Travels With Sheila and the ex-Marine (husband, Steve) wouldn’t think of leaving the country without an ATM card and several credit cards. An ATM card is still worth the convenience of not carrying lots of cash even if your issuing bank does impose a charge-per-transaction. Check with your individual bank and ask. Every bank charges different fees. We carry several credit cards because a strip may become demagnetized (has happened), the credit card may not work, or you may be in a country that only accepts American Express. Cover all the bases and don’t forget to notify all issuers when you are leaving, dates and exactly what countries you intend to visit. Nobody wants to see a big “Sorry. Your card has been rejected” and that’s exactly what will happen. Take it from one who knows!

Years ago, I saw a Capital One Visa Card ad and applied, attracted by their claims… No Foreign Transaction Fees and No Membership Charge for the card…and fed up with the new 3% Foreign Transactions Fee charged by Chase. This is the exact wording off their site in case you are a Doubting Thomas. Capital One does not charge a fee for using your credit card for foreign currency transactions. Foreign purchases will be converted at the foreign exchange rate in effect at the time of posting the charge.

Capital One Visa is my credit card of choice. I am testament to the fact that charges are converted at the daily rate because I do a little Dollar into whatever country currency division to double check that changes weren’t snuck in while I slept on the bills. It is a Visa card and accepted wherever Visa is used in the world. I’ve never had a transaction problem that wasn’t resolved to my satisfaction. There are two case problems below, one initiated by Capital One and the other, by me.

- An e-mail arrived from Capital One during a trip to Indonesia, checking on a suspicious transaction. I called them collect and agreed that someone had stolen the card number. Capital One closed the account and said a new card would be mailed to us at home. That is why we carry two credit cards. Capital One never could have gotten a new card and number to us for use since we were on the move daily.

- And..oops….I neglected to make that all-important telephone call notifying Capital One that we were leaving the country. Tried to use for a purchase in Buenos Aires, got a big “Rejected,”and just made another collect call. Problem solved.

I’m under no illusions and know that sooner or later Capital One will probably add a 3% Foreign Transaction Fee just like all the other Visa cards, but for now…all is good. If you travel for business and are company reimbursed, this won’t matter to you. For the rest of us, isn’t the 3% better in your wallet than Chase or Citibank or Bank of America? It is in mine…