Credit vs Debit Card Question

How about a compromise. Get a prepaid charge card with a set limit. Whatever the amount of money you put on the card is the maximum you can spend without adding money. This way you have it as a backup in case a debit card will not work. Any money left over you can use at home for essentials. Once used up, throw it away.

You will find that some places in Europe are going cash free. I can't say for sure if they would accept a debit card as I have never tried.

The one issue that I have read about is holds on debit cards which work differently from credit cards. See this article from the points guy.

https://thepointsguy.com/guide/things-need-to-know-debit-credit-card-holds/

you need to read Rick Steves Europe Through The Back Door book, it's often cheaper on Amazon than here on this site.

Also, look here under TRAVEL TIPS -- there is lots of info on money, Debit Cards, CC.

I don't think you should ever go overseas without a CC (be sure it's a NO FOREIGN TRANSACTION FEE CC).

We use it to reserve our train tickets and hotels for Europe several months out.
We go to Europe every Dec for the Xmas markets and most vendors there want cash. You will use your Debit Card to remove Euros there from Bank ATMS - be sure and read the travel tips here about this. We rarely use a CC once we are there, we take out cash using our Debit Card and mostly use cash. But we do have to make reservations with a CC. I've honestly never tried to use a Debit Card over there for hotels, etc so I will be curious as to what others say here. AGAIN, read the TRAVEL TIPS -- MONEY section here.

Using a credit card does not mean you use the credit feature. No, a credit card, if paid off monthly, simply allows a convenient method to pay bills and purchase things.

Getting a credit card is not a compromise for your laudable solution to your former poor use of credit. Here, you may find that a credit card is a great convenience. In many places, I understand now that the "tap-n-pay" form of card is preferred. So you may find that you need such a card.

I'm sure you know that debit cards have a serious problem - if you lose them, you have lost actual money. Not so for credit cards.

I would get the card. We are going to Italy in 2 weeks, for a 3 week trip. We usually have gotten by using little credit, and mostly cash. This year, we plan on using credit a bunch.

You may wish to look into a compromise - using a debit card thru the mechanism of the "google-pay" device.

You could go on line every evening and pay off the card, just for mental well being.

But if it bothers you, just draw on your ATM every day and spend the cash. Pretty much what I do about half the time.

Take a CC, if you end up in the hospital you may need it, you don't have to use it unless you really end up in a situation that requires it. J

I wouldn't travel without one. There may be some unexpected major expense for which you'll need more than what's available in your debit account. For example, you need to come home for an emergency and need some expensive airline tickets to do so. Yes, you have to have the self-discipline not to use them frivolously. It seems much more tempting to have to have a large enough balance in your bank account to cover a whole trip's worth of debit withdrawals.

Whether you bring two different debit cards or debit card and a credit card, never go to Europe with only one. Take it from someone who lost their debit card in Munich after OktoberFest one year. Thankfully I had a backup credit card, and I was able to get a cash advance with it.

I will be more blunt than others. You will need a credit card, I would not travel with less than two.

As others said, one issue is holds put on cards by hotels, and rental car companies can put large holds on.

The other issue is daily limits that your debit card may have.

Look, I get not being tempted to use a credit card, but if your going on this trip, you have the money saved. Get the card, a good no foreign transaction fee one, make sure it is contactless capable, if possible search to see if one is PIN capable for transactions.

Then as someone mentioned, go on periodically during the trip and transfer money and budget your balance. You had the discipline to get rid of your debt, you have the discipline to stay out of debt.

I don't carry a debit card to Europe, only 2 credit cards, at least, if not 3, plus cash,... GBP if I plan on going to England in coin and bills, and of course, a good amount of Euro, coins and bills.

I just got back from the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and Wales. I tap, tap, tapped to pay for almost everything in all those places. Taxis, tourist sites, grocery stores, restaurants, public busses, trains, shops, the ballet, you name it, they all preferred tap and pay and some would not take cash at all.

Out of 10+ taxi drivers, only one wanted cash. One laundry service required cash. And of course I needed cash when I did laundry myself in a local laundromat. I used some cash for tips for the room cleaners. And I used some to round up small tips for restaurant meals. That was it for the cash for 5 weeks of travel.

I got about €100 from an ATM inside a bank in Ireland and about £100 from one in Wales using a debit card. I came home with about 30% of that cash in both currencies.

So, yes, you definitely do need to have a tapable credit card and really should have 2 different ones in case one gets stolen, compromised or lost.

I belong to 2 different credit unions and carry a debit and a tapable credit card from each. I keep one CC available for use and the other 3 cards stay in my money belt with my passport, emergency information, etc.

You don’t need a credit card to make a “tap” payment, debit cards have this feature too. I have a debit card and I’ve used it for contactless payments throughout Europe, from Spain to Finland and from Hungary to the UK.
I do think it’s wise to bring 2 different cards, just in case one gets lost. However it doesn’t have to be 2 credit cards, it can also be a debit and a credit card.

Is your debit card a visa/MasterCard and does it have no foreign transaction fees? If so it should work fine. If, however, it has high fees or is not on the visa/Mc network then you will have difficulty.

Cash is fine for general purchases, but many hotels require a credit card payment or at least a card on file. Car rentals require credit cards (not debit) but renting a car isn’t necessary. Buying things like long distance train tickets ahead of time requires a card (you could probably buy in cash at the station but on many distance trains it’s cheaper to buy ahead, online). Reservations for museum tickets let you skip the lines and sometimes are required, and getting them requires paying online via card. Much of this can be done with a debit card, but look into your fee situation.

Honestly I would not feel comfortable going overseas without a credit card for emergencies but it’s not required.

Truthfully, get whatever CC you can get from your financial institution for a security back-up and DON'T sweat out whether the card has foreign transaction fees or it doesn't - FTFs are usually in the 2.5% range, so on $5,000 that would only amount to $125 in fees.

The real key is to have both DCs and CCs that come with a PIN and are Contactless Pay capable.

From a personal security aspect, I have no problems using a debit card with Contactless Pay, I am, however, always mindful (leary) whenever I need to insert the DC card - bank ATMs excepted.

The law provides significant protection from fraud for credit cards, but not so much for debit cards.

I never use a debit card anywhere the charge anything, except my ATM card to buy cash.

Get a credit card.

but not so much for debit cards

In Canada, the Debit Card issuer offers the same Zero Liability Protection along with all the same fine-print T&C as that offered by Credit Cards.

And this applies to all Interac Debit-related products and services:

Chip and PIN
ABM Withdrawals
Contactless Payments
e-Commerce
Cross-Border Debit
.
AND most importantly for personal card security

Cumulative spend limits are set by banks and credit unions. When the cumulative spend limit is reached, you are prompted to insert your card and enter your PIN to complete the transaction. This validates you as the legitimate cardholder and resets the limits.

I agree with the others about using a credit card; especially in terms of liability and holds. However, if you're worried about using one (and don't want a prepaid card), you might try some psychological maneuvers.

For example, put the money you would be using for the trip (that you are now going to charge) in a separate savings account. You can even name it something specific like "Travel money" or something like that. That way you know the money is there and is separate from your checking account.

Then when you are billed at the end of the month, just use the money for the savings account. No interest and no fees. Once the trip is over, you can cut it up and discard it.

I know when I return home, no matter how much I have prepaid, I have a pretty sizable CC bill. I can't imagine carrying around all that cash or making so many withdrawals from an ATM and running the risk of having some limits put on them. Just have a CC as a backup and continue on with a cash vacation. Emergency situations arise and you may not have enough cash in your pocket to handle it or be able to get to an ATM.

You really are better off with at least one credit card. Yeah I know some people falsely believe having a credit card is the same thing as having to rack up interest charges. It doesn't have to be this way. Just don't charge more than you can afford and not more that what you have in your checking account. Pay the balance before interest charges show up. You can check your credit card bill online more than once a week. You could pay it off that often. Pay attention to whether the charges are real or frauds. Don't be like my mom and aunt who: refuse to use online banking, refuse to pay bills online, refuse to sign up to view bills online, refuse to make reservations online, and so on.

I have no clue whether you can buy plane tickets or make any other reservations with a debit card. Yeah there are still businesses that will exchange US dollars for local currency. They are a huge rip off. Travelers checks are obsolete.

I have taken 5 solo trips to Europe. The only times I had a problem using cash was at certain stores in the Netherlands and Belgium, on streetcars in Amsterdam, and certain museums in the Netherlands and possibly Belgium: Some places would not take cash. Other stores required cash, they would not take a card.

In my travels, I made reservations in advance with a credit card. During my trips I bought food and whatever else with cash when I could use cash. I took the cash out of my account, from automatic teller machines, using a debit card.

I am currently not sophisticated enough to have a no foreign transaction fees credit card. I have a Visa credit card issued by a local bank. My credit card bill showed fees of not more than two US. dollars for each transaction.

I have a second credit card issued by a grocery store. (I since gave up shopping there after getting bad customer service once trying to return/exchange a pair of shoelaces I bought there). If this would matter the card is a World Elite Master card issued by U.S. Bank.

My PNC debit card charges $5 US dollars per time ATM transaction, in addition to fees charged by the machine owner.

I have a debit card issued by Charles Schwab. I understand that it has no fees for automatic teller machines. The Schwab checking account is only supposed to be for those with a schwab investment account. Originally I was looking for an investment bank to set up a Roth Individual Retirement account with. At the time I didn't know that some people might open a Charles Schwab account and leave it empty just for the sake of getting the checking account and debit card. This sounds curiously weird and rule-bending. I didn't set up the checking account until after I had picked and bought exchange traded funds and stocks in the Roth IRA.

Courtney; I applaud your family getting out of debt and I understand your reluctance to apply for or even use a credit card in Europe. I would suggest that you consider getting one just for emergencies or where a vendor wants a card for incidentals. Here is a link from a travel agent regarding traveling with ATM cards only; https://myworldtravelco.com/lets-talk-about-traveling-with-only-a-debit-card/.

For transparency, +20 years ago I proctored several debt free classes for a church that we were members of at the time and understand very much your reluctance to get a credit card. My wife and I travel with 3 credit and 3 ATM cards all on separate accounts. Any credit card is paid in full each month.

Let us know what you decide.

one issue is holds put on cards by hotels, and rental car companies can put large holds on.

The problem for the OP will be the very limited credit limit given to most 1st time appliers. Do they have a credit file such as Equifax, and what does it show!

traveling by train and will have pre-purchased all of the tickets/passes we will need ahead of time. Same with the tickets for the attractions we want to visit. We are using our debit card to reserve our hotels; I just don't know if a debit with a Visa or Mastercard logo will work to actually pay for the hotels once in Europe.

Surprised you cant pre-pay the hotels. If you are staying at 3 star hotels, then there probably wont be any holds because there is not service to hold against. At a 5 star could be several hundred dollars... but they usually drop them fairly fast. If you are doing one hotel for the trip then one hold shouldn't be an issue. If you are doing a different hotel every night, well that could be different.

As long as you have a $500+ buffer in the account I woudnt sweat it. And paying cash when there is simple.

it's really not practical or realistic to not have credit cards when travelling. it would be like not having a spare tire in your car, you never want to need it but heaven help you if you do. just get one and use it carefully.

or as mentioned above, open a Schwab account, put your vacation money in it and then use the card for ATM withdrawals and to pay for stuff. when you run out of money, you'll know you are out of money.

Here's another article via The Points Guy related to this topic. It's different from the one linked above and makes good points about the security and protection credit cards have that debit cards do not provide.

Credit vs. debit cards: Which is the smarter choice?

You can even pay off your balance by immediately scheduling a payment from your bank to the CC company while you’re in Europe.

I carry 2 credit cards (one for all purchases and the other as a backup) and a debit card for ATM withdrawals only (I don't like using debit cards to pay for everything, credit cards have more protection in case of fraud and I don't like giving random people access to my cash accounts) ... all are no foreign transaction fee or no ATM withdrawal fee ... I pay the credit cards off every month, ensuring the $$$ allotted for the trip are used ... if you do decide to get a credit card, look into the Capital One Venture X ... while the fee is high ($395 / year), you get a $300 travel credit and a credit for Global Entry / TSA Pre-check (plus a few other nice perks like Priority Pass lounge access, car rental coverage, etc...) ... both of those credits will cover the fee (assuming you don't have Global Entry already ... it's taking a long time to get approved but since you have over a year before you are planning to go, you should be okay) ... and if neither of you have Global Entry, you could also get the Citi/AAdvantage Platinum Select World Elite Mastercard ... no fee the first year and it also comes with a credit for Global Entry ... both cards also have decent sign-up bonuses ... before your year anniversary with the cards, downgrade both to one of their no fee cards, then use those on your trip ... after you return, cut them up and never use the account again (just don't close them or it will impact your credit score) ... there's quite a few blogs and websites devoted to the world of the best credit cards for travel, might be worth a look.