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If you’re considering a travel money card to spend money while you’re overseas, you can check out our most recent winners of Canstar’s Travel Money Card Awards below.

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Recent 5-Star Winners

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Travel money cards CANSTAR

What is a travel money card?

A travel money card is a card that you can load foreign currencies onto. You can then use it like a regular debit card when travelling overseas, such as to make purchases and withdraw cash at ATMs. Most travel money cards are issued in partnership with Visa or Mastercard and are widely accepted.

Travel money cards are popular for several reasons, including:

  • You can preload your money and lock in your exchange rate
  • You can load multiple foreign currencies if you are travelling through several countries
  • You can avoid multiple currency conversion fees
  • You are spending your own money and can only spend what you have loaded onto the card (while also having the option to load more money onto it if you need).

What should you look for in a travel money card?

It’s best to look for a travel money card that includes features such as:

  1. the ability to lock in your exchange rate before you leave.
  2. the ability to load multiple foreign currencies onto the one card.
  3. low or no fees, including reloading fees, ATM cash withdrawal fees and transaction fees.
  4. convenient to use overseas, including being widely accepted, an online or mobile app to monitor your spending, and digital wallet compatibility (such as Apple Pay and Google Pay).
  5. low costs to convert your leftover money back into Australian dollars at the end of your holiday.

How do Canstar’s Travel Money Card Awards work?

Canstar considers travel money cards from a range of providers. Our expert researchers use a sophisticated methodology to rank travel money cards based on their fees and features. We give the top-performing cards a 5-Star Rating.

Some of the factors Canstar considers are:

  • Currency availability – which currencies are offered and whether you can load multiple foreign currencies on the card.
  • Fees – including loading and reloading, ATM, point of sale, inactivity and card closure fees.
  • Exchange rate – the exchange rates for popular currencies over a period of time.
  • Loading options – the ability to reload the card (including using BPAY) and reload time, plus any minimum and maximum amounts.
  • Ease of use – including the availability of spending options in-person and online, and the ability to see your account information online or through a mobile app.
  • Security and customer service – including card chip and PIN protection, and customer support for card issues and queries.

 


About our finance experts

Nina Rinella, Editor-in-Chief

As Canstar’s Editor-in-Chief, Nina heads up a team of talented journalists committed to helping empower consumers to take greater control of their finances. Previously Nina founded her own agency where she provided content and communications support to clients around Australia for eight years. She also spent four years as the PR Manager for American Express Australia, and has worked at a Brisbane communications agency where she supported dozens of clients, including Sunsuper and Suncorp.

Nina has ghostwritten dozens of opinion pieces for publications including The Australian and has been interviewed on finance topics by the Herald Sun and the Sydney Morning Herald. When she’s not dreaming up ways to put a fresh spin on finance, she’s taking her own advice by trying to pay her house off as quickly as possible and raising two money-savvy kids.

Nina has a Bachelor of Journalism and a Bachelor of Arts with a double major in English Literature from the University of Queensland. She’s also an experienced presenter, and has hosted numerous events and YouTube series.

You can follow her on Instagram or Twitter, or Canstar on Facebook.

You can also read more about Canstar’s editorial team and our robust fact-checking process.


Josh Sale, Travel Money Card Ratings Manager

Headshot of Josh Sale, CanstarAs Canstar’s Ratings Manager, Josh Sale is responsible for the methodology and delivery of Canstar’s Travel Money Card Star Ratings and Awards. With tertiary qualifications in economics and finance, Josh has worked behind the scenes for the last five years to develop Star Ratings and Awards that help connect consumers with the right product for them.

Josh is passionate about helping consumers get hands-on with their finances. Josh has been interviewed by media outlets such as the Australian Financial Reviewnews.com.au and Money Magazine.

You can follow Josh on LinkedIn, and Canstar on Twitter and Facebook.


Travel money card FAQs

1. Is a travel money card a debit card?

No, a travel money card is different to a debit card. The two cards work in similar ways, but a key difference is that unlike a travel debit card, a travel money card is not linked to your transaction account and you can only spend what you have loaded onto the card.

2. What are the advantages of a travel money card?

Some of the potential advantages of a travel money card include:

  • They are widely accepted
  • You can lock in your exchange rate before you travel
  • You can load multiple foreign currencies at once onto the card
  • They can help you avoid being charged multiple currency conversion fees
  • They are not connected to your bank account
  • They can give you more control over your spending than a credit card, since you are accessing your own money.

Read more about the benefits of a travel money card.

3. What are the disadvantages of a travel money card?

Some of the potential disadvantages of a travel money card include:

  • Some cards charge fees, including loading, reloading, ATM, inactivity and account closure fees
  • Load times – the time it takes for funds to be available – will vary depending on the card and the method you use. For some methods, it may take up to three working days.

Travel money card destinations

Learn more about travel money cards for some specific destinations:

Note that Canstar’s Travel Money Card Star Ratings and Awards are based on a basket of six currencies – US dollars, euros, Great British pounds, New Zealand dollars, Japanese yen and Singaporean dollars. This means that depending on your destination, some of the travel money cards on our database may be more or less suitable to you.

It’s also important to note that the currencies available may vary across different travel money cards, so before committing to a particular card it’s worth checking with the card provider to see whether you can load the currency of your destination onto it.

This content was reviewed by Deputy Editor Sean Callery and Sub-Editor Tom Letts as part of our fact-checking process.

Important information

For those that love the detail

This advice is general and has not taken into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Consider whether this advice is right for you.

Canstar does not rate or compare every provider in the market and we may not compare all features relevant to you. Learn more about our Travel Money Card Star Ratings Methodology. Star Ratings are only one factor to take into account when considering products. Check current product details with the product issuer. Sometimes the methodology uses profiles with categories or bands, but sometimes a single methodology, without any categories or bands, is applied.

Any advice on this page is general and has not taken into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Consider whether this general financial advice is right for your personal circumstances. You may need financial advice from a qualified adviser. Canstar is not providing a recommendation for your individual circumstances. It’s important you check product information directly with the provider. Consider the Product Disclosure Statement and Target Market Determination (TMD), before making a purchase decision. Contact the product issuer directly for a copy of the TMD. For more information, read our Detailed Disclosure.

What is a Target Market Determination?

A Target Market Determination (‘TMD’) is a document that explains which people particular financial products may be suitable for (the target market) and sets out any conditions around how financial products can be distributed to consumers.

Why do product issuers provide Target Market Determinations?

From 5 October 2021, TMDs are compulsory for most financial products.

Issuers and distributors of financial products must take reasonable steps that are likely to result in financial products reaching consumers in the target market defined by the product issuer.

We recommend that you consider the TMD before making a purchase decision. Contact the product issuer directly for a copy of the TMD.

Canstar may earn a fee from its Online Partners for referrals from its website tables, and from sponsorship or promotion of certain products. Fees payable by product providers for referrals and sponsorship or promotion may vary between providers, website position, and revenue model. Sponsorship/promotion fees may be higher than referral fees. If a product is sponsored or promoted, it’s an ad and it is clearly marked as such. An ad might appear in different places on our website, such as in comparison tables and articles. Ads may be displayed in a fixed position in a table, regardless of the product's rating, price or other attributes. The location of an ad doesn’t indicate any ranking or rating by Canstar. Payment of fees for ads does not influence our Star Ratings. See How We Get Paid to find out more.