One of our biggest struggles when deciding to move abroad temporarily was figuring out how to maximize our points earnings and redemptions. This may seem silly for some, but credit card reward points are how we’re able to travel so much and stay in some luxurious places. (Shout out to the daddy of points aka TPG: Brian Kelly)
But having these fancy travel cards and paying an annual fee of a couple hundred dollars, doesn’t make a whole lot of sense if it’s a card we can’t use nor the benefits the card is supposed to provide.
Using Credit Cards Internationally
Remember when you had to ask a vendor if they took AMEX? In the United States that’s not really a question we really to ask anymore, it’s a one off if a vendor doesn’t take AMEX. In other countries, that’s a different story. In European countries cash is still king and your AMEX will likely not be accepted. We’ve found even when the sign says AMEX accepted, that’s not always the case. At our large shopping malls we’ve tried to use our AMEX at Sephora and H&M, at both stores AMEX did not work even though it said they accepted AMEX these days.
When credit cards are accepted, VISA is the one most merchants will accept. Even Costco only accepts VISA in the US right?? So before applying for a card, if you’re going to live internationally or do a lot of international travel, highly suggest choosing VISA. If you’re going to have an AMEX, make sure you can get enough usage from the card that makes the fee worth it.
Earning Points
Large travel purchases such as flights and hotel stays should always trigger the extra reward points that your travel card offers (2X,3X whatever yours may be). These purchases normally happen online and are relatively straight forward.
For every day in person purchases, you likely won’t get as many of the bonus point offerings that your credit card offers since those businesses don’t exist internationally, for example 5% at Staples or 10% at Best Buy, etc.
When using your credit card pay attention to how the purchases show up in your credit card statement so that you can decide which card to use. (Tip, test it out with a small purchase!)
Large grocery stores purchase’s typically will still trigger the grocery points, but many won’t take AMEX. A way to still use your AMEX card is to link it to your Paypal and pay using PayPal. Just remember to test out the transaction as you may not get the bonus points by using Paypal.
Credit Card Benefits
Some cards will come with pretty high fees (like $600 for the Chase Sapphire Reserve) but they’re worth it because of all the perks they come with. Some of the perks include Peloton subscription, Equinox gym membership, and Doordash credits. While these may be excellent perks at “home” these are not particularly useful if you’re primarily outside of the states. In our case the points earnings and usage pay for our reward cards alone without the added bonuses, however that may not be the case if we applied for another high fee card. Keep that in mind when you’re deciding what card to apply for based on the fees and benefits. This is the downside of being outside the states for sure!!
Redeeming Points
This is the easy and fun part! Most of us are already redeeming our points for international travel whether it be flights or hotels. The process is no different if you’re living internationally, you may just have some different routes available given your home airport is different. For example, we love using our American Airline points for Qatar Qsuite long flights! But that flight is much shorter flying from Europe than it is flying from the states which is good and bad! The flight should cost less points but the shorter flight may mean a less sexy aircraft!
Happy trip planning 
If you find yourself living abroad temporarily or spending a bunch of time internationally, don’t get discouraged when you see your friends buying VISA gift cards at Staples. You probably can’t take advantage of the lucrative point hacking that you were doing before, but you can absolutely still earn tons of points and reap the benefits!! Remember, comparison is the thief of joy!
