Best Credit and Debit Cards for Digital Nomads – My Strategy

When starting off travelling the world as a remote worker, many people are wondering what are the best credit cards to get as a digital nomad.

As someone that has been working online and travelling for a number of years now, I thought I would recommend the strategy that I use that costs me the least amount of money in fees but also provides me flexibility in a number of currencies and gives me rewards that I can then use for future flying.

Most of the searches I’ve found online have recommend cards and accounts that are only open to Americans as they make up a massive market for such things. Even when I search in the UK, I get recommended American products as there aren’t that many options for those that live or are based in the UK.

This isn’t something I have mentioned much in any other posts or on social media, so all of this is brand new information that I haven’t released to the world yet. As we are talking about money, I should probably put a disclaimer in…

Now that’s out the way, let’s take a look at the debit and credit cards that I use as a digital nomad.

The Best Credit Cards for Digital Nomads

Wise card

My Wise card has been my go to for many years. I first got a Wise account (back when it was called TransferWise) in 2015 to send money to Australia when I was living there.

Now I use the card as my day to day spending when abroad and I use it when using ATM’s abroad to withdraw money. There are zero foreign exchange fees and it is easy to transfer amounts between the different currencies in the app.

The app makes it easy to send money in different currencies to people abroad, so I have made bank transfers in Euros to others with no fees.

The fee free withdrawal limit from ATM’s of £200 per month is low, but the very small fee when you go over that limit is a very small price to pay.

I think the Wise card is the best card for a digital nomad to have and use for their day to day spending.

To get a fee free transfer of up to £500 you can use this link.

British Airways American Express credit card

This is my most expensive credit card but it does come with a lot of perks. This is the credit card that got me my first First Class flight and got me an incredible discount on a business class flight from Singapore.

Although the fee of £300 is high, the companion voucher that you can earn after spending £15,000 per year means that you can fly two people on an Avios flight on British Airways for the cost of just one amount of Avios plus taxes and fees. If you’re a solo traveller like me, you can halve the cost of Avios needed for the flight.

If you’re buying return flights to Sydney in business class, that could be more than 100,000 Avios you are saving (valued at over £1000). I saved 42,500 when I used it for my flight.

The card also comes with an earning bonus of 1.5 Avios per £1 spent, double points when spending with British Airways, the chance to earn Tier Points (which can help you gain oneworld Sapphire membership) and many offers that come with American Express membership.

American Express Gold credit card

This was my first proper credit card and I mainly got it to get on the points and miles bandwagon. Although, I had been reading A LOT about it for many months before getting this card. I originally got it for the benefits such as lounge access, getting one Amex point per £1 spent and some of the travel perks that I have now used.

I recently used it to book through Amex Travel which got me a room upgrade and $100 hotel credit on a trip to Hong Kong. I have used the four Priority Passes per year to get into some lounges around the world. I have used some of the Amex offers to get money off some products, like getting 10% cash back on my VPN and savings £80 on car rental. And I have used the points to pay or upgrade some flights.

There are many benefits I don’t use because they are mostly for customers based in the UK but I find this card adequate for my needs and the extra perks it brings.

If you want to sign up to Priority Pass to get lounge access without the card, you can sign up here.

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

I recently got the Virgin Atlantic Credit Card purely for the sign up bonus that they were running. I paid £160 for the first year and got 16,000 points which I consider to counteract the price.

I wanted a credit card that I could use when some sellers don’t accept American Express which many don’t around the world, and in the UK. As a Mastercard, it is accepted almost everywhere that you can pay by card. As a disclaimer, I will soon be downgrading to the free version of this card as I don’t spend enough to justify the benefits of it.

If I were to spend £10,000 per year on this card, I would get a voucher to use to lower the cost of my flights on Virgin Atlantic as well as earn 1.5 Virgin points for every £1 spent. I have used the card when flying Virgin Atlantic for getting double points which I have then used to purchase other flights.

In my opinion, it is always useful to have a points earning credit card that isn’t American Express in your wallet. Having a Mastercard as well as a Visa card is also a benefit in my opinion, as some countries or remote outposts will only accept one or the other. Mastercard wasn’t accepted on my travels to Iraq for example.

(Note: I have now downgraded this to the free card which has a lower earning rate but I still think this is a good credit card for frequent flyers of Virgin Atlantic and SkyTeam)

Lloyds

I have banked with Lloyds for many years and they are the main traditional bank that I use in the UK. I have a debit card and a credit card with Lloyds bank which I use to use for my day to day spending in the UK. When abroad, they are purely as a back up and I never use them when travelling as foreign exchange fees are high.

This is just for my emergency use hidden away in my bag.

Other cards that I may consider (or you may want to consider)

I think that is enough credit cards for my uses at the minute but I know of some other cards on the market that I may consider using in future.

Hilton Honors Plus Debit card

Hilton, of the hotel group fame, have a card that is linked to your bank account so basically acts as a debit card. There are two levels with fees either £90 or £160 per year. There are zero foreign exchange fees when using the card abroad, but you still collect Hilton Honours points on all purchases. There are other perks too (such as hotel status) so I have considered getting this card but I feel I don’t need another paid for card at this point in time.

Monzo/ Revolut/ Chase

I know many people use one of these cards instead of how I use my Wise card.

I never have had any of these and all of the cards have their own various costs and perks but all mostly do the same job of having low or no foreign transaction fees and easy to use apps.

Cash

In many countries around the world, cash is still king. Most places don’t accept card and especially foreign cards. And if they do, they are normally places designed for tourists with prices to match.

I always travel with a stash of emergency cash in US Dollars, Euros and British Pounds but normally use my Wise card to withdraw cash in the local currency when on the ground to use for most of my day to day expenses.

Summing Up the best cards for digital nomads

Most of the recommendations for digital nomads to access their money is targeted at the American market, but those from the UK can also use a number of different debit and credit cards when travelling as a digital nomad to get fee free withdrawals, pay zero percent in foreign exchange fees, earn airline miles and earn additional perks as well.

This post isn’t for everyone and everyone has their own ways of spending. I also want to clarify that I’m not a financial advisor at all and this is just my strategy that I’ve picked up after many years of travel and learning about points and cards.

Dan

Dan is an avid traveller from London. His first big adventure was in 2010 living in Malaysia for 3 months. He has been on the road almost constantly since 2015 travelling to destinations that aren’t on the mainstream tourist trail and working full time and travelling since 2021.