One of the biggest concerns when preparing a trip is usually how to get money abroad without commissions. There are several ways, but in almost all you usually end up patting a pinch of commissions. For some years now we have always chosen not to carry anything in cash and withdraw money at ATMs once we arrive in the country. But What card to use in travel? How to get money abroad without being charged commissions?
Then we tell you the options you have to be able to have money abroad, and we give you more details about each of the cards we recommend for traveling.
There are several ways to dispose of our money when you are traveling. Here we tell you what they are:
A. Change money in our bank (in case we travel to a country with a different currency). We do not recommend it because they usually apply high commissions. You would also carry a lot of cash on top. There is a cheaper alternative that is to ask for currency in one of the online exchange houses, with many better prices.
B. Change money at a bank or exchange office at the destination (in the case of a different currency) or bring a high figure of euros. In the first case, the commissions and the exchange rate will be better than in your bank, but you will continue to lose some money. He also still has the problem of carrying a lot of money on him. In case you choose to change money abroad, it is important not to do it at the exchange houses or banks of the airport and look for some more convenient in the city. Compare between several and decide.
C. Withdraw money at ATMs using the usual cards. The most normal is that the conditions of these cards are unfavorable, so before traveling, find out in your bank. There are two concepts to consider:
- Commission for getting money at another ATM. It is usually a% (over 4 or 5%) of the total amount withdrawn. If you get € 500 you can pay commissions up to € 25, little joke!
- Exchange rate. If they apply an official table or "swell" these exchange rates to make them unfavorable.
D. Take out money with special cards. There are cards that allow you to get money abroad without commission and applying an official exchange rate. Taking money at the destination will allow you not to carry your pockets full of bills and refill them when you need them. Then we tell you more about each of these cards, although we anticipate that we use the Bnext card and the N26 card, and that is what we recommend.
Once we have decided to get money at foreign ATMs, we have to know how our bank can charge us commissions. It would be in two ways:
1. Commission for withdrawal of cash abroad: usually a% of the total amount withdrawn or a fixed amount. This commission is charged by virtually all banks and you will have to look in the card contract to know exactly how much they charge you. For example our cardOpenbank It charges 4.5% if money is taken outside the EU and 0.20% + € 1.30 if it is in a country outside Spain but from the EU.
2. Exchange rate applied: this is the table of exchange rates used for their operations. There are many banks that rely on the official quote of Mastercard, but for exampleEvo Bank applies its own exchange rates (obviously more unfavorable).
Some time ago we trustedEvo, until they changed the policy of withdrawals abroad, without thereby modifying their slogan WITHOUT COMMISSIONS. How? Before they applied the official exchange rate of VISA, but later they removed from the sleeve a own conversion table that, look where you always benefit them. Come on, a full-blown undercover commission!
To make it easier, let's give a practical example: we are traveling through Thailand and we get 10,000 THB of a cashier (about € 300) and we make a THB 1,000 payment in a hotel (about € 30) *. This is what would happen with different cards:
| Bank | Withdrawal of THB 10,000 | THB 1,000 payment |
| N26 STANDARD | 304,60€ (1,7%) | 29,95€ |
| N26 YOU OR METAL | 299,51€ | 29,95€ |
| BNEXT | 299,81€ | 29,98€ |
| OPENBANK | 312,99€ (4,5%) | 31,29€ (3%) |
| EVO BANK | 308,48€ | 30,85€ |
* At the time of writing the article, the official change was as follows: THB 10,000 = € 298.57 / THB 1,000 = € 29.86
As you can see, the best options for withdrawals of the cashier are the Bnext card or the N26 cards with payment plans. The next would be the standard N26 card and finally the Evo Banco card and those of the other traditional banks. For make payments It is worth anyone except the bank of a lifetime (this is what we are trying to avoid).
Formerly EVO It was a very good solution, but since they apply their own exchange rate table we see that the situation is very unfavorable (almost € 10 of undercover commission for this withdrawal). Openbank It can be the example of most banks, which charge a percentage of the amount withdrawn, in this case € 13! On the contrary, the Bnext card and the N26 with premium plans They do not charge any commission and apply the official exchange rate of Visa and Mastercad respectively. These are undoubtedly the best options.
It is the card we recommend, and the one we use as the first option to get money and pay abroad.
- Where does Bnext come from? It is an idea of two Spanish entrepreneurs in the finance sector, which emerged in 2017 and are slowly filling in their pink cards with travelers' wallets.
- What does it offer?Bnext is not a bank itself. It is a prepaid card that you manage through your app. Basically it is a VISA card with a balance that you recharge through the app as you need money, such as a transport voucher. For the purposes of payments or cash withdrawals, it works like any other card. Applying for it is completely free and there is no expense. It has other financial services that we will not detail.
- Card limits. Withdrawals of up to € 500 at foreign ATMs per month without commissions (from that amount, they charge a 1.4% commission). Maximum amount of € 2,000 for purchases in currencies other than €.
- How to operate? Through its app, there you can make the recharges out (using the normal card you have for purchases) and check all movements.
- Request it through this link and get € 5 of free balances. Please note that you will receive this € 5 balance once you activate your card.
Apply for the Bnext card
It is a perfect complement to the previous card. We have both, and they are the ones we use in all our trips.
- Where does N26 come from? It is a newly created German bank (2015) that offers all kinds of financial services. Among them the one that interests us: the N26 account.
- What does it offer? There are different types of accounts, with Mastercard included. Unlike Bnext, this is an account with Spanish IBAN, so the operation is more complete. There is a free option, the standard N26, and other premium options that cost from € 10 per month, with more interesting advantages, such as travel insurance, promotions, etc ...
- Card limits. If you take out within the euro zone, you will have a limit of 5 withdrawals without commissions (€ 2 from the sixth). But if you take in foreign currency, a commission of 1.7% (which is not much, but that is something) on the free N26 is applied. Premium plans have no commissions.
- How to operate? It is used like any bank, with your app and your personal area on the web. You can also use it as a daily use account, and not just a travel solution, by having Spanish IBAN.
Request the N26 card
Very similar to the Bnext card, but with the lowest limits. We see:
- Where does Revolut come from? It is a British start-up that began operating in 2014. After making its way across Europe, it entered Spain a couple of years ago and is already well known in the traveler's world.
- What does it offer? It is similar to the N26, with Mastercard included, and an account with IBAN is also opened. There is a free version, with more limits, and a premium version that costs € 8 per month.
- Card limits. In the free version, it has a limit of € 200 in foreign ATMs per month without commissions (from there they apply 2%) and a maximum amount of € 500 in purchases in currency other than €. The limits are not much higher in the paid versions, so we do not see it at all interesting.
- How to operate? Through its app, there you can make the recharges out (using the normal card you have for purchases) and check all movements.
Request the Revolut card
It is more similar to a traditional bank, with beneficial conditions to get money abroad.
- Where does Ferratumbank come from? It is a bank based in Malta but operating in up to 23 countries around the world. They do not have trades and base all their management on online banking. There is customer service in Spain through telephone (910 479 723) and e-mail ([email protected]).
- What does it offer? You can open a free checking account and a Mastercard debit card will be sent, with no commissions or maintenance costs, the one that interests us to travel!
- Card limits. With the card you can make up to 4 withdrawals per month without cost and without hidden fees, from the fifth the price is € 2.99 per withdrawal.
- How to operate? It is a totally online bank, to make your efforts just download the app and operate through it.
- Eye. Being a Maltese account it is not possible to direct payments or payroll, so we recommend it as a second account, with which to operate when you travel.
Apply for the Ferratum Bank card
If you want to have a simple and effective card, which does not link to the opening of any account, completely free and with quite high limits, the best is undoubtedly Bnext. But as always we recommend you take several cards on a trip, you never know when one can fail you, so the ideal would be to combine it with the free N26 card, which also offers good conditions.
To top it off, we make these warnings:
- There are some commissions that local banks apply that we cannot get rid of. They do not always exist.
- If when you get money the cashier offers you an exchange rate, never accept it, it is usually very bad.
- Take several cards, if you only have one and it fails, you'll be in the shit!
- When you take money from the cashier, always cover the keypad when putting the PIN and check that the plastic part where the card is inserted is not an additive.
- Make money at shopping centers or at ATMs within bank offices.
- Check the movements of the card every so often through the apps. If you find any strange movement, analyze it and if it is a robbery, notify the bank as soon as possible and lock the card.
We hope you have a little clearer now how to get money abroad without commissions and you can compare between all travel cards We have introduced you.
