Lattitude (previously 28 degree) credit card new fee

[Bizziecruzer]

Hi all. Lattitude have just advised that they will be charging an $8 per month charge on the account. Can anyone suggest any fee free and conversion fee free credit cards for overseas travel? Thanks

[MicCanberra]

Yes, very unhappy with this new fee. It was a good card for so long.

[Bizziecruzer]

Yes I think we will cancel our card before September. It was great while it lasted. 

[MicCanberra]

The problem with cancelling the card is if you have future trips , accommodation or such booked on it. If you have to cancel them, it is harder to get your refunds as they have to go back to the card used for purchase.

[yarramar]

Bankwest Zero Platinum has no monthly or international transaction fees. (Yet?🤔)

 

[Hammer61]

The CBA Smart Awards credit card has no fees if you spend more than $2K a month, otherwise its $19 per month, not difficult in this day and age if you make sure all your household bills and spending are on it!

 

Has free Travel insurance, no international transaction fees, you get discounted lounge access at airports via Mastercard travel pass and accumulate rewards points with CBA or Qantas, plus other offers and benefits.

[Bizziecruzer]

45 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

The problem with cancelling the card is if you have future trips , accommodation or such booked on it. If you have to cancel them, it is harder to get your refunds as they have to go back to the card used for purchase.

Nothing on the card at the moment.

[Sparky74]

A very financially savvy friend has been happy with his "Up Card" but I think it’s a debit card rather than a credit card. 

[arxcards]

Thanks for the heads-up. I just retrieved my email from the junk folder. It is a bummer, and I am keen to spot something better.

 

Lots of mentions of no international transaction fees, and that is great, but are there any other cards that give you the midrate conversion without taking a couple of cents in the dollar for themselves. In the grand scheme of things, a $96 annual fee is competitive, as unfortunate as that sounds. If your card is idle and not travelling overseas, $8 a month is a lot just to keep it in your wallet. However, if you are travelling overseas a $400 spend will lose you around $8 on the conversion rate of an international transaction.

[cruiser3775]

I think the introduction of a small monthly fee was inevitable. There are many people like me who pay the card off in full every month, so Latitude makes nothing from us. When you compare the annual fees of most of the travel credit cards with no foreign exchange fees, Latitude 28 degrees will be almost the lowest. Some of these cards also demand you put a minimum monthly spend on them.

Bendigo Bank has a couple of products you might consider if you really want to spit the dummy over $8 a month.   They have a Bendigo Ready credit card and an UP Bank debit card, both with no annual fee and no foreign exchange fees.

[aussielozzie18]

Not happy with the new monthly charge either but I find this card so good for my overseas travel and with no suitable  alternatives, I plan to keep it for the time being, even though I have no trips planned for this year.

 

I have an UP card as a back up but that is loaded with my own money.

[windsor26]

As we only used Latitude while we are actually in a foreign country  I have worked out that any costs from my normal credit card for using foreign currency will be far less than$96 per year so cancelling Latitude immediately we return from Borneo on 6th September and transferring monies to pay the outstanding bill that day so no extra charges on 17th September

[mr walker]

14 hours ago, Hammer61 said:

The CBA Smart Awards credit card has no fees if you spend more than $2K a month, otherwise its $19 per month, not difficult in this day and age if you make sure all your household bills and spending are on it!

 

Has free Travel insurance, no international transaction fees, you get discounted lounge access at airports via Mastercard travel pass and accumulate rewards points with CBA or Qantas, plus other offers and benefits.

Yes we recently changed to this card to access the benefits offered. After the first month of use, a line appeared as 'Monthly fee waived $19.00", so all good so far. That said I would gladly spend less than $2K per month on bills and pay the $19 fee 😂

[Kristelle]

I have a Coles mastercard that has no annual fee.

 

Not sure how it compares for international spending - in the scheme of life I dont do much international spending so any costs incurred in  that would be way less than $96 per year for me.

[lyndarra]

I've just signed up fo Wise card and account. 

Previously used a velocity card until it was scrapped.

[Ondine]

I have an ING maximiser saving card which has no conversion fees or account fees but it is a debit card.  Has saved me heaps on international spends.

However they have introduced a credit card but I was not eligible for it because I depend on super and part age pension.  No payg income.  Assets and super didn't count.  

Maybe worth a look.

[Hammer61]

2 hours ago, mr walker said:

That said I would gladly spend less than $2K per month on bills and pay the $19 fee 😂

If im looking like under the $2K which doesn't happen often 😠 i will pay off a bit (just enough to get to $2K) an upcoming cruise/holiday, so never pay the fee.

 

Using a Westpac card before this with a $175 fee, got the Travel insurance but it had 3% foreign transaction fee, and what i found was even transactions in Aussie dollars can attract these fees 🤯think it was an Azamara cruise i paid a deposit on in $A then got hit with the 3% fee by the bank, when i called Westpac, they explained, happened with a couple of other purchases that turned out to be deemed foreign transactions, so decided the card had to go.  

 

There is currently an offer if you get the Smart Awards card in that you get a bonus 90,000 Combank points or 50,000 Qantas points, works out at around $500/$600 in value! Not bad 👍 but you do have to qualify for CommBank yello, i do this with a pensioner account (over 55,s) that has no fees and a debit card attached and just need 5 transactions a month, last month that was a total of $15 😆 if its very small amount i use the debit card otherwise the Awards card which is constantly accumulating more points.

[colourbird]

I didn't get any notification about this.

 

Anyway I've just submitted a request to close my account. I haven't used the card on my last few overseas trips as my Macquarie Bank credit card doesn't charge international transaction fees. 

 

[RosieCanberra]

10 hours ago, colourbird said:

I didn't get any notification about this.

 

The emails are staggered, for some reason. A friend got one several days ago, 2 days later another friend, a day later I got mine. Weird. 

[ozblue_7]

As I only use it overseas I’ve canceled mine and applied for Bendigo bank ready card. No fees.

[cheznandy]

On 8/11/2024 at 10:14 AM, ozblue_7 said:

As I only use it overseas I’ve canceled mine and applied for Bendigo bank ready card. No fees.

We will cancel also and going with Bendigo Ready card, it also has Travel insurance with Allianz if you qualify.

Our Ubank debit card has no international fees or conversion fees but we like to take credit and debit when overseas.

 

[Bizziecruzer]

10 minutes ago, cheznandy said:

We will cancel also and going with Bendigo Ready card, it also has Travel insurance with Allianz if you qualify.

Our Ubank debit card has no international fees or conversion fees but we like to take credit and debit when overseas.

 

Yes a credit card is required to check in at most hotels. We have a Ubank debit card. But looking for a credit card. Now that we don't work, credit cards are difficult to get. 

[cruiser3775]

On 8/10/2024 at 11:45 AM, Kristelle said:

I have a Coles mastercard that has no annual fee.

 

Not sure how it compares for international spending

The Coles Card charges $A5 PLUS 3% for anything you use it for overseas.  So a $10 purchase would cost you $15.30, Kristelle  Plus it has a $99 annual fee.

That makes it very expensive if you use it overseas for a lot of small purchases.  I'd be looking for another credit card for use overseas.

[Kristelle]

No, mine does not have an annual fee. It is Coles no annual fee platinum card

 

And I track my purchases as I go - it did not charge that when I was overseas.

[arxcards]

1 hour ago, Kristelle said:

No, mine does not have an annual fee. It is Coles no annual fee platinum card

 

And I track my purchases as I go - it did not charge that when I was overseas.

Platinum?

The $5 fee would be per any overseas cash transaction.

There is a 3% conversion fee that is built into each purchase with a foreign currency. You need to compare your overseas purchase price with what your statement says in $AU to find out what your conversion rate is. As an example, if the Aussie is worth 65 cents US, a $US65 purchase should cost you $100. Most credit cards will instead convert it to around $103 (or more). As with most, your card will take 3 cents in every dollar you spend as commission. For small purchases though, it isn't a big deal. 

 

As with the topic of Latitude 28 Degrees, they are one of the few cards that don't take a commission from the conversion, and why they have been a popular travel card. Alas, like most financial institutions, they like to make a dollar and they are gradually changing from what was an excellent product when it was launched.