Lazy Man and Money

Best Credit Card for Foreign Travel? (Ask the Readers)

by 4 Comments

Last week, I mentioned how my wife and I are going on ambitious trip to Phuket (and Australia). It’s been a little while since I went outside the US. Last year, we went to Aruba, but I’m so familiar with saving money in Aruba, that I didn’t feel the need to conserve every last cent. More importantly, they accept US Dollars so there’s no conversion.

Australia and Thailand are two different monsters entirely. I have no clue what to expect for prices. I’ve heard that credit card companies can play some tricks with conversion rates and fees. For example this article from Bankrate says that there are a couple of fees, one from Mastercard and Visa and another from the issuing bank. I’d like to be able to use my credit as a savings tool like I do in the US earning cash back when possible.

It looks like Capital One may have one of the lowest fees, but I don’t feel comfortable with them since they hate the environment.

In the end, we’ll probably take advantage of the USAA and their debit card. They promise no fees even abroad. Seeing how they are affiliated with the military, I think I trust them to get me a good exchange rate since they aren’t for big profits like other banks… Or else I’ll just check out some of these credit card reviews.

Capital One Hates the Environment

by 16 Comments

capital-one-environment.JPG
It’s true… I have proof. Look at the picture above. The most obvious thing is that I’m horrible at taking pictures. (Unfortunately, my camera skills are not good and I recycled the evidence before I noticed how bad the picture was. Let’s pretend I was trying to create blur effect to keep my name a secret.) However, if you look more carefully, you’ll see why Capital One hates the environment.

In the top right, you’ll see a square of bubble wrap. It’s sized the same as the yellow-orange envelope. That’s because it came in the envelope. What was the bubble wrap protecting, their letter? No, it was simply set up to look and feel like package so that it would be opened. It also serves the purpose that you can’t rip the envelope in half without opening it up and separating the bubble wrap. If you can think of another reason for bubble wrap in a letter, I’d love to hear it.

This is the third such letter I’ve gotten from Capital one. I gave them a pass on the first two for two reasons… 1) I’m Lazy and didn’t get around to it 2) I assumed there would be enough customer backlash to make them stop. Apparently it hasn’t happened because they are still continuing with the practice.

It’s bad enough to get all the junk mail that I get (I try to get on all the necessary lists), but I would hope that it would at least have the potential of serving the consumer… other than trying to trick them.