TL;DR
If you are a US Expat with high rewards US credit cards (such Chase Freedom Flex or Citi Custom Cash giving 5-7.5% cashback) and want to use this card outside of the US, you can do this by linking it to the British Curve card (currently available in Europe, but should also become available in the US soon, see info at the end) which often completely avoids the Foreign Transaction Fee!
Disclaimer: I'm not affiliated with Curve in any way, but have been a happy customer for almost two years. See also here for more information.
Introduction
Due to my job, I am spending quite a bit of time abroad (mostly Europe, but also Australia and some other countries). Of course, as a business traveller I am aware of all the attractive travel credit cards offered by US banks. Cards like American Express Platinum, Chase Sapphire Reserve etc. are great to save on travel purchases and restaurant bills.
However, as I typically live in the respective country for some time, I also have some regular spending in other categories (such as groceries etc.), where I would have loved to use some high cashback credit card, such as Chase Freedom (rotating categories with 5% cashback, up to 7.5% in combination with Chase Sapphire Reserve).
So far, this wasn't worth it as all these cards have a Foreign Transaction Fee of 3% plus some Exchange Fee of maybe 0.5%, so the actual cashback amount became way less attractive. After reading the fineprint, I noticed that many card issuers only charge the Foreign Transaction Fee if the charge is not in USD, i.e., if you can convert the charge to USD, you don't get charged a fee.
Note: There are exceptions. For example, I think US bank will always charge a Foreign Transaction Fee, even if it's in USD (but the merchant is outside of the US). I tested it for Chase and Citi cards.
Solution: Curve card
Now after doing a bit of research, I found that Curve offers a solution for just that. It's a free card from the UK that is available to customers all over Europe (and soon also for US customers) and it essentially allows you to link your US card, so when you pay with your Curve card, they convert the charge from EUR (or any other currency) into the currency of the linked card which then gets charged.
Merchant Purchase -> Curve Card (other currency) -> Currency Conversion -> US Card Charge (in USD)
In particular, this works for Chase Freedom Flex and Citi Custom Cash that both offer up to 5-7.5% in cashback, so that you are NOT charged 3% and more in Foreign Transaction Fees.
Comment: There are other cards (like cards by US Bank including US Bank Cash+), where it doesn't avoid the Foreign Transaction Fee!
Aspects to consider
- The free Curve Blue card only offers up to 500 GBP of free currency conversion (2% charge thereafter, making it less attractive - however, most rewards cards have a limit on the 5-7.5% spending anyway - also your partner/spouse can often get a Curve Card, too).
- There is an additional weekend fee of 0.5% (when only USD, GBP or EUR are involved) and 1.5% (if any other currency, such as AUD etc. is involved).-> Tip: Buy gift cards during the week to use on the weekend.
- Card is currently only available in Europe, so you need be able to prove EU address and identification (national ID, EU/UK passport, residence cards etc. all work).
- Curve should also become available to US customers in the future.
Original sources and more information
- Official for European customers (official website)
- Simple explanation how it works (official website)
- List of fees (official website)
- Waiting list for Curve in USA (official website)
- More detailed review (my blog)
- Expat Card Combo using Curve (my blog)(with up to 7.5% in cashback when used correctly)
Visual summary (I'm not affiliated with any of those banks)
https://preview.redd.it/s9ui0lsno0a...bp&s=158142aecc591e5b6d70fc634f8f815161e67516