Multi-currency prepaid travel cards
Travel card FX fee checker
Rank Revolut, Wise, N26, Curve and a bank baseline by their real annual FX cost for your spend.
Last updated 2026-06-12Data verified 2026-06-11 against official issuer pricing pages
Annual FX cost · ranked
ECB euro reference rate EUR/USD = 1.1537 (snapshot 2026-06-11)
How much do card FX fees actually cost on a trip?
On £1,000/month of foreign spend, a traditional bank card costs about £348/year at ~2.9% per transaction. A fee-free card (Revolut Standard) is £0 inside its monthly allowance; Wise adds its ~0.45% conversion fee, about £54/year. Run your own numbers in the ladder.
| Card type | Foreign-spend fee | Cost on £1,000/mo · year |
|---|---|---|
| Traditional bank card | ~2.9% per transaction | ≈ £348 |
| Wise (free plan) | ~0.45% conversion fee | ≈ £54 |
| Revolut Standard | 0% up to £1,000/mo, then 1% | £0 in allowance |
Primary sources: Revolut — standard fees · Wise — card fees · ECB — euro reference rates
How much do card FX fees actually cost on a trip?
What you pay abroad is set by the card's foreign-spend rate, not the headline exchange rate. A traditional bank debit/credit card typically charges ~2.9% on every non-sterling transaction; a fee-free travel card (for example Revolut Standard) charges 0% within its monthly FX allowance, then 1% above it; Wise gives the mid-market rate but adds a ~0.45% conversion fee. The size of the saving depends entirely on how much you spend, where, and whether you go over the allowance — enter your own numbers in the ladder above to see the annual cost for each card.
Two facts that catch travellers out. First, the subscription on a paid tier (Revolut Premium is £7.99/month in the UK, $9.99 in the US) is billed all twelve months whether or not you travel — so an occasional traveller pays ~£96/year before any FX saving. Second, free-tier weekend mark-ups still apply: Revolut Standard adds 1% on currency exchanged during the weekend window (Fri 17:00–Sun 18:00 ET), waived only on Premium, Metal and Ultra. The ECB euro reference rate cited on each result is informational only — costs are computed directly in your home currency.
How the calculation works
For each card plan we apply its published fee schedule: monthly subscription cost, in-allowance FX markup, over-allowance fair-usage markup, weekend surcharge for free-tier plans, and ATM allowance plus overage. Wise's current allowance-based ATM rule (fee-free up to its monthly cash allowance, then a percentage on the excess) and Revolut's paid-tier weekend waiver are modelled explicitly. Subscriptions are billed all twelve months of the year, not only while you travel. Cards that do not operate in your home country (for example N26 in the United Kingdom or the United States) are surfaced as not-available rather than silently dropped.
Card pricing changes frequently. The cited verification date in the timestamp tag indicates when the operator last refreshed the schedule. The ECB euro reference rate is informational only — costs are computed directly in your home currency.
Travel money gear
Pair your travel card with the right gear — a few picks frequent travellers actually use:
- Protect contactless cards from skimming: RFID-blocking card holders
- Keep backup cards and cash out of sight: travel money belts
- One pouch for passport, cards and receipts: travel document organizers
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Travel card FX fee questions, answered
Which travel card has the lowest foreign-exchange fees?
There is no single winner — it depends on how much you spend, where, and whether you take out cash. For modest weekday spend inside the monthly allowance, Revolut Standard and N26 (in the eurozone) charge 0% on the exchange itself. Wise gives you the mid-market rate but adds a roughly 0.45% conversion fee, so it is rarely literally free. Above the fee-free allowance, or for weekend spend on a free plan, the picture changes quickly. The ladder above ranks all six plans for your exact numbers rather than giving a one-size-fits-all answer — change the inputs and the order changes.
Is Wise really fee-free for spending abroad?
Not quite. Wise gives you the genuine mid-market exchange rate with no hidden spread, which is its main selling point, but it charges a separate conversion fee when you pay in a currency you do not already hold in your balance. On major pairs this is around 0.45% (the broader published range is roughly 0.41%–1.75%). On £1,000 of foreign spend that is about £4.50 a month, or £54 a year. If you top up your Wise balance in the destination currency in advance, you can avoid the per-payment conversion fee — but you pay the conversion when you top up instead.
Does Revolut still charge a weekend fee?
Yes, on free and Plus plans. Revolut applies an extra mark-up of up to 1% on currency exchanged during the weekend, and since April 2025 that window runs from Friday 17:00 to Sunday 18:00 US Eastern Time. The weekend mark-up is waived entirely on the paid Premium, Metal and Ultra tiers. There is also a fair-usage fee of 1% on exchanges above your monthly fee-free allowance (£1,000 for a UK Standard plan), and Revolut states this 1% is charged in addition to any weekend mark-up — so weekend spend over the allowance can stack both.
Should I use a travel card at the ATM abroad?
Usually yes, but watch the cash allowances, which are separate from spending allowances. Revolut Standard allows 5 withdrawals or £200 a month fee-free (whichever comes first), then 2%. Wise changed its UK scheme on 1 May 2026 to a flat £250/month fee-free allowance, then 2.69% on the excess and no fixed per-withdrawal fee. N26 withdrawals in euros within the eurozone are free; non-euro cash carries a 1.7% fee. Always decline the ATM's offer to convert for you (dynamic currency conversion) — let the card issuer do the conversion at its own rate.
Can I use N26 or Revolut Premium if I live in the UK or US?
N26 closed its UK operation in February 2020 and its US operation in January 2022, so a UK or US resident cannot open a new N26 account — this tool marks it as not available for those home countries rather than recommending a card you cannot get. Revolut Premium, on the other hand, is available in both the UK (£7.99/month) and the US ($9.99/month); an earlier belief that Premium was UK-only was wrong. The card list adjusts automatically when you pick your home country, dropping plans that are not offered there.
Why does a paid card sometimes beat a free one in the results?
Because the subscription buys a much larger or unlimited fee-free FX allowance. If your monthly foreign spend is well above a free plan's allowance — where the 1% fair-usage fee kicks in — a paid tier with no over-allowance mark-up can work out cheaper overall, even after twelve months of subscription. The ladder decomposes every row into subscription, weekday FX, weekend FX and ATM so you can see exactly where the cost sits. Remember the subscription is billed all year, not only while you travel, which is why occasional travellers usually still come out ahead on a free plan.
How current are the fees in this comparison?
Every card's fee schedule was re-verified against the issuer's own official pricing pages on 11 June 2026 — Revolut's legal fee pages, Wise's card-fees page (including the ATM scheme that changed on 1 May 2026), N26's country-availability and foreign-transaction pages, and Curve's fair-use policy. The traditional-bank baseline (~2.9%) is a representative market figure for UK and US non-sterling/foreign-transaction fees, not a single issuer's published rate. Card pricing changes frequently, so always confirm the current fee on the issuer's own site before opening an account.