad ang exchange rate sa HSBC.


Recently lng ko ngka-problema nila. Sa previous travels nko, I never informed HSBC na mularga ko. Sa kdgahn times nko ni-gamit sa akong card abroad, ok pirmi. But pgMarch 2010, embarrassing kau akong experience. I used my card in one store and pgswipe sa store personnel sa machine, ni display btaw na ug 'call bank.' Ni-try sila call sa HSBC Phils then no answer, almost midnight na nuon to. So the personnel just told me to come back the next day. Pgbalik nko sa next day same ghapon, 'call bank' and pgcall nila sa bank ang reply ky 'no approval.' Lagota nko uy ky kabalo gd ko na dako pko ug credit limit. Hibong jd ko why no approval. Nka-ahat ko ug call long distance sa HSBC Phils cust service.

Sus pgstorya namo g-hold nila akong account for security reasons daw. I understand their point ky makita na nila naay transactions abroad. If SOP na nila, why just now? Sa many times of using my card before, ok rman kau maskin wala ko nitawag to inform them of my travel. First time nko experience in-ato. Ang gkalagotan jd nko ky nghold2 sila but wala gni sila ng effort ug contact nko to verify if ako ba jd. Gpasagdan ra nila ang situation.

Makita sd nila sa transaction history nko na it wasn't my first time to use my card outside the Philippines. Mayta wala nlang sila nghold2 if dli sila mu verify. Wala sd ko kabaw sa ilang plano if ig abot nko dri Phils ko nila sultian. Ambot lng jd. 3 days ra jd akng vacation and nasayang ang 1day nko cge blik2 sa store and cge call nila. One thing sd, ni adto ko HSBC branch didto na country and wala jd sila ma-offer na help. After sa cge long distance na normalize akong account pg 3rd and last day nko. Ending daku kau akong phone bill tungod cge tawag long distance sa HSBC phils cust service.

Bad experience kau to for me. Gnhan ko continue pa nila ky not considering this, ok rman ang HSBC but mka bad trip lng jd kani nahappen.[/quote]



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For security reasons there are really times that banks would strictly impose their SOP, sort of batch processing sa mga accounts, and aside from this they really have their own confidential reasons to do this. Not only HSBC is doing this, even with Metrobank I also had the same experience and resulted to just cancelling my purchase. Sometimes its also difficult to contact them, whatever the reason whether technical or operations related.

So with this we cannot relly on a single credit card alone for our expenses abroad. It is really necessary to bring enough cash for special, emergency or cash-only-accepted expenses. It is best to bring at least 2 Credit Cards (a Visa and a Mastercard), and also an ATM (if ever ull be short of cash). Aside from this, do not put all your Cash & Credit Cards in one place, leave some in your secured luggage, some in your wallet. Just in case something happens, at least u still have a backup. This is the best strategy for financial security when travelling abroad.

[shewholovesthebeach]

Mastercard for me!

[P-Chan]

ako suggestion nimo TS since hilig man ka mo travel kuha ka ug card nga maka earn ug miles.. especially kung frequent flier ka.. i.piyong nalng if ever mahal2x siya gamay.. think of it nag hinay2x ka ug data2x para sa imu sunod nga biyahe..