credit card with no foreign transaction fees

Lots of cards, including Costco Visa, Andrews Federal Credit Union (has true Chip and PIN, so can be used in unattended machines like train ticket vending machine, gas pumps).

This is where I found the ones with no foreign transaction fees.

But I'd like to know if anyone knows of these kind of cards where you can apply with your spouse so both incomes are included.

Okay, maybe it's not possible. But I could have sworn I have done this in the past. I probably should have googled before I posted this. so sorry :(

https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/finance/spouse-apply-credit-card/

I can't offer financial advice to someone I don't know. And I'm not licensed to offer financial advice. But I have to point out that you are asking a very complicated question. There are a lot of moving parts that we can't see, and shouldn't see - they're personal to you. We can't possibly know whether your next credit card application will be approved, or if the very fact of applying could be a small hit against a challenged (??) Credit Rating. We don't know if you have a bank account or an existing credit card (how many?) that does have nasty Foreign Transaction fees.

I had a different problem when I opened our joint Visa card at State Department Federal Credit Union for exactly the reason you want to open one. In my case, my wife and I are both retired. We both had good jobs, and have provided for a comfortable retirement. But we have virtually no earned income. SDFCU told me they were going to turn us down. I had to send them ten pages of investment account status (which I know shows that we have higher assets than most of their customers.) Please don't think that you know how the Financial Services industry works unless you have good reason to say so. It's a recipe for disappointment.

It's also very close to your trip to begin such a process. Especially if you are far from any branch of the Credit Union you may select. Can you qualify for a credit union in your area? Do you have enough cash to open the savings account that may be required to join the credit union (and reassure them that you have stable finances and ... some ... assets?

I don't mean to sound aggressive or unkind. But there are realities in the world of revolving credit cards. (Some personal finance gurus call them "revolving" not because you can carry a "death by the month" balance, but rather because the cards and their fees make your head spin!) We don't want to accidentally give advice that will make your financial situation worse.

Thanks Tim. Not aggressive at all and you posted lots of good information.

I have other credit cards that I can use but was hoping to get one with no foreign fees but that may not be possible. The timing was not an issue as I'm usually approved automatically. They are sending me a letter with why they turned me down. For now, I will plan on something else.

Thanks for your reply!

Would a no foreign transacation fee debit card work just as well for you? You could open an investor checking account with Charles Schwab. As long as you had assets in your account, you could access them and it is a great card. No ATM fees either.

You can just include your spouse's income in with your total income when applying for the card. Assuming you're both over 21, I'd also assume you both have access to one another's income in a way that lets you include your spouse's income in determining how you, as a household, pay bills. Dug up a NerdWallet article that explains it a bit:

https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/credit-cards/list-spouses-income-applying-credit-card/

It could be worth creating a free account with a service like CreditKarma or NerdWallet, or even a paid one with MyFICO, to keep close tabs on what your credit score is up to. Though something like CreditKarma actually shows you the "VantageScore" (not quite FICO), it at least gives a fairly accurate picture of how your score might be moving up and down, what factors are currently impacting it, and what your FICO score would look like to a lender at any given moment. Then you could time applications accordingly - a balance change on another account or some older item dropping off boosting your score a bit and making for a better time to apply. The good thing about MyFICO is it updates realtime (though that is a feature you have to pay for), while something like CreditKarma updates weekly.

Something that's handy with some of these free services like CreditKarma and NerdWallet is they have credit card search and information tools - a single place you can go to look up CCs, sort by features (no foreign transaction fees, no annual fees, etc), and can often get estimated approval chances based on your credit profile.

Taking a quick look at them now myself, I see the Chase and Capital One cards you mentioned, along with a couple Bank of America cards, the Costco Visa, a couple American Express cards, the Wells Fargo Amex, Mastercard Gold/Titanium/Black cards, World of Hyatt card, Alaska Airlines Visa, the HSBC, and a whole host of others. Keep in mind sometimes you're trading a foreign transaction fee for an annual fee. Also keep in mind, while branded differently, some cards are issued by the same institution (Chase has some hotel and airline cards, for instance).

Check with the bank you have your accounts with or whoever is handling your investments. They may offer a no foreign fee credit card, and you may be able to swap that one for one of your current cards if they don't ant to approve an additional credit card. All the big banks offer the no fee cards now at a varying range of benefits and cost. Bank of America offers a Travel Visa credit card that has no annual fee and no fee on international transactions. Most of the Chase ones seem to have an annual fee.

Different cards have different algorithms for assessing you, so one card issuer may treat you differently than another. Having said that, you'd be in the best position if you know your exact "official" FICO score and to match that with an appropriate credit card product. Several Capital One cards require not just "good", but "excellent" credit (and I believe they list the numerical cut-offs). I would wait until you get the rejection decision in writing because it may not be what you think. Then take a breather and do what you can in the next few months to make yourself a stronger candidate if you're shooting for a card that requires excellent (or very good) credit. Also don't go crazy trying to get approved using different cards in succession, that will likely not work either. I don't suppose your spouse has a no foreign transaction fee card already, and you can just be added as a second user? It's always good to have 1 such card, even if you don't travel much. That's why I've held on to my CapOne card for so long, it gets pulled out for every trip.

Watch out for free services like Credit Karma etc. - it's free because they want badly to take a peek at all your spending patterns for marketing purposes, so they're looking for an opening (you trade off your rich credit card data for whatever freebie they're giving you). I was wondering why so many credit cards now practically nudge you at any chance to "check your credit score" with third-party scoring systems and it became plain pretty quickly. They want to open another black box (your credit card statements) to cull out more granular spending info they can't get otherwise. Truthfully, all you need is to check your official credit score and a refinancing will give you that info since lenders use official FICO scores. And that score is available for free annually.

Watch out for free services like Credit Karma etc. - it's free because they want badly to take a peek at all your spending patterns for marketing purposes, so they're looking for an opening (you trade off your rich credit card data for whatever freebie they're giving you).

That is a good point. As the saying goes... if a website is free, that often means YOU are the product. Which is to say something like Facebook is free so that companies can pay to show you targeted ads based on the personal information you provide. CreditKarma is free because they're suggesting credit products to you based on the information you provide, and earning commissions by getting you to apply through them. Either way, though, the world of credit can be an intricate and complicated one, and people need to understand where they are in it. After all... what is FICO but companies making money off our personal information? Experian, Equifax, and Transunion aren't charities. Not being aware of where your credit stands could result not just in rejections, but approvals with higher interest rates and more cost to the consumer. So be wary and cautious, but make informed decisions about the options available.

Nerd Wallet and Bankrate.com are excellent resources for scoping out a card that meets your needs. You can filter based on several criteria on Bankrate.com.

"Would a no foreign transacation fee debit card work just as well for you? You could open an investor checking account with Charles Schwab. As long as you had assets in your account, you could access them and it is a great card. No ATM fees either."

That would be my recommendation too. I have no personal experience with Charles Schwab, but it always gets positive reviews on this forum.

I have a checking account with no foreign transaction fees from TD Bank (I just checked - no locations in Minnesota, alas). For years, I did not have a no fee credit card. So, I simply paid for as much as possible with cash. It's not hard if you're prepared. For instance, before paying a large hotel bill, I would get cash for two days in a row, to have enough, or I would arrange to pay half the bill at a time.

Did you apply online with Capital One or actually speak to someone? If the former, I recommend you call Capital One and explain that you meant to include all of your family's income when making your application. You may have more success.

Here's why I think that is true: I have a Capital One card and a good credit score. I got a card on my account for my daughter to use. Some years later, my daughter applied for an account in her own name to start building her credit rating. Her application for a secured credit card was rejected. She has recently graduated from college and is starting her first real job, so her income is going to be low for a while, hence we thought a secured card made some sense and should be a "no brainer." We discovered some good news and some bad news. The good news: She benefitted from my good credit score. My credit rating was partially attributed to her own credit profile. The bad news: The amount of my monthly debt was also attributed to her, even though it really wasn't hers at all. Consequently, her income came no where near being enough to service what the computer saw as her debt load. A call to Capital One got it sorted out, at least enough to get her a card in her own name.

Something we found out before moving to Italy is that credit cards have a primary card member, and the credit card is in that one person's name. You can add additional card holders, ie. husband, so your charges for both are on the same account. But there is no such thing as a joint credit card. I think both cardholder's are responsible for the debt, but not entirely sure if they take both incomes into account. The credit history on the card affects the credit score for both the owner and additional credit card holder.

Previously I assumed our credit cards were all joint. But turns out they were all in my name with my husband as additional card member. If something untimely happened to me, he would not be able to use the credit cards, because the account belonged to a dead person. We then opened up a card in his name.

Edited: Wait till you get the letter, then call them directly. Might be because you just had a credit check for a big mortgage, but the credit check may not have yet reflected the payoff of your previous mortgage, thereby appearing you have double the mortgage debt.

Maybe have husband open credit card, then after approval request additional card for you. (but after you find out why you were declined)

thanks for all the great ideas!! really appreciate it!!

On a recent inquiry for a CC the turn down was due to an incorrect answer on past credit. The question was regarding the prior history of an auto (2005) which we pulled credit for a loan but paid cash. Neither of us recalled considering a loan since we had no paper record. I went to the bank to clarify. A credit report pulled 7 years ago for a mortgage did not have this 15 year old inquiry. Reapplied with 15 year old information in hand. No such question this time.

Note, in the past I was not sure to answer If I knew my former husband's daughter. Does knew mean I knew her name? I have never met her! Did they get that information from Facebook?

Our income whether earned or investment earned is our income. This is how we individually report our income. Married filing jointly.