Another Foreign Transaction Fee Bites the Dust

After 20 years working in the travel industry, and 15 years writing about it, Tim Winship knows a thing or two about travel. Follow him on Twitter @twinship.

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Late last year, I wrote approvingly that foreign transaction fees for credit card charges were becoming an endangered species.

American Express had just announced that it would discontinue the fees for its Platinum and Centurion cards.

At the time, Capital One cards were already free of foreign fees, as were the Chase-issued cards linked to the programs of United (Club Visa only), Continental (Presidential Plus card only), British Airways, InterContinental, and Hyatt, and the Chase Sapphire Preferred card.

Citibank subsequently eliminated the fees for users of its ThankYou Premier and Prestige cards (annual fee: $125 and $500, respectively).

And now, Chase has added the Marriott Rewards Premier Visa card to its portfolio of rewards cards with no foreign transaction fee.

That makes Chase the industry leader not just in travel rewards credit cards, but also in cards with no foreign transaction fees. More importantly, the new move further solidifies the trend away from such fees, putting pressure on other card issuers to do the same.

A Good Time to Go Free-Free

If you travel overseas and are in the market for a credit card that allows you to charge purchases without the surcharge, there’s never been a better time to sign up for a fee-free card. Bonuses for new travel rewards cardholders are high generally, and especially high in a couple of cases.

The 50,000-mile bonus for new British Airways cards remains in effect. And there’s currently an uncommonly lucrative promotion for new Capital One Venture card sign-ups: up to 110,000 points for those who can show they’ve earned at least 100,000 miles in one of many airline programs.

Reader Reality Check

How much of a concern are foreign transaction fees to you?

Do you feel that foreign transaction fees are fair and reasonable?

This article originally appeared on FrequentFlier.com.

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