Planning For An Overseas New Year Holiday? 5 Tips For A Peaceful Travel Experience

If you are planning a foreign trip for your New Year holidays, make sure you have gone through all the details regarding your credit and debit cards; for instance, find out which card works better in which city. Here are five tips for a peaceful travel experience.
 
According to a Travel Lifestyle Network (TLN) report, India is the leading nation in the Asia-Pacific region where more people are planning overseas travel. In addition, about 50 per cent of Indians plan to spend more on foreign vacations than before. The report also revealed that some 18 per cent of the respondents traveled locally for work at least once a month.
 
“Interestingly, after two turbulent and passive years, the global dynamics of travel look completely different. As the survey indicates, there is an immense travel appetite among Indians who wish to explore places for unconventional reasons, unlike earlier,” said Archana Jain, the managing director of PR Pundit, a TLN member.
 
According to Sridhar Keppurengan, business head of cross-border payments, India & South Asia, at Visa, an American payment processing company, the travel landscape has changed since Covid, which hit the tourism industry hardest. “However, users must keep in mind a few guardrails like card control before they start spending abroad,” Keppurengan added.

Here’re Five Aspects You Must Check Before You Use Bank Cards Abroad

●Enable E-Commerce Transactions or Card Not Present Transactions To Transact Cashless In Taxis and Other Public Transport
 
Uber and other taxi aggregator services are available in several countries abroad. However, if you wish to pay using Indian cards, you must enable the ‘e-commerce transactions’ or ‘card not present’ option using the bank’s net banking or mobile banking app. 
 
Card controls are available for debit, credit, and forex cards. So if you use cab or hotel booking services or order food through apps abroad, “we would suggest you enable the “International” option on e-commerce transactions,” said Keppurengan.
 
Earlier this year, auto-debit recurring payments failed for international websites such as Grammarly, Amazon Audible, etc. However, these failures should not occur after enabling the global e-commerce option unless it is a prohibited transaction. 

For instance, RBI prohibits using cards in Syria, North Korea, etc.

Take Appropriate Bank Card For Specific Purposes

If you are visiting a country where cash is prevalent, a forex card or international debit card usage is advisable because carrying money might be risky. Certain aspects, like dynamic currency conversion (DCC), must be checked while in India. In DCC, one can swipe their International Debit / Credit Cards at a DCC POS / ATM and receive cash in foreign currency.
 
Third-party companies carry out the DCC mechanism, which may involve higher exchange rates. According to Amitabh Bhatnagar, head - trade and foreign exchange, diplomatic segment, RBL Bank, customers should be vary of using DCC  options.

"The DCC means you pay in home currency while paying overseas. In this case the currency conversion premium is levied by the acquirer and can be as high as 8 per cent  to 10 per cent. For example, when paying in Dubai (United Arab Emirates), customer will get an option to pay in INR or in UAE Dirham, in case the customer chooses to pay in INR, he may end up paying Rs 24.34 vs the actual rate of Rs 22.54 per Dirham. Therefore DCC/ home currency should be avoided," Bhatnagar further added.

●Plan In Advance, Loading Money In Forex Card Takes Time

According to Sai Sankar M, business head of Niyo Global, Niyo, a neo-bank, while travelling abroad, one could be in a dilemma about how much forex to carry. Loading and reloading money on forex cards is tedious and depends on the bank to complete a transaction. Balance checks and locking the card for security purposes also become challenging. Moreover, once back in India, the balance needs to be reconverted, which is an additional hassle and expensive. 
 
Sankar suggests that while debit or credit cards do not have these challenges unique to a forex card, they have a currency mark-up charge, which can be 3 to 5 per cent on every transaction.

●Check City Wise Payment Mechanism And Enable Appropriate Features

According to the transport department of the UK, travellers can use Apple Watch, iPhone, Samsung Pay, Google Pay, Garmin Pay, and other devices for contactless payments in London’s public transport systems. Most AMEX, VISA, and Mastercard cards accept this type of payment mode.
 
If you want to know whether your card supports such payments, you must do two things. First, check your card for the ‘wave’ symbol or ask your bank. Second, activate ‘contactless transactions’ through mobile or net banking.
 
According to Keppurengan, if your card is enabled for contactless payments, you can tap at PoS (point of sale) terminals to complete your payment. Cities like London, Singapore, and Hong Kong have public transport systems enabled for accepting contactless payments.

●Take Appropriate Bank Card If Travelling In Certain Countries

Debit, credit, or forex card might work in most countries, but if, for some reason, say your ship had to dock for an emergency in a remote country port for a few days, and you had no cell phone international balance for your SIM. In a crisis like this, a premium bank card helps. So ask your bank for a premium card.
 
“Banks have an arrangement with Visa for certain premium card variants where Visa provides an emergency replacement card if your card is lost or damaged. In addition, it has a global support helpline 24/7 (toll-free) to assist in such cases,” said Keppurengan.●

"The acceptance of the bank card at merchants and ATMs in the destination country is a crucial factor to take into account when selecting a bank card for international travel. Some cards might not be generally accepted, particularly in some countries or areas. Finding out which cards are generally accepted in the country you'll be visiting is a smart idea," Bhatnagar of RBL Bank further added.