Josh is an award-nominated journalist with nearly a decade of experience, including writing for national newspapers. A data whizz, he specialises in covering personal finance and investing.
Anna covers personal finance, helping readers make sense of savings, credit cards and insurance. Her insights are informed by experience in the financial services industry.
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When you make a purchase or take out cash in another currency on a debit or credit card, your bank will charge you to convert what you spend into pounds sterling.
Two factors will determine what this costs you: your card's payment network exchange rate set by Mastercard, Visa or American Express, and the fees your provider adds on top.
Specialist travel credit cards don't come with these fees, making it much cheaper to spend abroad or on foreign websites in another currency.
The table reveals the top credit cards to use for overseas spending or shopping in a foreign currency, and our Best Buys.
Please note that the information in this article is for information purposes only and does not constitute advice. Please refer to the particular terms & conditions of a credit card provider before committing to any financial products.
best buy RECOMMENDED PROVIDER Lloyds Bank Ultra Credit Card Visa | 74% | 0% | 0% | 12.9%. Representative example: assumed borrowing of £1,200 for one year, at a purchase rate of 12.9% (variable), representative 12.9% APR (variable). Credit available subject to status. Terms apply. |
best buy Halifax Clarity Credit Card Visa | 72% | 0% | 0% | 23.9%. Representative example: assumed borrowing of £1,200 for one year, at a purchase rate of 23.9% (variable), representative 23.9% APR (variable). Credit available subject to status. Terms apply. |
best buy RECOMMENDED PROVIDER Barclaycard Rewards Visa | 77% | 0% | 0% | 28.9%. Representative example: assumed borrowing of £1,200 for one year, at a purchase rate of 28.9% (variable), representative 28.9% APR (variable). Credit available subject to status. Terms apply. |
Bip Credit Card Mastercard | n/a | 0% | 0% | 34.9%. Representative example: assumed borrowing of £1,200 for one year, at a purchase rate of 34.9% (variable), representative 34.9% APR (variable). Credit available subject to status. Terms apply. |
Table notes: table correct as of 2 March 2026. The average provider customer score is 75%. n/a means we didn’t receive enough responses to generate a customer score. For more information on our research and the terms we use in the table skip to how we analyse credit card providers and deals.
The Lloyds Ultra, Halifax Clarity and Barclaycard Rewards Visa have all been named Which? Best Buys. They have no foreign transaction or cash withdrawal fees, and we also like that they all come with below-average APRs.
The Lloyds Ultra card combines cashback with fee-free spending abroad, making it a strong contender: you can earn 1% cashback in the first year and 0.25% after that.
The Bip credit card also has no fees for spending or withdrawing cash abroad. Unfortunately, we didn't get enough respondents in our survey to give Bip a provider customer score.
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It can be difficult to know which credit card provider to pick, and when you become a customer, it can be too late to change your mind.
Which? has reviewed how 30 providers have performed based on customer service, mobile banking and more.
You can find out more about the biggest names in the travel credit card market and take a look at how they compare in our best credit card providers.
You could face a range of charges for using your regular plastic overseas.
Typically, your card will either exchange at the Mastercard, Visa or American Express wholesale rate.
Providers then apply a variety of fees to make the exchange, depending on the type of transaction, which is where costs can really start racking up.
There are three types of charges that can be layered on when using a credit card:
So it's important to choose carefully, as some cards could prove to be a costly travel companion. Use the wrong card, and you could be hit with all three of these charges.
Specialist travel credit cards will normally waive the non-sterling transaction fee and, in some cases, the cash fee too, making it much cheaper to spend on foreign transactions.
Now that you know what to look for, check what your credit card provider charges on foreign transactions to see if you might be better off with a specialist travel credit card.
Most credit card providers charge a non-sterling transaction fee of 2.99% and a non-sterling cash fee of 3% (minimum £3), plus cash advance interest that can be as high as 29.9% and sometimes charged daily.
So a card spend of £10 can cost you 30p, but a £10 cash withdrawal could cost you £3.30 at the time, plus interest that will depend on the terms of the card.
Even with a card that doesn't charge a fee for overseas cash machine withdrawals, you may still want to avoid taking money out.
This is because you'll typically incur interest straight away and sometimes at a higher rate.
If you're organised and pay off your credit card really quickly, you can prevent these charges from racking up. But this may be a hassle you'd rather avoid.
There is also a small risk of harming your credit rating if you use your credit card for ATM withdrawals.
If you've got a top overseas card, always choose the local currency when making a payment, as your card does the exchange at the best rates.
You should aim to pay back what you owe each month to avoid interest racking up, unless you can secure a card with a 0% purchase period.
Anna McClean, credit card market analyst, says: 'At Which? we put credit card products and providers under the microscope to help you save time when shopping around for a new deal.
'We run a survey each year to gather the experiences of customers to help us find the best providers, and we keep a close eye on the credit card market to determine which deals are the best in their category.'
Here's some more information about our research and the terms we use in this guide.
Our provider customer scores for credit card companies are based on an online survey of 4,995 members of the public, in November 2025.
Provider customer scores are worked out using a combination of overall satisfaction and the likelihood of recommending the provider to a friend.
We also ask these credit card customers to rate brands on six categories, including customer service, mobile banking and more, so you can get an idea of the quality of service you might receive before you sign up.
Sample sizes for customer score: Barclays/Barclaycard (801), American Express (379), Lloyds (364), Tesco Bank (350), NatWest (302), Halifax (292), Capital One (288), HSBC (281), Santander (229), Nationwide (205), M&S Bank (147), MBNA (135), Monzo (110), Amazon (by Barclaycard) (89), Virgin Money (including Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank) (83), Aqua (83), Royal Bank of Scotland (76), Vanquis Bank (73), John Lewis/Waitrose (71), Virgin Atlantic by Virgin Money (59), First Direct (58), Chase (56), Zopa (56), British Airways American Express (53), Bank of Scotland (53), TSB (51), Co-operative Bank (Co-op) (49), Asda Money (47), 118 118 Money (44), Klarna credit card (43).
To be a Which? Recommended Provider for credit cards, a credit card company must:
We only award Which? Recommended Providers to the lenders that meet our benchmarks on customer service and product offering.
A Best Buy credit card must have been one of the top five cards in its category for the past three months. They also need to satisfy specific criteria for the type of card, such as the size of balance transfer fee, or length of 0% period.
A provider must have also achieved a provider customer score of over 71% in our latest credit card satisfaction survey. Each year, we ask thousands of customers to rate their providers and calculate a provider customer score based on their responses to find the best credit card providers.
We also review our analysis regularly, which means we will withdraw Best Buys if providers make adverse changes to APRs, 0% periods or fees.
We’re not influenced by third parties. We work entirely on behalf of you, the consumer – nobody else. See our statement of editorial independence for more.