The 5 Best Prepaid Debit Cards for International Travel

About Author: Hi, I’m Quinn Askeland. In 2014, I started Transumo after experiencing expensive, slow, and frustrating international money transfers and payments through banks. Once I discovered how to manage my own international currencies much better, I became driven to help others improve their transfers and payments. Fortunately, today, there are many excellent options. See My Full Bio.

I never travel overseas without a prepaid card because they don't just save you a bundle conversions and ATM fees, I love the extra extra safety and you can manage them from an App while on the go. In this post, I take a closer look at the best cards out there (for US, UK, Eur, Can, Aus/NZ and beyond) and some must-know tips to help you decide.

The best and most widely available cards are Wise, Revolut while Sable, Monzo and Monese are standouts in the UK and USA.

The reason they are awesome is:

• Accepted just like the others (Visa / Mastercard)
• Low exchange rate fees
• Great control from mobile apps or computer
• Low ATM fees worldwide (some merchants like cash!)
• In-built safety (they are a debit card and the Apps give you a lot of control like temporarily suspending cards and creating virtual cards)
• Optional advanced travel features (like travel insurance, travel lounges, rewards and even holding multiple currencies)

But they are all quite different in what they offer.

In this post, I will also point to some important information to help you choose the right cards.

Disclosure: This post contains some affiliate links (not all cards reviewed have affiliate programs). If you use these links they come at no extra cost to you and help to support this website. Thank you! For more information, see my disclosures here.

You might also like Wise Vs Revolut

Quick Comparison

What to Look For in a Prepaid Debit Card for International Travel

Paying for your travels with a bank-issued credit or debit card may seem like a fine idea until you actually dig deeper and see how much you’ve been charged in fees.

And these fees do add up.

Not to mention, banks can also decline transactions while you’re overseas if you don’t inform them that you’re travelling abroad!

The good news is travel debit cards are adapting to our evolving travel needs.

And, they make handling your money overseas more secure, easy, and seamless.

The Best Cards:

• Give you lots of control over your money with respect to reloading your card, transferring money, holding money in multiple currencies, and withdrawing funds to your bank account.
• Have a user-friendly app or online portal that doesn’t force you to read between the lines
• Have reasonable daily or monthly usage limits before higher charges kick in (especially useful if you’re travelling for a long time during your gap year)
• Inexpensive exchange rates
• Low (or no) ATM withdrawal fees
• Reasonable service charges (for example, subscription fees, card issuance fees, replacement fees, etc.)
• Great customer service!

The increasing popularity of these cards has a downside – you are spoilt for choice.

Fortunately there are a few standouts!

1. Wise

The Wise debit card is attached to their multi-currency account (review), which is one of the best ways to manage your money while travelling overseas.

You can hold up 50+ currencies in your account, which are available for spending with your card without conversion fees. The card is powered by MasterCard and accepted in 200+ countries worldwide.

Wise is rated 4.5/5 on TrustPilot with over 170,000 reviews and available in the UK, US, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore.

Check out our Wise card review where we covered Wise’s fees, security, and features in more detail.

Features

• You’ll enjoy free ATM withdrawals (in over 2 million ATMs around the world) up to £200 / 30 days
• Their app lets you top-up, check your balance and transactions, and convert currency in real time
• Very low currency conversion fees
• Load your card with 50+ currencies
• Freeze your card in case of loss or theft
• Users love their low exchange rates and customer service.

Fees at a Glance

2. Revolut

Revolut cards (review) takes travel debit cards to the next level by offering full service current accounts that are linked to a contactless debit card.

The current accounts are easily managed on their app and transferring money from your bank account to your Revolut account is safe and convenient. Once your Revolut account is loaded, transacting overseas is hassle-free and inexpensive.

Revolut is rated 4.4/5 on Trustpilot with over 115,000 reviews and their travel debit card is available in the UK, USA, Europe, Australia, and Singapore.

Here are the latest prices/inclusions in your country (open new tab).

Travelling for business? Revolut also offers a multi-currency account for businesses which let you hold and spend in 30+ currencies. Check out Revolut for business review.

Features

• Offers four plans with varying subscription costs (includes a free plan with lots of benefits too)
• Travel anywhere in the world with a Revolut debit card and spend in over 150 currencies overseas at the mid-market rate and without any mark ups
• For long-term travellers, the €200/month withdrawal limit for free (on the Free plan) is particularly attractive. But a flat 2% fee is applicable beyond the monthly limit.
• They provide travel insurance for as little as £1.00 per day (medical and dental coverage)
• Stay on budget while travelling with expense notifications in your home currency and advanced spending analytics
• Get virtual cards for safe online shopping

Fees at a Glance

3. Sable

Sable Card (Review) is uniquely awesome for Americans and non-citizens in the US.

They allow you to get a credit card as well as a debit card and bank account without a Social Insurance Number or even citizenship.

Even Better…

For Americans or other residents of the US the card is s great way to build credit which in turn makes it easier to get rental properties and even things like cell phone plans.

Features

• Get debit and secured credit card
• The credit card acts like a prepaid debit card while building credit (no credit score needed to get one)
• Low travel and international money transfer fees on exchange rates
• Excellent app to help build your credit score

Fees at a Glance

4. Monzo

Like N26, Monzo (review) is also a digital bank that issues a MasterCard travel debit card. You can pay for your travel expenses with your Monzo card anywhere in the world without worrying about extra fees being levied on the MasterCard exchange rate (which is pretty close to the mid-market rate).

Monzo is rated 4.4/5 on Trustpilot with over 23,000 reviews and is available in the UK and USA (with banking licence and deposit protection in both countries).

Features

• Three subscription options with varying features (including free tier)
• The card lets you make free ATM withdrawals up to £200/30 days
• You can pay with a Monzo travel debit card in the UK, online, or anywhere in the world in a foreign currency without any hidden fees levied on the MasterCard exchange rate
• Travelling with a partner? Open a Monzo joint account for better control over your travel funds
• Stay on budget while travelling with easy categorization of transactions and detailed travel expense reports
• Virtual debit cards for safe online shopping (paid accounts)
• Lounge access (Monzo Premium)

Fees at a Glance

5. Monese

The Monese (review) travel debit card (linked to a current account) and is known for providing real-time, wholesale exchange rates on foreign currency transactions globally with low exchange fees.

Monese is rated 4.0/5 on Trustpilot with over 30,000 reviews and is available in the UK and Eurozone.

Here are the latest prices/inclusions in your country (open new tab).

Features

• Three tiers to sign up and use the card (includes free tier)
• You can open accounts in EUR, GBP, or RON
• Manage your travel budget better with real-time visual representation of spending habits in the Monese app
• Easily set up and stop direct debits for monthly expenses
• Virtual cards for safe online shopping

Fees at a Glance

FAQs

How do I add money to my debit card?

The cards we have discussed above are all attached to either a multi-currency account or a digital bank account. You can easily spend the money in these accounts with your debit card while travelling abroad.

You can also easily top up the balances you hold in different currencies using linked bank accounts, other cards and other methods.

If you are in the UK the Currensea card (review) does not need to be topped up at all – they can be directly connected to a current account.

Are travel debit cards safe?

Yes!

All the cards we’ve mentioned are either issued by regulated financial institutions or licensed banks.

For example, Monzo and Monese have banking licenses and even have deposit protection in some countries.

Now, while Wise is not a real bank, they’re a regulated financial institution.

Wise is regulated by authorities such as the UK Financial Conduct Authority (UK), the UK Financial Conduct Authority (UK), National Bank of Belgium (Europe) as an Authorised Payment Institution, the Australia Securities and Investments Commission (Australia), Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre (Canada) and Financial Customs and Excise Department (Hong Kong). It is also regulated in India, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, and the UAE.

This means they have to do things like keep your money separated from their own.

Do the cards have spend limits?

The spend limit of your card depends on the bank or e-money institution that issues it.

There can be limits on how much you can spend in a day or how much you can withdraw from an ATM for free (some fees applicable over the limit).

While we don’t recommend using the card issued by your high street bank for all your travels, we suggest carrying a back up.

How do I ensure the most savings while spending abroad?

You can save a bunch if you’re spending in the local currency.

Look for cards (like the one issued with the Wise Multi-currency account) that let you load up the account in a specific currency so you can spend like a local while travelling abroad.

Some cards like the one issued by N26 also help you save if you’re exclusively travelling in the EEA.

Bottom Line

The best travel debit cards make paying for things in different currencies super easy, safe and inexpensive.

I like to choose a travel debit card that offers the best value in terms of exchange rate, low ATM withdrawal fees, and low card reloading fees.

Also user friendly in-app money management and customer service is also critical while on the go. For example, the Wise card I like using at the moment sends messages to my phone with each purchase. The message help me keep track and then when I want to re-load the card it takes just a few clicks from my phone to pull in funds from my connected bank accounts.

Other bonuses like travel insurance may be attractive for you and some have some pretty damn good looking cards… for a price.

Finally, don’t forget to activate your card in your home country to avoid any surprises .

Happy travelling!