Favorite Credit Card to travel with in Europe?

erin,
This may help http://flyerguide.com/wiki/index.php/Credit/Debit/ATM_Cards_and_Foreign_Exchange

If by "pin" system you mean chip & pin, the only US card that has the chip is American Express. The catch-22 is that AE isn't widely accepted. But you will still be able to use your magnetic strip card most everywhere.

Visa and Mastercard are both widely accepted in Europe, probably Visa a bit more in my experience. Transaction fees are determined by your card issuer, you have to check with them. Your "home" debit card should allow you to obtain cash from virtually any European ATM. Surprisingly, you almost never get hit with a fee from the European banks that own the ATM's.

USAA Mastercard.

No "extra" fees/conversion charges etc....

For a credit card, I use one from my local bank. They don't have a foreign currency operation, so they can't pay the Network in Euro and charge me an arm and leg for their Euro to $ conversion like the big banks do. They charge only 1%. Last year I bought a €2,10 train ticket from an automat that didn't take cash. The Euro to USD conversion was $3.00. They charged me an extra 3 cents!

CapitalOne Mastercard - no fees. For ATMS, I use my local bank card which does charge conversion fees but not non-bank
ATM fees.

Capitol One without question. No fees. I also have a money market account with them that has a free debit card, no fees internationally to withdraw money. Great deal.

Someone else's.

(had to say it)

If you are a member of a credit union, it might be worth checking with them on their credit card options.

"... you will still be able to use your magnetic strip card most everywhere."

Absolutely. You may find a few merchants who won't accept your magnetic strip card, but in my experience, it's no big deal. It seems it's mainly unattended gas stations and train ticket machines that require a "chip and pin" card, and even if you had one, there is no guarantee it would work everywhere. Even Europeans can have trouble with their cards, where acceptance can vary from country to country. There is no universal credit card that is guaranteed to work everywhere.

Capital One is the only card I know of who doesn't charge a transaction fee. We used it last summer in Switzerland, France and England without any problems. If the Iceland thing clears up, we are planning on going back to France and England on May 8.

For a debit card to use in cash machines -- Look at credit unions or small banks. They are the most likely places to find cards without fees.

For credit card -- Capital One does not charge the 3% international fee. There may be others, but I haven't found them. Look at the fees section of a card's website.

We use the Capital one card as well.

Only place we have a problem with using it is in Northern Ireland. They utilize the micro-chip/PIN system and places like ASDA and TESCO won't accept a magnetic strip card. We've never had a problem using one at a hotel or a tourist-type shop in the North however.

As I've said before: Make sure you tell the person running your card to RUN THE TRANSACTION IN EUROS. A lot of places will run it in US dollars 'as a convenience' but you'll get a lousy exchange rate and still get hit by a foreign transaction fee on top of it.

erin,

Either a VISA or MasterCard is probably best, as these will be more widely accepted by merchants. American Express and others are not so widely accepted from what I've seen.

You'll have to research the various card issuers to determine which one(s) offer the best rates. Capital One seems to be frequently mentioned here, but I don't have any direct experience with them.

You likely won't be able to obtain a "chip & PIN" card, as I don't believe these are being issued in the U.S.

Cheers!

This Visa page describes the use of non-chip cards in Europe. http://usa.visa.com/personal/using_visa/european_travel_tips.html . The magnetic strip card can still be used, merchants can still swipe them, and if you can get a reluctant merchant to swipe the card, their reader will prompt them to complete the transaction. A merchant saves money if he can con you into paying with cash instead of credit. You will have troubles with unmanned machines. In the link above, click on "Exchange rates" to see what the Visa network rate is for a given day. You can double check you credit card and debit card statements. To answer the OP, Capital One Visa for no fees and wide acceptance.

schwab has a new investor account checkign where the ATM fees and the visa 1% will be refunded. I just called to verify and i still have the checking where they still charge the 1% visa - but all other regular atm fees is refunded back.

Otherwise - CapOne seems to be the fav.

Capital One Mastercard--no fees!