Cash Back Credit Cards With No Foreign Transaction Fees

Travel-rewards enthusiasts aren’t the only ones who could benefit from a credit card without foreign transaction fees. If you travel or shop overseas, but want cold, hard cash rewards on every purchase, the Nerds have found a few good options for you.

Nerd note: If your card does have foreign transaction fees, you can expect to pay around 3% extra on your overseas purchases. Getting a card without these fees saves you around $30 per $1,000 you spend internationally.

Here are three cash back credit cards that boast no foreign transaction fees.

Discover it®-New! Double Cash Back your first year: 5% cash back on rotating categories

For high cash rewards, the Discover it®-New! Double Cash Back your first year is a solid choice. It offers 5% cash back on rotating bonus categories, up to $1,500 in spending per quarter. Here are the bonus rewards categories for 2015:

• Q1 (January – March): Gas and ground transportation
• Q2 (April – June): Restaurants and movies
• Q3 (July – September): Summer spruce up & more (in 2014, gas stations)
• Q4 (October – December): Holiday shopping & more (in 2014, online shopping and department stores)

Bonus category purchases in excess of $1,500 a month, and all other purchases, will earn you 1% cash back.

The Discover it®-New! Double Cash Back your first year has an annual fee of $0 and an introductory APR of 0% on purchases for 12 months and 0% on balance transfers for 12 months, and then the ongoing APR of 10.99% - 22.99% Variable.

Capital One® Quicksilver® Cash Rewards Credit Card: Quick and easy rewards on every purchase

For straightforward cash rewards, the Capital One® Quicksilver® Cash Rewards Credit Card is a great option. It boasts rewards of 1.5% back on every purchase and a tidy cash sign-up bonus: One-time $100 bonus after you spend $500 on purchases within the first 3 months. Your rewards are redeemable for check or statement credit in any amount, at any time.

The Capital One® Quicksilver® Cash Rewards Credit Card has an annual fee of $0 and an introductory APR of 0% intro on purchases until June 2016 and 0% intro on balance transfers until June 2016, and then the ongoing APR of 12.9% - 22.9% (Variable).

Citi ThankYou® Premier Card: For gift cards instead of cash

If you’re planning on spending your cash back instead of saving it, the Citi ThankYou® Premier Card is a good choice for gift card rewards redemption. It offers 3X points on travel spending (including gas), 2X points on dining out and entertainment spending, and 1 point per dollar spent on all other purchases. There’s also a sign-up bonus: Earn 50,000 bonus ThankYou Points after $3,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening - redeemable for $500 in gift cards, $625 for airfare, or other great rewards.

We recommend redeeming points for gift cards instead of cash because ThankYou points are worth more this way. Most gift cards are redeemable for 1 cent per point — starting with 2,500 points for a $25 gift card — while cash or statement credit has a 0.5 cent per point redemption rate. So you’ll get half the value if you go for cash rewards.

The Citi ThankYou® Premier Card has an annual fee of $95; fee waived for the first 12 months*.

Erin El Issa is a staff writer covering personal finance for NerdWallet. Follow her on Twitter @Erin_Lindsay17 and on Google+.

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from NerdWallet Credit Card Blog
http://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/credit-cards/cash-credit-cards-foreign-transaction-fees/