A low-fee debit card wins on cost for most trips.
For most Australians a debit card on an account with no foreign transaction fee is the cheapest way to spend overseas, because it converts at the Visa or Mastercard wholesale rate with nothing added.
The card marketed hardest to Australian travellers - at the airport, in bank branches, in the checkout flow of travel agents - is the prepaid travel money card. It is also the one consumer group CHOICE found generally loses.
Who it suits: Almost everyone, for almost every trip.
Spends at the Visa or Mastercard wholesale rate with no foreign transaction fee added. That rate is the benchmark the other options are measured against, and nothing beats it.
Watch: It has to be an account that actually waives the fee. A standard big-four everyday card is not one of these, and some accounts only waive it if you meet monthly deposit conditions.
Who it suits: Longer trips, several countries, or anyone who wants to lock a rate in advance.
Holds balances in dozens of currencies and converts at a small disclosed fee. Useful when you want to fix a rate before you fly rather than take whatever the day gives you.
Watch: Conversion is cheap but not free, and some providers price weekends differently to weekdays because the currency markets are shut.
Who it suits: Car hire, hotel holds, and anything where you want a chargeback if it goes wrong.
The strongest consumer protection of the three. A disputed charge on a credit card can be charged back, which is genuinely worth having on a large or prepaid booking.
Watch: Cash advances are a different product with different rules. Withdrawing cash on a credit card usually attracts interest from the moment you do it, with no interest-free period.
Who it suits: Genuinely hard to recommend to most travellers on cost.
The one most heavily marketed at the airport and in bank branches, and the one CHOICE found generally loses to a low-fee debit card - because the rate you get when loading currency is usually worse than the Visa or Mastercard rate a debit card spends at.
Watch: Its real advantages are narrow but real: it is not linked to your main bank account, and you can lock a rate. If those matter to you, they are worth paying something for. Just know that you are paying.
These are the fee ranges CHOICE found across the market, not the fees of any one product. No card charges all of them, and a good one charges few. The point is how many separate places there are for a fee to sit.
| Fee | Range | When it applies |
|---|---|---|
| Loading the card | 0.5% to 1.1% | Charged when you put money on, and it varies by how you pay. |
| Currency conversion | 0.63% to 2.95% | The spread added when your money is converted. The widest-ranging fee, and the one that does the most damage. |
| ATM withdrawal | $1.95 to $3.50 | Per withdrawal, on top of anything the ATM operator charges. |
| Cashing out what is left | around $10 | Charged to get your own unspent money back. |
| Inactivity | up to $4 a month | Charged if you leave a balance sitting on a card you have stopped using. |
The conversion fee is the one that does the real damage, because it applies to everything you load and the range is wide enough that two cards sold in the same airport can differ by more than four times.
Two of its advantages are real. It is not linked to your everyday bank account, so losing it does not expose your savings. And you can lock an exchange rate in before you fly, which has genuine value if you are travelling somewhere with a volatile currency or you simply want the budget fixed. If either matters to you, a prepaid card is a defensible choice. Just make it knowing you are paying for those two things, rather than believing it is the cheaper option.
Two to three weeks. Opening a fee-free transaction account is usually same-day, but the physical card arrives by post and that is what takes the time. Leave it to the week of departure and you will be relying on a digital card in a wallet app, which is fine in Singapore and useless at a rural ATM.
While you are there, do the three things that cost nothing: activate the card and set its PIN before you leave, check your daily withdrawal limit and raise it if it is low, and make sure the mobile number your bank holds is one you can actually receive messages on overseas. A blocked card is usually a verification code sent to a number you left behind.
At least two, on different networks and different accounts, carried in different places. Cards get blocked by fraud systems, swallowed by ATMs and skimmed, and the failure always happens at the worst moment. A spare card is the cheapest travel insurance there is.
Try the local-currency option if you were offered a conversion, then try a different ATM before assuming the card is the problem - a machine refusing one network will often take another. Most Australian banks now let you unblock a card yourself in the app, which is faster than an international call. Some banks still want a travel notice and many no longer accept one, so check your own bank’s app before you fly rather than assuming either way.
The habit that saves the most: when a terminal or an ATM offers to charge you in Australian dollars, decline it and choose the local currency. Why that matters.
It depends on the bank, and the picture has changed. Many Australian banks no longer require or even accept a travel notice because fraud monitoring is automatic, while some still ask for one and will block a card without it. Check your own bank's app before you fly - it is usually a setting rather than a phone call. Either way, make sure the mobile number they hold is one you can receive messages on overseas.
Yes, anywhere contactless is accepted, and the fees are whatever the underlying card charges - adding a card to a wallet changes nothing about its rate or its foreign transaction fee. It is genuinely useful as a backup if a physical card is lost, and in Japan it is the easiest way to load a Suica transport card. It will not help you at an ATM.
A credit card. Deposits and pre-authorisations place a hold on funds, and on a debit card that hold is your own money, locked up for days after checkout. On a credit card it uses the credit limit instead. Some car hire companies will not accept a debit card for the security hold at all.
It sits there, and it can cost you. Cashing out an unused balance commonly attracts a fee of around $10, and some cards charge an inactivity fee of up to $4 a month once the card has been dormant for a set period. If you use one, spend the balance down before you get home rather than leaving a float on it.
Start from the top: travel money cards by destination, or read the overview in travel money for Australians.
Last reviewed 3 September 2026. Account fees and conditions change without notice, and the accounts that waive a fee today may not tomorrow. Confirm anything that matters against the product disclosure statement and the sources below.
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