Best travel money cards compared

Travel money cards compete on one number, and it’s almost never printed on the card: how far the rate you get sits from the mid-market rate. Everything else (the app, the colour of the metal, the cashback on coffee) is secondary. So before comparing providers, it’s worth being precise about where the money actually goes.

Mid-market rate vs markup

The mid-market rate is the midpoint between what banks pay to buy and sell a currency on the wholesale market. It’s the rate you see on Google or on reference sources such as the European Central Bank’s euro reference rates. Nobody on the retail side gives it to you for free. They either:

1. Add a markup to the rate (you get fewer euros per dollar and aren’t told the difference), or
2. Give you the mid-market rate and charge a visible fee, or
3. Use the card network’s rate (Visa or Mastercard; you can check Mastercard’s on its currency converter) and then add a foreign transaction fee on top.

A fee you can see is always easier to compare than a markup you can’t.

A worked example (illustrative numbers)

Say the mid-market rate is 1 USD = 0.90 EUR. These numbers are made up to keep the maths clean; check today’s rate before relying on anything.

• At the mid-market rate, 100 USD buys 90.00 EUR.
• A card with a 3% markup baked into the rate gives you 0.873 EUR per dollar, so 100 USD buys 87.30 EUR. You’ve lost 2.70 EUR without seeing a fee line.
• A card that uses the mid-market rate and charges a 0.5% visible fee gives you 89.55 EUR.

On one purchase, the difference is a coffee. Over a month of spending, it’s a nice dinner. The bigger losses come from two things that have nothing to do with which card you chose: dynamic currency conversion and ATM fees.

The cards, side by side

We compared two partners and two non-partners using each provider’s own fee pages. Fees vary by country of residence and plan, so treat this as a map of how each one charges, then click through for your region’s numbers.

Card	What it is	How it converts	ATM withdrawals	Who can get it
Wise Partner	Multi-currency account and debit card	Mid-market rate plus a visible conversion fee that varies by currency	A monthly free allowance (UK: up to £250 at the time of writing), then a percentage fee; ATM operators may add their own	Residents of many countries; check Wise’s availability list
Revolut Partner	App-based account and card, tiered plans	Free up to a monthly fair-usage limit that depends on plan; fee above it; extra fee on weekends for lower tiers	Free allowance depends on plan and region	Many regions, with region-specific pricing (US page)
Currensea	Travel debit card that links to your existing UK bank account	Own rate by plan tier (free Essential tier, paid Pro and Elite tiers)	See Currensea’s current terms	UK bank account holders
Schwab Bank Investor Checking	US checking account, Visa debit card	No foreign transaction fee from Schwab; Visa or ATM network sets the rate	Unlimited ATM fee rebates worldwide	US customers, linked to a Schwab One brokerage account

A few notes that don’t fit in a table:

• Wise is the most transparent of the four: you can see the fee before you convert, and holding balances in multiple currencies helps if you get paid in one currency and spend in another.
• Revolut’s weekend fee is the classic trap. Currency markets close at weekends, so Revolut charges an extra fee on Standard and Plus plans (UK) for exchanges during that window, per its help page. Convert on a Thursday if you’re heading off on a Friday.
• Currensea is interesting for UK travellers who don’t want a new bank: nothing to top up, it debits your existing account.
• Schwab is famous among US travellers mainly for the ATM rebates. Note the requirement for a linked brokerage account.

Dynamic currency conversion: always say no

Dynamic currency conversion (DCC) is when a card terminal or ATM abroad offers to charge you in your home currency. “Would you like to pay in dollars?” sounds helpful. It isn’t. The conversion is done by the merchant’s provider, at a rate that typically carries a bigger markup than your card’s. Wikipedia’s DCC entry cites markups that have run as high as 18%.

The EU tightened the rules: Regulation (EU) 2019/518 requires the total currency conversion charges to be shown as a percentage markup over the latest ECB euro reference rate. Card schemes require that DCC be optional. So you’ll usually be asked. The rule of thumb:

• Always choose to pay in the local currency. Let your card do the conversion.
• At ATMs, pick “without conversion” or “decline conversion” on the screen, even if the wording is designed to make you nervous.
• If a waiter hands you a terminal already set to your home currency, ask them to cancel and rerun it in local currency. You’re entitled to the choice.

ATM fees

Cash costs come in three layers, and good cards only remove one or two of them:

1. Your card’s fee. A percentage or flat fee from your own provider once you exceed any free allowance. Wise and Revolut publish their allowances; Schwab rebates ATM fees.
2. The ATM operator’s fee. Charged by the machine’s owner. Standalone tourist ATMs in airports and old towns tend to be the worst. Bank-branded ATMs attached to a branch are usually a better bet.
3. The DCC offer. See above: always decline.

Practical habits:

• Withdraw less often, in larger amounts if you’re paying a flat operator fee each time, within what you’re comfortable carrying.
• Use a bank ATM, not a standalone one. Look for the bank’s name on the building.
• Carry two cards on different networks (a Visa and a Mastercard) and keep them in different places.
• Check the currency on our currency converter before you go, so you know roughly what a fair rate looks like, and glance at local public holidays in case banks and exchange offices close.

A final check before you leave: tell your home bank you’re travelling if it still asks, make sure the travel card is activated and its PIN works (tap payments abroad sometimes fall back to chip and PIN), and keep a small amount of local cash from the first ATM for the taxi or bus that doesn’t take cards.

None of this makes a travel card free. It just means you pay the smallest, most visible fee, instead of three hidden ones.