Does My Card Charge a Foreign Transaction Fee?

Quick answer: most travel cards charge no foreign transaction fee: the Chase Sapphire cards, Freedom Flex, every Capital One card, Amex Platinum and Gold. Chase Freedom Unlimited, Citi Double Cash, Wells Fargo Active Cash and Bank of America’s debit card charge 3% of every purchase abroad, Amex Blue Cash cards 2.7%: $60 and $54 on $2,000. Apple Card charges none. Pick your card to see its fee on your trip, ATM cash included.

How to use it

Pick your card, type what you will spend abroad and choose the local currency. The answer is the fee in dollars, with the sentence from the card’s own pricing page and a link to it, and what your spending comes to in the local currency at the European Central Bank’s reference rate. Open “More” to add the cash you will take from ATMs, and “Pay in dollars?” to check the offer a card machine makes. Under it, every other card on the same trip, cheapest first. A card not on the list? Choose “Another card” and type its fee from your card agreement.

Every card, side by side

From each card’s own pricing page, terms or fee schedule, read on October 16, 2026. “On $2,000” is the fee on $2,000 of purchases abroad. ATM cash on a credit card is a cash advance; “Not printed” means the page we read does not give the fee, so ask the issuer.

The fee is charged on the dollar amount after the card network converts the price. Chase writes it as 3% of the amount of each transaction in U.S. dollars. and American Express as a foreign transaction fee of 2.7% on each transaction after conversion to U.S. dollars. Capital One prints the opposite on each of its cards: You won’t pay a transaction fee when making purchases outside of the United States.

Pay in dollars or in the local currency?

Abroad, a card machine or an ATM may offer to charge you in dollars. The shop then picks the exchange rate, not your card network. Type the two prices it shows and the tool works out its rate, how far it sits above the European Central Bank’s reference rate, and what paying in the local currency would cost with your card, its fee included. A dollar charge can still carry the card’s fee: Bank of America’s fee schedule prints International transaction in U.S. dollar: $0 for its debit card, but most pages we read do not say, so the tool shows a range for those.

Worked examples

• $2,000 in Europe on a Freedom Unlimited. Freedom Unlimited: 3%, $60 on this trip. A Freedom Flex from the same bank would charge nothing.
• $3,500 in London on a Blue Cash Everyday. Blue Cash Everyday: 2.7%, $94.50 on this trip.
• Two ATM withdrawals of $200 on a Freedom Unlimited. Freedom Unlimited: 3%, $92 on this trip: $60 on purchases, $12 on the cash and $20 in cash advance fees, with interest from the day you take it.
• Mexico on a Bank of America debit card, $600 from three ATMs. BofA debit card: 3%, $78 on this trip, before what the ATM’s owner adds.
• A Sapphire Reserve and $200 of cash. Sapphire Reserve: no foreign transaction fee, $10 in cash advance fees: a no-fee card still charges for cash.
• A Tokyo shop offers $85 for a ¥12,000 bill, on a Venture X. Pay in JPY: $9.06 less, at the reference rate of October 16, 2026.

Common mistakes

• Taking a cash-back card abroad. Freedom Unlimited, Citi Double Cash and Wells Fargo Active Cash all charge 3%; Wells Fargo writes There is a 3% fee for each foreign transaction amount converted to U.S. dollars.
• Assuming one bank’s cards all match. Chase’s Freedom Flex charges nothing and its Freedom Unlimited 3%.
• Taking ATM cash on a credit card. It is a cash advance with its own fee, and Chase writes We will begin charging interest on balance transfers and cash advances on the transaction date.
• Forgetting the ATM’s own fee. Bank of America: When you use a non-Bank of America ATM, you may also be charged a fee by the ATM operator or any network used.
• Thinking you are safe at home. Foreign Transactions include internet transactions made in the U.S. but with a merchant who processes the transaction in a foreign currency.
• Saying yes to dollars without looking at the rate. Type the two prices into the tool first.

More for the trip

For the rest of the money plan, read the international travel tips nobody told you and the travel scam almost no one sees coming. Going north? See whether Canadian money is worth more than American money and which US banks have branches in Canada. Further out, the US cities with direct flights to Iceland and what food costs in Grenada. Then plan the money with the Trip Budget Calculator and Tipping by Country, check how much cash you can carry, and what your card covers when the trip goes wrong in Does My Credit Card Cover My Trip?