Credit card for USA

[Honeymoonmummy]

Hi all, I haven't owned a credit card for 10 years but thinking I should get one for a trip to the USA next year as I believe things like car hire can be a problem without? Are there any in particular that will serve me well when transacting in dollars? And are there any with rewards that I should be looking out for? Thanks

Visa or Amex are widely accepted here. Look for one that doesn't charge fees for foreign tranasactions

DH got one through his bank specifically for our trip to USA. We couldn't collect the keys to the hire car without one, so it was necessary from the off. Think it's a visa.

We did buy a couple of small things on it, but then cleared it immediately and chopped it up.

I used my Visa card with absolutely no problems last year.

You really do need a credit card for car hire in the US.

I went to the US in the summer and was worried about not being able to hire a car without a credit card but it was fine. I hired two cars and both accepted a debit card.

I've used visa all over the US.

We bank with Nationwide and were told that there was a fee per debit card transaction, but not with a credit card. However, withdrawing cash with a debit card wouldn't have incurred a fee.

I've just come back from a week in NYC and used a card called WeSwap where you load your money onto it and swap to dollars.

Excellent conversion rate and we could use the card everywhere, even in ATM's and when we were booking trips online. You download an app where you can keep track of how much you have left and you can load more onto the card at any time.

Look for one that's fee free. I used a creation one across Arizona and California saved me a fortune in fees. Chip and pin worked in quite a few places. Only had issues in one shop but cashier didn't have a clue.

No fee for withdrawing cash on the creation card but do get charged interest. I withdraw a load of cash and paid it off on line straight away no charges.

Halifax clarity is fee free and accepted everywhere. You get a fab exchange rate too.

I think it is fairly important to have both a debit and credit card for the USA. Their banking system is really quite backwards, and chip and pin is very slowly filtering through.

The only trouble I had in the USA this year was in using self-service petrol pumps. The only solution was to go to the kiosk and get buy credit. Fine when it is open, but not when I have to pick up DS from the Greyhound station at sparrow fart.

MoneySavingExpert on travel money. I have the Halifax Clarity Mastercard mentioned in the article - I used it in Alaska last year no problem. No fees.

Also have the Halifax clarity. Only ever use it for travel

The Creation one is also recommended by Money saving expert and you get the visa / MasterCard day rate

Thanks all. I bank with halifax anyway so will get a clarity one. Does DH need to get one too, or will one between us suffice?

Are you going to do things together or separately?

Mostly together but he's planning a couple of days in Memphis on his own (big Elvis fan!) so I guess the question is whether I will do all the driving and whether he needs to drive in Memphis (which I'm guessing is probably yes). Are there any car hire companies which take a debit card because he's never had a credit card and I doubt he'll want to get one now.

Used both Mastercard & Visa there last month and you'll need it for car hire. The couple next to us at Thrifty were turned away because they didn't have one!

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Honestly. It is better to get a credit card even if you have no intention of using it again. Just cut it up when you get home.

I got a capital one world card, no fees etc for using abroad.

There's no deals to be had for 0% etc. But as long as you pay the balance off there's no issue, I only spend what I can pay off on it.

I got my info from the money saving expert website.

A credit card is 100% essential in the USA. Make sure that whichever one you get, you call them before you go and give them a travel notification for where you are going and when. Otherwise the card might get a stop put on it for potential fraud when you use it for the first time overseas. Also test it works before you go!

I just saw you were going to split up for a couple of days, if he is staying at a hotel or doing anything booked online, he will need his own card, but you might be able to get 2 cards both on the same account.