credit cards

I love traveling – being in new places, exploring and discovering new sites, learning about the history of a town, its people and traditions. Whether it’s halfway across the globe or a small town two hours away from home or even a “staycation” in my own city, there is something exciting and adventurous about seeing new landscapes, meeting people and having new experiences.

When traveling abroad, I’d rather become “one” with the people rather than stick out as a tourist. When you look like a tourist in a foreign country, you can often be a target for theft too.

So when I’m traveling, I prefer using a credit card over carrying large sums of money. Having cash for small purchases and giving tips is the best option, but I only like to carry a little bit of cash with me anywhere I go – whether it’s a short trip away or a family vacation via airplane. I’m always paranoid that I’m going to lose money so I’d rather not carry large bills with me when we’re traveling.

Using a credit card for larger purchases like hotel, rental cars, restaurants, local attractions and shopping, is safer and secure. ATM machines are not always available in some places too so I’d much rather play it safe by charging my purchases to a credit card rather than looking for a debit machine. There have been several times when my debit card chip wasn’t working, I didn’t have enough cash and my credit card came to the rescue. There is also the convenience of being able to make purchases quickly with a swipe or a quick tap and go.

Whether you’re traveling to a remote location or a large city, a foreign country or across the border, or even when you’re taking a short trip in your own country, it’s best to carry a credit card that is widely accepted everywhere – for your peace of mind.

Need some more money tips for travel? Watch this video and keep reading!

Here are 4 money tips for travel:

Carry some small bills.

You may want to exchange a little bit of money in advance if you’re traveling to a foreign country. There’s nothing worse than traveling somewhere and you don’t have any small change to tip a taxi driver or buy a bottle of water!

Skip the Traveler’s Checks

Travelers checks are no longer widely accepted and cannot easily be cashed, even at the banks that issue them. Don’t bother – just bring a credit card.

Don’t Use Currency Exchange Desks

Credit cards offer better rates than the currency exchange desks and you’ll be paying more in fees. You can use your credit card just as you would at home. Card issuers usually add currency-conversion fees of 2 to 3 percent for international transactions but you’ll get the best exchange rate and fees that are lower than those associated with exchanging cash.

Use a MasterCard

MasterCard is accepted in 210+ countries and territories, which is more than any other card. The PayPass locator app helps you find merchants/ATM’s worldwide.

Using a MasterCard is convenient enough to use instead of cash wherever possible. Credit cards are a safe, easy and convenient way to pay when traveling and there are many travel benefits built right into your credit card, including:

Accepted at more places than any other card
Acceptance every time you swipe or tap
Purchase Protection
Emergency Card replacement
Ability to track spending and FX via online banking
Built-in benefits such as insurance
Safest and most seamless tool for cross-border travel
Real-time offers and rewards
Partner perks
Safe & secure round trip (fraud detection and Zero Liability policy)
24/7 Toll-free emergency services operators worldwide

Having a MasterCard in your wallet is your best bet when traveling abroad or staying close to home. Your card is your travel partner because it’s convenient and gives you peace of mind whether you’re visiting a remote island or enjoying a staycation!

Disclosure: I’m working with MasterCard on this fabulous travel campaign.

Have you finished your shopping list yet?

The gift giving season can be very expensive, especially if you have a large family to buy gifts for and are forced to remain on a very tight budget. People often talk about ‘the holiday hangover’ when the January credit card bill comes around, and we realize just how far over our heads we went with spending.

The worst part of the post-holiday credit card bill is we know we have to pay it off sooner rather than later; otherwise, we risk paying higher credit card interest rates, and the bill becomes even more expensive. Finding a credit card with the best possible interest rate for our budgets is tough enough because it’s implanted in our brains that we must rely on rates that the bank says we have to pay.

However, the banks aren’t as controlling as they once were because online resources such as www.lowestrates.ca, provide us with lists of all the credit card operators available, and there best advertised credit card interest rates. Online browsing and shopping is so commonplace these days that it makes sense for us to search for personal financial information that helps us save time, money, and the ability to decide how much we will pay on our terms.

The best part of this service is it extends beyond the holidays, and provides us with options to save money all throughout the year. The holidays are one of the most universal cash-crunch times of our lives, but budgets can be difficult to maintain when we least expect it. A quick search online makes money management a little easier on us – the fact that we can calculate our ideal credit card rate for free helps make the service even more enticing.

It may be the most wonderful time of the year, but wonderful comes with a price that we usually don’t realize until the season is gone and the bills arrive.

How do you plan to stick with your holiday budget?

4 Money Tips for Travel