If travelling to Europe (Euros), is it worth getting a Wise travel money debit card or just stick to my ANZ visa card? Any thoughts please..
What do you plan to use the card for and how much money do you plan to put through them?
It is not clear whether you are meaning an ANZ visa branded debit card or an ANZ visa credit card.
There are a number of relevant topics about credit cards vs debit cards vs travel money cards on the Community.
You can find them by searching the Community for âtravel moneyâ and then another for âwiseâ to get the few missed from the first search.
2 Likes
Travelling for 5 weeks. Have already paid for accommodation and most train travel. Would be using Euros for meals, transport, museums etc. Letâs say 100 Euros a day. On past trips we have used a shared wallet, someone acting as treasurer. We all put in more cash whenever the wallet is getting low.
I have an ANZ credit Visa card, but we always pay out of our savings account every month to avoid credit fees.
1 Like
Almost anything is better than taking what would be a cash advance from a credit card for cash-in-hand. ANZ issues a proper âwarningâ.
When it is an international transaction there are additional fees that are card dependent enumerated here.
ANZ credit card or a Wise card? Wise comfortably wins especially if you are using cash-in-hand to pay with others.
There are related topics such as
and others that can be found using the Community search tool for âtravel moneyâ and âwiseâ.
1 Like
Cheers. It appears most expensive parts have been paid for, and it will be incidentals need to be covered.
You might need some cash, but we have found in Europe converting a small amount of AUDs when card payment isnât possible, has been a suitable option for us. We also didnât find to many places which didnât take cards.
The Wise Travel Card is attractive if one plans to use cash up to $390/month, as there arenât any conversion fees. Thereafter, fees are âFixed fee $1.5 AUD + 1.75% after used up free allowanceâ.
I canât see information about using the Wise Travel Card for card purchases, such as meals in a restaurant, train tickets at kiosks, attractions etc. These type of payments are commonly accepted in Europe and a common payment method.
When last in Europe, we possibly used a couple of hundred AUD converted to Euros for our independent 5 week across Europe train trip.
Depending on your ANZ card, it can have additional benefits such as travel insurance, but may have higher fees than a more targeted travel credit card. If you have time before travelling, maybe look at a travel credit card like those suggested by Choice:
(Note, the information for Latitude 28° card is out of date as it now has monthly fee of $8).
We travelled to Europe with a 28° card, which has subsequently been cancelled due to the introduced fees. We used this card for almost all purchases, had a bank issued debit card for emergencies and took a few hundred AUDs each for purposes outlined above.
We are currently exploring an alternative to the 28° card, and are swaying towards the Bendigo card for use for overseas travels.
If you we travelling for some time and plan future overseas trips, it might be worth exploring the benefits of getting a travel credit card. If it is a one off trip of the lifetime, the cost of the additional fees with your existing ANZ card may be worth being horne compared to the time and hassle of getting a travel card for one trip.
Also, it is important to notify card issuers of any cards one plans to use overseas.
I tend to take two months at the time overseas trips, most recently in Europe, before that South east Asia. I try to have major expenses done before leaving, like air travel and accommodation, and mix organized travel (paying the company before) where I essentially only have minor expenses, with âprivateâ travel, booking as I go using eg Booking.com for accommodation and Skyscanner or Rome2Rio for travel, charging these to my credit card.
That leaves me with limited cash expenses and I have found my CBA everyday Debit card good for that. Somewhat bigger ad hoc expenses (admission fees, theater tickets, train tickets) can also be charged to credit cards. But make sure your card issuers know you are going overseas (you can let them know online). For securityâs sake, and avoid potential card scamming, I only use ATMs inside major banks to get money, and only for a few days at most (or some ATMs will give you only large denomination bills that not all traders etc may be able to accept in our card not cash society.
Also note that in many large European cities you have good public transport but you may have to buy a plastic card then load it with some money. Also easy with a credit card.
And if you plan to use rail transport, check how much you will do on a Eurail pass to make it worthwhile. I have found booking individual rail trips, especially by fast train, cheaper if you only do limited travel. Also worth considering if you have the time is taking a slow train instead - one of my favorites was all day from Vienna to Zurich stopping just about everywhere but the scenery and the people added so much to my holiday pleasure (as did a slow trip from the French border to Madrid).
Have a great holiday!
Note also that you ask to be charged in the local currency - if you choose to do it in A$s, the business uses their own conversion rate!
3 Likes
For a lot of travellers, Eurorail passes arenât the best option and can work out more expensive. Man in Seat 61 has some good information:
The website is also an excellent, independent resource for train travel, inc public transport, in Europe (or anywhere in the world).
For a 5 week train trip from Paris to Bucharest a few years back, a Eurorail pass was about double booking each leg separately, directly through the rail operator.
Has anyone had any experience with Qantas Pay?
Iâm heading to the US in a month and Qantas sent me an email offering their travel card. Iâm naturally suspicious of anything Qantas offers me but they donât charge fees (which means the exchange rates might be terrible).
I was going to set up Wise but should I consider this instead?
Choice recently did a review on travel cards which included Qantas Pay:
It might be worth reading. It was also in the Dec 2024/Jan 2025 edition of the Choice Magazine.
3 Likes
Yes, and Qantas CC.
Like everything Qantas, Qantas Money is a nightmare to deal with, clearly a cheap product, buggy App, and non-existent customer service.
I had both for years and eventually gave up, cancelled both, and now have a card that feeds points to Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer. Guess who I also fly with now.
