Trip budgets, packing, insurance need, itinerary timing, points value, visas and booking-site scams — straight answers in seconds. The full detailed report costs less than a cup of coffee: $2.95.
Spending abroad quietly taxes you twice: your card's foreign transaction fee on every purchase, and the markup baked into currency exchange at airport kiosks — which is why the same $1,500 can cost very different amounts depending on how you pay. This calculator compares the two routes honestly: your card's fee plus ATM charges against the kiosk's rate markup, and shows the dollar difference for your actual spending. The verdict explains the practical winning combo for most trips — and why the 'pay in your home currency' prompt at the terminal is a trap to decline.
Compare the real cost of spending abroad on your card versus exchanging cash at airport kiosks — foreign transaction fees, ATM charges and kiosk markups, with the honest cheaper option.
Almost always for purchases — card fees run 0-3% while kiosk markups run 6-12% — but cash is still needed for small vendors, and ATM fees make frequent small withdrawals wasteful. Larger, rarer withdrawals keep the ATM cost down.
When a card terminal offers to charge you in your home currency instead of the local one. The rate offered is typically 3-6% worse than your card's own conversion — always choose to pay in the local currency.
Log in to your card's account or call the number on the back and ask for the foreign transaction fee and foreign ATM fee. It is a five-minute check that tells you which side of this calculator you are on.
Every tool answers instantly from our own knowledge and calculators. Want the deeper, personalised version? Each has a $2.95 full report.