A card for spending abroad can be an ordinary debit card, a prepaid travel card or a multi-currency card from an app. What it costs you comes down to a few things: the fee for paying in a foreign currency, the fee for taking out cash, the exchange rate, and any card or monthly fee. This page explains each one, what protects your money, and what the main providers’ own terms say. It doesn’t recommend a card. For credit cards abroad, see credit cards for use abroad, and for cash, see where to buy travel money.
What to Compare
| What to look for | |
|---|---|
| Foreign currency fee | A fee your card provider adds when you pay in a currency other than pounds |
| Cash withdrawal fee | A fee for taking out cash abroad, and whether there’s a free allowance first |
| Cash limits | A daily or monthly cap on how much cash you can take out |
| Exchange rate | Whose rate is used: the card network’s (Visa or Mastercard), the provider’s own, or one set by the shop or cash machine |
| Card or plan fee | A fee to order the card, or a monthly fee for a paid plan |
| Protection | Whether your money is with a bank (FSCS) or an e-money firm (safeguarding) |
Exchange Rates and Fees
When you pay in a foreign currency, the payment is converted into pounds. For Visa cards, Visa uses the rate available when the payment is authorised, usually at the time you pay, and says your bank may or may not use that rate and may add its own fees for foreign transactions. So the network’s rate is only part of the cost: check the provider’s own fee too.
Cash machines abroad can charge their own fee, separate from anything your card provider charges. Even cards that charge nothing for cash withdrawals don’t stop the machine’s owner charging.
Paying in Pounds or Local Currency
Card machines and cash machines abroad sometimes offer to charge you in pounds. This is often called dynamic currency conversion. If you accept, the shop or the machine’s operator does the conversion at a rate it sets, and the card network’s rate doesn’t apply. UK payment rules require whoever offers a currency conversion service at a UK till or cash machine, or as the payee, to show you all its charges and the exchange rate to be used before you agree. Abroad, the rules depend on the country. If you choose the local currency instead, your card provider converts the payment. Chase says that if you pay in pounds you get the rate set by the shop. Starling tells its customers to choose the local currency, and says they’ll often get a better rate.
Prepaid Travel Cards
A prepaid travel card is separate from your bank account: you load money onto it and spend from the balance. Fees vary by card. As an example of the kinds of charge to look for, the Post Office Travel Money Card’s terms (checked 7 November 2026) include a 1.5% commission when you load pounds rather than a foreign currency (minimum £3, maximum £50), a fee for cash withdrawals, a 3% fee if you use it where the local currency isn’t on the card, and a monthly charge on money left on the card 12 months after it expires.
E-money can be held on a prepaid card. You can ask for e-money back at any time at its full value, and the card’s contract must state any fee for doing so.
What Protects Your Money
- Banks: money in an account with a UK bank is covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme up to £120,000 per eligible person, per authorised firm (the limit since 1 December 2025).
- E-money firms: some prepaid and multi-currency cards are issued by e-money institutions. The FSCS doesn’t cover money held with them. Instead they must safeguard it: keep it in a separate account with a bank, or protect it with insurance or a similar guarantee. If the firm fails you should get most of your money back, but it may take time and may not be the full amount.
- Check who holds your money. Some apps let you hold money with other firms from inside the app, so the protection can differ between accounts in the same app.
If Your Card Is Lost, Stolen or Misused
- Tell your card provider without undue delay when you find out.
- Your provider must refund a payment you didn’t authorise as soon as practicable, and no later than the end of the business day after it becomes aware of it. That deadline doesn’t apply if it has reasonable grounds to suspect fraud by you and has reported those grounds in writing to the authorities.
- If an unauthorised payment is made with a lost or stolen card, your provider can make you pay up to £35 of the loss, unless you couldn’t have detected the loss or theft before the payment or the loss was caused by the provider’s staff or agents. If you acted fraudulently, or with intent or gross negligence failed to follow the rules on using your card and keeping security details safe, you can be liable for all losses. After you’ve told the provider, you aren’t liable for further losses unless you acted fraudulently.
- If something you paid for with a debit or credit card isn’t provided, chargeback may help. It is a card scheme process, not a legal right, and you normally have 120 days. On a credit card, Section 75 can also apply to an item costing between £100 and £30,000.
- Some apps let you switch payments abroad on or off; check this before you travel.
What Providers’ Own Terms Say
Checked on 7 November 2026 from each provider’s own pages, in alphabetical order. This is not a ranking or a recommendation, and terms change: check the provider’s current terms before you rely on them.
| Provider | Paying in a foreign currency | Cash abroad | Money held by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chase UK | No fee from Chase; Mastercard rate | No fee from Chase; limits of £500 a day and £1,500 a calendar month abroad | A bank (J.P. Morgan Europe Limited): FSCS |
| Monzo | No fee; Mastercard’s rate passed on | Free allowance depends on your plan, whether Monzo is your main bank and where you are (for example, on a free account where Monzo isn’t your main bank: £400 fee-free every 30 days in the UK and EEA and £200 outside the EEA, then 3%) | A bank: FSCS |
| Revolut | Standard plan: currency exchange free up to £1,000 a month on weekdays, 1% at weekends; paid plans differ | Standard plan: 5 withdrawals or £200 a rolling month free, whichever comes first, then 2% (minimum £1); Premium, Metal and Ultra have higher monthly limits | A bank (FSCS) for accounts moved to Revolut Bank UK; e-money (safeguarded) for accounts not yet moved |
| Starling | No fee from Starling; Mastercard rate | No fee from Starling, up to £300 a day | A bank: FSCS |
| Wise | No charge just for using the card abroad; a conversion fee applies if you don’t hold the currency you’re spending; £7 to order a physical card (a digital card is free) | Free up to £250 a month, then 2.69% of the amount over that | An e-money firm (Wise Payments Ltd): safeguarded, not FSCS |
In every case the cash machine’s owner can add its own charge.