Best Credit Cards for International Transactions

Though India is way beyond in the Credit card game and variants but we can notice a great community is being build revolving it and the growth is great in terms of new credit card consumers in past 5-6 years. From insanely popular cashback cards to the cards for nerds, the airmiles cards, we can see a lot of variation. There are specific set of users who are like me who do a big portion of their total spends on International transitions, this thread is specially for them.

The forex markup varies between 0 - 3.5%. But hey, as the Zero markup straightaway seems to save a lot of bucks, but sometimes it's not "the best" option, which I'll discuss. Please do note, that many Debit cards also do come with 0% markup, but you do miss the extra layer of security which comes along with credit cards.

So here are the 15 credit cards which will earn / save during on your international transactions:

* Please do keep your international transaction's permission turned off when not needed for your own safety

1. Axis Reserve:

Fee: ₹50,000

Markup: 1.5%

Reward Rate: 3% (on GV) & 12% (on Loyalty Program)

Effective Reward Rate: 1.23% (on GV) & 10.23% (on Loyalty Program)



2. Citi Prestige:

Fee: ₹20,000

Markup: 3.5%

Reward Rate: 2% (on GV) & 8% (on Loyalty Program)

Effective Reward Rate: -2.13 (on GV) & 3.87% (on Loyalty Program)



3. Axis Magnus:

Fee: ₹10,000

Markup: 2%

Reward Rate: 1.2% (on GV) & 4.8% (on Loyalty Program)

Effective Reward Rate: -1.16% (on GV) & 2.44% (on Loyalty Program)

⚠️ If only hitting ₹1L milestone, effective Reward Rate would be 3.84% (on GV) & 22.44% (on Loyalty Program)



4. HDFC Infinia:

Fee: NIL for first year. ₹10,000 from second year onwards

Markup: 2%

Reward Rate: 3.3% (With Global Value Program, extra 1% till ₹1L per billing cycle as Cashback)

Effective Reward Rate: 1.94% (⚠️Till ₹1L in a billing cycle)



5. HDFC DinersClub Black:

Fee: NIL for first year, ₹10,000 from second year onwards

Markup: 2%

Reward Rate: 3.3% (With Global Value Program, extra 1% till ₹1L per billing cycle as Cashback)

Effective Reward Rate: 1.94% (⚠️Till ₹1L in a billing cycle)



6. Axis One Card / Burgundy Private Credit Card:

Fee: NIL for Burgundy Private customers, if not maintained Burgundy Private, then ₹50,000

Markup: 0%

Reward Rate: 1.5% (on GV) & 6% (on Loyalty Programs)

Effective Reward Rate: 1.5% (on GV) & 6% (on Loyalty Programs)



7. AMEX Platinum Charge Card:

Fee: ₹60,000

Markup: 3.5%

Reward Rate: 7.5% (Considering 1MR = ₹1)

Effective Reward Rate: 3.37% (⚠️ Only for direct USD purchase, or else AMEX charge double markup fee by doing Native Currency > $ > Desired Currency)



8. Standard Chartered Ultimate:

Fee: ₹5,000

Markup: 3.5% (1.5% gets refunded back as Cashback)

Reward Rate: 3.3%

Effective Reward Rate: 0.67%



9. SBI Aurum:

Fee: ₹10,000

Markup: 2%

Reward Rate: 1-2.5% (⚠️Considering the monthly ₹1L milestone being achieved and getting ₹1.5K worth Tata Cliq Vouchers. If not spending ₹1L in a billing cycle, avoid using it)

Effective Reward Rate: 0.14%



10. IndusInd Pioneer Heritage Metal:

Fee: ₹1,90,000 joining fee, no annual fee (comes with various options of fee structure)

Markup: 1.8%

Reward Rate: 2.5%

Effective Reward Rate: 0.14%



11. IndusInd Bank Explorer:

Fee: Joining fee ₹40,000, Annual fee ₹10,000

Markup: 0%

Reward Rate: 1% (Pays in Club Vistara Points aka CV Points)

Effective Reward Rate: 1% (Can be maximised by completing ₹3L/₹6L/₹9L/₹12L/₹15L milestone for Business Class Voucher)



12. SBI Cashback Credit Card:

Fee: NIL for first year, ₹999 from second year onwards

Markup: 3.5%

Reward Rate: 5%

Effective Reward Rate: 0.87%



13. IDFC First Private:

Fee: ₹50,000

Markup: 0%

Reward Rate: 2.5% (⚠️Considering the spend is always above ₹30K every month, below that, avoid)

Effective Reward Rate: 2.5%




14. IDFC Wealth:

Fee: LTF

Markup: 1.5%

Reward Rate: 2.5% (⚠️Considering the spend is always above ₹30K every month, below that, avoid)

Effective Reward Rate: 0.14%



15. RBL World Safari:

Fee: ₹3,000

Markup: 0%

Reward Rate: 0% (World Safari has no RP gain on international transactions)

Effective Reward Rate: 0%




So that's all as of now. Feel free to give your input. This list will keep changing depending on the new card or changed features of the cards.

 

[Sub]

Prestige is expensive, but if you have it, that should be the default candidate for putting international transactions. Great for quickly racking up miles. Handy tip: if you are booking international revenue tickets, check prices on expedia or other US sites. Sometimes, prices are largely similar, or even slightly lesser than on Indian OTAs. And if you are OK with the markup, you can more than make it up with the miles that you accrue for the transaction. Also, if travelling in Asia (Singapore/Malaysia/HK/Japan), Citi has pretty good local offers, so worth checking with the merchant before deciding on card. Infinia/DCB is also a great bet thanks to the global value program.

 

[Subhankar]

Prestige is expensive, but if you have it, that should be the default candidate for putting international transactions. Great for quickly racking up miles. Handy tip: if you are booking international revenue tickets, check prices on expedia or other US sites. Sometimes, prices are largely similar, or even slightly lesser than on Indian OTAs. And if you are OK with the markup, you can more than make it up with the miles that you accrue for the transaction. Also, if travelling in Asia (Singapore/Malaysia/HK/Japan), Citi has pretty good local offers, so worth checking with the merchant before deciding on card. Infinia/DCB is also a great bet thanks to the global value program.

I will say Prestige is hardly an expensive card. The compensation comes straightaway and with the MC World Elite it used to be really valuable and was the cheapest MC World Elite card as other card which comes with MC World Elite are costlier, the YES Private and Private Preferred, and those Indusind Pioneer Heritage Metal and Crest.

 

[jayks]

OneCard is also a good shout with its 1% forex markup.

 

[souvikdey2002]

Though India is way beyond in the Credit card game and variants but we can notice a great community is being build revolving it and the growth is great in terms of new credit card consumers in past 5-6 years. From insanely popular cashback cards to the cards for nerds, the airmiles cards, we can see a lot of variation. There are specific set of users who are like me who do a big portion of their total spends on International transitions, this thread is specially for them.

The forex markup varies between 0 - 3.5%. But hey, as the Zero markup straightaway seems to save a lot of bucks, but sometimes it's not "the best" option, which I'll discuss. Please do note, that many Debit cards also do come with 0% markup, but you do miss the extra layer of security which comes along with credit cards.
I'll now list down My Top 5 cards for Forex Transactions, including their Value Offered, Eligibility Criteria, the Milestones.

1. Citi Ultima & Citi Prestige:
i) Fee: Citi Ultima- 50k - 3L , Citi Prestige- 20k
ii) Welcome Benefits: Ultima- 3 options are there: 30k ITC GV / 20k RP which translates to 100k airmiles / iPad Mini. Prestige- 2.5k RP equals to 10k airmiles & 10k Taj GV
iii) Reward Rate: Ultima: Upto 10% , Prestige: Upto 8%
iv) Markup: 3.5%
v) Value Back: For Ultima it's 1 RP = 5 airmiles/ 5 IHG points. For Prestige it's 1 RP = 4 airmiles/ 4 IHG points / 1 TIC. For International Transactions one get double the point. So every 100 Rs spent will give you 2 RP. So after shelling out 3.5% + 18% GST = 4.13% your value back for Ultima is 10% - 4.13% = 5.87% and for Prestige it's 8% - 4.13% = 3.87%

2. AMEX Platinum Charge Card:
i) Fee: 60k
ii) Welcome Benefits: 100k MR Points or 40k Taj Vouchers
iii) Reward Rate: Upto 7.5%
iv) Markup: 3.5%
v) Value Back: Though the basic reward rate varies from 1.25% - 2.5% but when doing international spends you get 3x RP, so every 40 Rs spend will give you 3MR points, which translates to 7.5 RP for every 100 Rs. After paying 3.5% + GST on markup the effective value-back is 7.5 % - 4.13 % = 3.37%

3. Axis The One / Axis Burgundy Private Credit Card:
i) Fee: N/A for Burgundy Private Clients. For discontinuation of Burgundy Private, 50k.
ii) Welcome Benefits: 30k Edge RP equals to 6k Rs, Accorplus' welcome benefits.
iii) Reward Rate: 1.5%
iv) Markup: 0%
v) Value Back: This is the only card I really do like with 0% markup as it's pretty straight forward. It comes with other perks as well, but due to being a Private banking only card, it's pretty hard get hold of, even if you are willing to pay that fee upfront. So the final value-back is 1.5%

4. Axis Reserve:
i) Fee: 50k
ii) Welcome Benefits: 50k Edge RP equals to 10k INR. Accorplus' welcome benefits.
iii) Reward Rate: Upto 3%
iv) Markup: 1.5%
v) Value Back: It shares a lot of similarity in terms of benefits with Axis One Card, but slightly different. Basic reward rate is 1.5% but for international transactions it's 3%. So after paying 1.5% + GST as markup fee the effective value-back is 3% - 1.77% = 1.23%

5. HDFC Infinia Metal Edition:
i) Fee: 12.5k
ii) Welcome Benefits: 12.5k points, Club Marriott membership
iii) Reward Rate: Upto 3.3%
iv) Markup: 2%
v) Value Back: Infinia has always been one of the most desirable card to everyone and it never fails to shine in this criteria as well. The effective reward rate after 2% + GST is 3.3 % - 2.36% = 0.94. Yes, it falls under 1%, but hey, HDFC is silently running an offer called Global Value Program which adds 1% extra value-back if your spend is 1 lakh per statement cycle as the value-back is capped at 1k Rs. So the sweet spot is to hit 1 lakh spend every month and the effective reward rate will be 1.94%

This is not the end of the list in general, but these are just my favourites which I found to be giving maximum value back on this specific category of spending. Few other cards I'd like to mentioned with their markup charges and reward rate:
1. SCB Ultimate: Reward Rate is 3.3 % and markup is 2%
2. IndusInd Explorer: Reward Rate is 1% and markup is 0%
3. HDFC DCB: Reward Rate is 3.3% and markup is 2%
4. HSBC Premier: Reward Rate is 2% and markup is 1.99%
5. SBI Aurum: Reward Rate is 1% and markup is 2% (good only if you're hitting monthly milestone of 1L)
6. Axis Magnus: Reward Rate 1.2% and markup is 2% (good only if you're hitting monthly milestone of 1L)
7. IndusInd Pioneer Heritage Metal: Reward Rate 2.5% and markup 1.8%

Please do note, this list is according to me, not the absolute one. Feel free to share your inputs

Why didn't you mention RBL World Safari Credit Card which has an absolute "0 Forex MarkUp" & is very easy to get as well.
Joining charge is 3000+GST so as annual charges.(Joining charges can be reversed my a MakeMy Trip 3000 voucher but not the Annual Fees)
The only issue is that you won't earn any rewards points for the International Transaction.

After AXIS Burgundy Private(Which is almost impossible to get for normal people) this card is the only card for normal people.
Even RBL market this card under the tagline "0 Forex Markup" card in India.

 

[Subhankar]

OneCard is also a good shout with its 1% forex markup.

No, it's certainly not. The markup itself will make it negative. 1% reward rate, then 1.18 will be the deduction. That's negative .18 % return

 

[Subhankar]

Why didn't you mention RBL World Safari Credit Card which has an absolute "0 Forex MarkUp" & is very easy to get as well.
Joining charge is 3000+GST so as annual charges.(Joining charges can be reversed my a MakeMy Trip 3000 voucher but not the Annual Fees)
The only issue is that you won't earn any rewards points for the International Transaction.

After AXIS Burgundy Private(Which is almost impossible to get for normal people) this card is the only card for normal people.
Even RBL market this card under the tagline "0 Forex Markup" card in India.

Didn't mention as no value-back. International transactions won't earn you any point.

 

[jayks]

No, it's certainly not. The markup itself will make it negative. 1% reward rate, then 1.18 will be the deduction. That's negative .18 % return

The card itself is LTF. That should play in its favour. Even HSBC Premier gives negative return (total markup of 2.35% incl GST, so effective return is -0.35%). SBI Aurum and Axis Magnus are on that list with an even worse return rate.

Also, imo DCB should be alongside Infinia as it is also eligible for the Global Value Program. So returns are the same for both of them.

 

[Subhankar]

The card itself is LTF. That should play in its favour. Even HSBC Premier gives negative return (total markup of 2.35% incl GST, so effective return is -0.35%). SBI Aurum and Axis Magnus are on that list with an even worse return rate.

Also, imo DCB should be alongside Infinia as it is also eligible for the Global Value Program. So returns are the same for both of them.

SBI Aurum and Magnus being mentioned only for 1L monthly milestone. Because they both have their advantages there. Kept HSBC due to the airline transfer partner which OneCard doesn't have. For DCB, I mentioned separately, which needs an edit. Kept in that below list due to acceptability issue. Thanks for your input though.

 

[sunnyhere]

If I am not wrong, the Global Value Program is currently discontinued by HDFC. Had checked with CC last week and it is no longer offered to new customers.

 

[jayks]

If I am not wrong, the Global Value Program is currently discontinued by HDFC. Had checked with CC last week and it is no longer offered to new customers.

It is still available for DCB and Infinia, not sure whether other cards are eligible. I just got my dad enrolled in it (DCB) last month by emailing customer care. Also note that the phone customer care of HDFC bank is clueless on most things.

 

[AllSeeker]

No, it's certainly not. The markup itself will make it negative. 1% reward rate, then 1.18 will be the deduction. That's negative .18 % return

We don't get reward points in one card for international transactions?

I did not know this

 

[sunnyhere]

We don't get reward points in one card for international transactions?

I did not know this

Onecard gives reward points for International transactions.

However untill it is in top 2 categories the ROI is very low.

 

[brahmin_baniya]

Guys i travel l abroad usaaly 2 trips eyery year ,which is the best internatatinal travel card for lounge and should one get such card? I wanted infinia card but they want me to put 10 lakh rs fd to get the card,idfc wealth has been promised but i don't know when i will get one.

I already hold axis ace which i use the most and will be getting eterna(fingers crossed), any low fees card i can get that gets me internantoinal lunge access,i was planning sbi prime but card is of no use to me specailly as i hold axis ace.

 

[Jitendra P]

Guys i travel l abroad usaaly 2 trips eyery year ,which is the best internatatinal travel card for lounge and should one get such card? I wanted infinia card but they want me to put 10 lakh rs fd to get the card,idfc wealth has been promised but i don't know when i will get one.

I already hold axis ace which i use the most and will be getting eterna(fingers crossed), any low fees card i can get that gets me internantoinal lunge access,i was planning sbi prime but card is of no use to me specailly as i hold axis ace.

If your axis limit is 3L+, then upgrade to magnus, if not then try to apply magnus with 3L C2C.

 

[naviworks]

With markup of 2.35% including gst and return rate of 3.75%, why Bob Eterna not on the list? @Subhankar

 

[Subhankar]

With markup of 2.35% including gst and return rate of 3.75%, why Bob Eterna not on the list? @Subhankar

Because of the capping on reward rate. 3.75% is capped at ~42k per month

 

[Bigde]

Guys i travel l abroad usaaly 2 trips eyery year ,which is the best internatatinal travel card for lounge and should one get such card? I wanted infinia card but they want me to put 10 lakh rs fd to get the card,idfc wealth has been promised but i don't know when i will get one.

I already hold axis ace which i use the most and will be getting eterna(fingers crossed), any low fees card i can get that gets me internantoinal lunge access,i was planning sbi prime but card is of no use to me specailly as i hold axis ace.

IDFC Wealth is your best bet, it is LTF and comes with Dream Folks card for international lounge access.

 

[brahmin_baniya]

IDFC Wealth is your best bet, it is LTF and comes with Dream Folks card for international lounge access.

I got the axis magnus ,idfc folks just suck

 

[mokshranka]

Though India is way beyond in the Credit card game and variants but we can notice a great community is being build revolving it and the growth is great in terms of new credit card consumers in past 5-6 years. From insanely popular cashback cards to the cards for nerds, the airmiles cards, we can see a lot of variation. There are specific set of users who are like me who do a big portion of their total spends on International transitions, this thread is specially for them.

The forex markup varies between 0 - 3.5%. But hey, as the Zero markup straightaway seems to save a lot of bucks, but sometimes it's not "the best" option, which I'll discuss. Please do note, that many Debit cards also do come with 0% markup, but you do miss the extra layer of security which comes along with credit cards.
I'll now list down My Top 5 cards for Forex Transactions, including their Value Offered, Eligibility Criteria, the Milestones.

1. Citi Ultima & Citi Prestige:
i) Fee: Citi Ultima- 50k - 3L , Citi Prestige- 20k
ii) Welcome Benefits: Ultima- 3 options are there: 30k ITC GV / 20k RP which translates to 100k airmiles / iPad Mini. Prestige- 2.5k RP equals to 10k airmiles & 10k Taj GV
iii) Reward Rate: Ultima: Upto 10% , Prestige: Upto 8%
iv) Markup: 3.5%
v) Value Back: For Ultima it's 1 RP = 5 airmiles/ 5 IHG points. For Prestige it's 1 RP = 4 airmiles/ 4 IHG points / 1 TIC. For International Transactions one get double the point. So every 100 Rs spent will give you 2 RP. So after shelling out 3.5% + 18% GST = 4.13% your value back for Ultima is 10% - 4.13% = 5.87% and for Prestige it's 8% - 4.13% = 3.87%

2. AMEX Platinum Charge Card:
i) Fee: 60k
ii) Welcome Benefits: 100k MR Points or 40k Taj Vouchers
iii) Reward Rate: Upto 7.5%
iv) Markup: 3.5%
v) Value Back: Though the basic reward rate varies from 1.25% - 2.5% but when doing international spends you get 3x RP, so every 40 Rs spend will give you 3MR points, which translates to 7.5 RP for every 100 Rs. After paying 3.5% + GST on markup the effective value-back is 7.5 % - 4.13 % = 3.37%

3. Axis The One / Axis Burgundy Private Credit Card:
i) Fee: N/A for Burgundy Private Clients. For discontinuation of Burgundy Private, 50k.
ii) Welcome Benefits: 30k Edge RP equals to 6k Rs, Accorplus' welcome benefits.
iii) Reward Rate: 1.5%
iv) Markup: 0%
v) Value Back: This is the only card I really do like with 0% markup as it's pretty straight forward. It comes with other perks as well, but due to being a Private banking only card, it's pretty hard get hold of, even if you are willing to pay that fee upfront. So the final value-back is 1.5%

4. Axis Reserve:
i) Fee: 50k
ii) Welcome Benefits: 50k Edge RP equals to 10k INR. Accorplus' welcome benefits.
iii) Reward Rate: Upto 3%
iv) Markup: 1.5%
v) Value Back: It shares a lot of similarity in terms of benefits with Axis One Card, but slightly different. Basic reward rate is 1.5% but for international transactions it's 3%. So after paying 1.5% + GST as markup fee the effective value-back is 3% - 1.77% = 1.23%

5. HDFC Infinia Metal Edition:
i) Fee: 12.5k
ii) Welcome Benefits: 12.5k points, Club Marriott membership
iii) Reward Rate: Upto 3.3%
iv) Markup: 2%
v) Value Back: Infinia has always been one of the most desirable card to everyone and it never fails to shine in this criteria as well. The effective reward rate after 2% + GST is 3.3 % - 2.36% = 0.94. Yes, it falls under 1%, but hey, HDFC is silently running an offer called Global Value Program which adds 1% extra value-back if your spend is 1 lakh per statement cycle as the value-back is capped at 1k Rs. So the sweet spot is to hit 1 lakh spend every month and the effective reward rate will be 1.94%

This is not the end of the list in general, but these are just my favourites which I found to be giving maximum value back on this specific category of spending. Few other cards I'd like to mentioned with their markup charges and reward rate:
1. SCB Ultimate: Reward Rate is 3.3 % and markup is 2% (gets charged at 3.5% first then returns 1.5% as cashback)
2. IndusInd Explorer: Reward Rate is 1% and markup is 0%
3. HDFC DCB: Reward Rate is 3.3% and markup is 2% (Same rewarding as Infinia, but can cause an issue in terms of acceptability)
4. HSBC Premier: Reward Rate is 2% and markup is 1.99%
5. SBI Aurum: Reward Rate is 1% and markup is 2% (good only if you're hitting monthly milestone of 1L)
6. Axis Magnus: Reward Rate 1.2% and markup is 2% (good only if you're hitting monthly milestone of 1L)
7. IndusInd Pioneer Heritage Metal: Reward Rate 2.5% and markup 1.8%

Please do note, this list is according to me, not the absolute one. Feel free to share your inputs

idfc first credit card with just 1.5% markup