Gone are the days of traveling with traveler’s checks.  Nowadays most people travel with a credit card because it is a convenient way of having money on hand regardless of the currency in wherever you are.  Running your credit card with merchants automatically uses the foreign currency amount in the equivalent of dollars, making purchases painless on your trip.

There are a few things to keep in mind in order to make sure that you don’t run into problems when traveling with your credit card, however.  Here are some of the best tips.

Keep Your Card With You At All Times

It is important to keep your credit card in a wallet inside of your pocket, luggage, or purse.  Since there are often dishonest people who seek out stealing people’s information for credit card fraud, you shouldn’t let your card out of your hands.  If someone steals your information you could be in for a long hassle of consequently trying to repair your credit.

In many countries, merchants never take your card to run a charge in a place like a restaurant or bar.  Instead, they take the credit card machine directly to your table so that it never leaves your sight.

Alert Your Bank Of Travel Plans

Because of modern security precautions, your bank will often put a freeze on your card if it starts showing transactions overseas which are out of your ordinary spending pattern.

This can be a jolting discovery when you are trying to pay for something and your card is rejected.  You then have to spend the next portion of your day on hold with the bank attempting to unfreeze it.  This can be especially challenging if you are in a different time zone.

Beware of Hidden Fees

It is all too common to run your card in places where you don’t read the fine print.  Common culprits are airport pay phones which offer international calls to be paid with a credit card but don’t list their prices.  People can get charged as much as $25 a minute.

Other situations to be aware of hidden fees in would be ATM machines, and small stores which require a minimum charge to use a card.

Carry Some Cash Also

You can never be too sure where you are going will accept cards.  Some places require cash only so it is advantageous to always carry some cash in addition to your card.

Make Sure It Has a Chip

Many places in the world now only accept a card with a chip.  This is an extra security measure which the United States has started to catch on to.  Many machines will read chip only, so make sure that your card has a chip that you will be traveling with.  This is the best way to avoid any problems.