US Dollars…advice needed.

To add to that. The cards might be free to use when you are buying stuff, but you would still probably be charged for withdrawing at an ATM (although that might depend on the bank running the ATM and the only time I used one to withdraw cash I was in the middle of nowhere - literally)

 

I'd recommend an alternative route, both for overseas and general spending, which is a Curve Card. I've been using one for several years now, and I can't recommend it highly enough.

Essentially, it's a Mastercard that you link your existing cards to in a wallet, and you can use whichever one of them as the source of the funds for each transaction (including the ability to move transactions from one to the other in some cases, so you can put transactions on a credit card if cash is tight before payday, and then switch them to your debit card later - the number of times and how far back you can do this varies by the level of card).

There are 4 tiers of card available - the lowest one is free, the others have a subscription charge, but the benefits easily outweigh the cost for me, so I'm on the highest tier option.

Specifically in terms of overseas currency, any spend with Curve is a fee-free transaction, so as good as the best debit card options, even when pointing to your credit card, which will record the transaction in Sterling after Curve have converted it. Each tier has a limit of monthly spend available which is fee free, similarly for ATM withdrawals overseas. The foreign currency expenditure is also now subject to a flat 1% cashback rate, which applies on top of any cashback you get from the debit card itself (e.g. Chase have a 1% cashback on their debit card spend, so you get both using Curve linked to Chase). There's also a separate cashback scheme where you choose specific retailers and get 1% on all spend at them (the number of retailers increases with the tier levels, to a maximum of 12).

I've just got back from the USA and did all my spending there this way, and it works brilliantly. I've added a referral link below, which people are free to use or ignore. It adds £10 of Curve Cash to your account if used, which is the currency of the cashback payments (basically, if there's a transaction made that can be covered by the Curve cash balance you build up, then it takes it from there, rather than your bank card).

I've added a couple of screenshots from the app, showing some of the actual transactions as you see them, and the cashback credits on the US transactions showing up. The transactions were all pointing to a Virgin Atlantic Credit Card, which isn't a fee free card if used directly in the USA, but becomes a fee-free card when linked to the Curve Card.

In short, it's bloody brilliant!

Sign up with my link and get £10 free. Let's save together! https://www.curve.com/join#N79GM4VD

 

Also, just to add a bit of general advice for using cards in the US, it will vary by retailer as to whether you'll need to tap the card, insert it to add a PIN or, in some cases, electronically sign the terminal with a stylus pen.

If in restaurants, they'll take the card and charge the basic bill to it, and will then bring an invoice slip for you to add a tip amount and sign, which they'll then amend the charge for after you've left the restaurant. It's a bit weird until you get used to it, but is bog-standard practice over there. At the end of the day it's no different to how pay at pump petrol transactions work over here, where they charge £100 initially and then adjust to the actual amount of fuel taken, so it's nothing to be concerned about. It helps if you're prepared for it to happen though.