By Odysseas Papadimitriou, the CEO and Founder of CardHub.com.  Card Hub is a credit card comparison website that helps consumers find the best credit card deals and discounted gift cards.

When planning an overseas vacation, there's a lot to get done.  You have to decide where to go, how to get there, when to leave, when to come back, where to stay and what to pack.  You might also have to arrange for someone to take care of your pets, pick up your mail and water the plants, among many, many other things.  In short, overseas travel comes with a long checklist, and it's often difficult to keep everything straight.  One arrangement, however, must be made before any other, though a vast majority of travelers fail to recognize its importance. 

Upon deciding to travel abroad and before tackling the logistics of your trip, you need to make sure you have a credit card with no foreign fees. 

According to the Pew Charitable Trusts, 91% of credit cards have fees that amount to about 3% of each foreign transaction you make.  Given the already high costs of foreign travel, it really doesn't make sense to pay 3% more when it can truly be avoided.   However, you might still be wondering why you must open a card without such fees before even booking flights, hotels, etc.  Can't you get it anytime before you leave?

Interestingly, no.  A foreign transaction is not merely when a credit card is used aboard. Rather, it is any transaction that must be processed abroad.  So if you make hotel, restaurant or day trip reservations directly through a company in your destination before departing and you don't have a no-foreign transaction fee credit card, you could be costing yourself a fair amount of money.

Preventing this, however, is as simple as calling your credit card company, asking if your card has foreign transaction fees and opening another card without them if necessary.  Not all issuers offer no foreign transaction fee credit cards though, so if your issuer cannot satisfy this request, you've no reason to worry.  Just check out Capital One; it has the most extensive collection of such credit cards across all credit types.

Once you're set up, go ahead and handle all of your trips' logistics.  Just remember to make another call to your credit card issuer before leaving.  The purpose of doing so is two-fold:  to ensure that your card is not suspended due to suspicious activity and to get a number you can call at no charge from overseas if you have any difficulties with your card.  After this is taken care of, you’re set for wheels up or anchors away.

Now, your focus can turn toward enjoying your trip.  You won't have to fuss over exchange rates; your credit card provides one of the best exchange rates possible.  You won't have to worry about pickpockets; credit cards are easy to conceal and you wouldn't be held liable for unauthorized purchases anyway.  Just make sure to always have your passport on you (it might be needed for purchase authorization) and never sign a bill or check that lists prices in terms of American dollars (merchants charge high currency conversion fees).  If you do these things, not only will you have a great time, but you won't fall victim to post-trip credit card statement depression either.  Bon voyage!

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