Best Credit Cards for Digital Nomads in 2025: The $1,410 Lesson That Changed Everything

Finding the best credit cards for digital nomads in 2025 can save you thousands in foreign transaction fees annually. Here’s how I learned that lesson the expensive way.

December 2018. Bangkok. Sukhumvit Road, somewhere between Soi 11 and Soi 15 – one of those cafés with actually cold air conditioning and coffee that costs twice what it should because they know foreigners like me will pay it. The wifi worked, which was the only thing that mattered. I’d been putting off opening my Bank of America credit card statement for maybe three weeks. Could’ve been four.

There’s something about being 8,000 miles from home that makes you incredibly skilled at financial procrastination.

I finally tapped the notification on my phone. Scrolled past the regular stuff. Coworking membership at Hubba on Ekkamai $180. Groceries from Villa Market. Street food binges near Chatuchak Weekend Market that seemed like a good idea at the time. Domestic flight to Chiang Mai on AirAsia. Normal digital nomad expenses.

Then I saw a line item I’d never really paid attention to before.

Foreign transaction fees: $392.

One month. Just fees. Not actual purchases – fees for the privilege of using my own money while living in Thailand.

I sat there doing math on my phone calculator like some kind of maniac. The guy at the next table probably thought I was having a breakdown. If I kept spending at this rate – and I was, because this is just how life costs money when you’re living abroad – I was looking at around $1,410 in fees annually. Maybe more.

That’s a full month of rent in Chiang Mai. Or three weeks exploring Vietnam and Cambodia. Or a really solid laptop upgrade. Just… gone. For nothing.

That moment in that overpriced Bangkok café changed everything about how I think about credit cards for digital nomads. Not travel cards for people taking two vacations per year. Cards for people who live this way full-time.

I’m Tushar, running NomadWallets – comprehensive research on credit cards and financial strategies for US digital nomads. Finance background. Spent extensive time researching these expensive mistakes through data analysis, community insights from hundreds of nomads, and deep-dive product comparisons.

Analyzed 15+ different credit cards to understand what actually works for nomad spending patterns versus what’s just marketing hype. Some proved useless for nomad life within days of analysis. Others offer genuine value that justifies their fees.

This isn’t another generic “top 10 best travel credit cards” list. I hate those articles. They assume you’re planning beach vacations and ski trips, not trying to pay for coworking spaces in Buenos Aires and groceries around the world and visas for countries you’d never heard of six months ago.

Different spending patterns require different cards. Someone spending $15,000 annually needs completely different recommendations than someone spending $60,000. Most articles ignore this.

Why Regular Credit Cards Fail Digital Nomads

Most people don’t realize their regular bank card is actively costing them money every single day they use it abroad. I didn’t realize it for almost two years. That Bangkok statement was my wake-up call. Expensive one.

Choosing the best credit cards for digital nomads in 2025 isn’t about flashy bonuses it’s about avoiding the hidden fees that drain your budget every month.

The Foreign Transaction Fee Problem Nobody Warns You About

Here’s what most US banks do: they charge between 2.7% and 3.5% on every purchase you make outside the United States. Every single transaction. Coffee. Groceries. Coworking membership. Airbnb. Everything.

They call it different things depending on the bank. Chase calls it an “international transaction fee.” American Express lists it as “foreign currency conversion fee.” Bank of America – the card that cost me $392 that month – just labels it “foreign fee” on statements. Same thing. Same money disappearing from your account.

Here’s what that actually costs at different spending levels:

Annual Spending	3% Foreign Fee Cost	Monthly Cost	What You Could Buy Instead
$20,000	$600	$50	Month of coworking in Chiang Mai
$40,000	$1,200	$100	Two months rent in Thailand
$60,000	$1,800	$150	Round-trip flight to Europe

If you spend $20,000 annually abroad – which is honestly on the lower end for full-time nomads – you’re paying $600 in foreign transaction fees with a typical 3% fee card. That’s $50 every month. Just gone.

At $40,000 in annual spending, you’re looking at $1,200 in fees annually.

At $60,000, it’s $1,800 per year.

Digital nomads spending about $47,000 annually across Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, and similar destinations face substantial foreign transaction fees with standard cards. At $50,000 in annual spending, a typical 3% foreign transaction fee card costs $1,410 to $1,500 in fees annually.

For literally nothing. Bank of America provides zero additional service for that money. Cardholders don’t get better exchange rates. They don’t get fraud protection that’s standard on all cards. The bank just… takes it. Because they can.

This is exactly why choosing the best credit cards for digital nomads in 2025 matters cards with zero foreign transaction fees become essential, not optional.

The Tokyo MacBook Crisis

Six months after Bangkok. Maybe seven. A digital nomad shared this story with me – it perfectly captures the hidden cost of foreign transaction fees.

They were in Tokyo, staying in a hostel in Asakusa because accommodation costs in Japan are brutal and they were trying to stretch their budget. Their laptop got stolen from what they thought was a secure locker in a Manila hostel three days earlier. The lock was one of those combination ones from probably 1987. Looked secure. Wasn’t.

They needed a replacement immediately. Not eventually, not next week – immediately. Client work due. Calls scheduled. An entire business that couldn’t function without a laptop.

Walked into the Apple Store in Shibuya. You know the one – it’s massive, five floors, somehow busy at all times but still manages to feel weirdly zen. Bought a 14-inch MacBook Pro. Space gray because they were out of silver. M2 chip, 512GB storage. With Japanese consumption tax, the total came to $2,847.

Their Bank of America card – which was still their primary card at that point because they’re apparently a slow learner – added $84.41 in foreign transaction fees to that purchase.

Eighty-four dollars and forty-one cents.

They remember standing outside that store, staring at their phone, feeling this weird combination of rage and helplessness. What exactly did Bank of America do to earn $84 in that transaction? What service did they provide? They needed the laptop for work. The purchase wasn’t optional. And Bank of America just took an extra $84 because the purchase happened in Japan instead of back home.

That was the moment they got serious about finding the best travel credit cards that don’t do this. Not “oh I should probably research this eventually” serious. Obsessive, spreadsheet-making, Reddit-deep-diving serious.

The best credit cards for digital nomads all have one thing in common: zero foreign transaction fees. Not “reduced fees for premium members.” Not “no fees on purchases over $100.” Zero fees. On everything. Always.

This became non-negotiable in my research criteria. I don’t care how pretty the card is or how good the marketing sounds. If it charges foreign transaction fees, it’s not worth recommending.

Why Digital Nomad Spending Is Completely Different

Most articles about travel credit cards are written for people planning vacations. Spring break in Cancun. Summer Europe trip. Winter skiing in Colorado. They optimize for 2-3 trips annually, maybe two weeks total travel time.

That’s completely wrong for people living this lifestyle.

We’re not buying $5,000 in flights every month and staying in hotels. Digital nomad spending looks totally different. Let me show you what typical monthly expenses actually look like:

Coworking spaces: $150-400 per month depending on city. Bangkok coworking is cheaper than European city coworking. Sometimes working from Airbnb and spending $0. Sometimes need a dedicated desk and it’s $400. Varies.

Long-term accommodations: $800-1,500 monthly. Usually Airbnb for 1-2 months at a time. Occasionally apartment rental if staying somewhere longer. This is often the biggest expense category.

Local groceries and daily living: $300-500 monthly. Buying food at local markets, cooking at Airbnb, eating at neighborhood restaurants. The same stuff everyone spends money on, just in different countries.

Public transportation: $50-150 monthly. Metro passes, buses, occasional taxis, motorbike rentals in Southeast Asia.

Visa fees: Irregular but expensive when they hit. Some countries charge $50 for visa on arrival. Others want $200-300 for multi-month visas. This adds up.

Health insurance: $100-200 monthly for international coverage. Not negotiable.

Subscriptions and software: $100-200 monthly. VPN, cloud storage, email service, project management tools, all the things that make remote work possible.

Traditional “travel” purchases – flights and hotels – are maybe 25-30% of total annual spending. The other 70-75% is regular life expenses that happen to occur in different countries.

Most travel credit cards are optimized for flights and hotels. They give you 4X or 5X points on airfare and nothing special on the coworking membership or groceries or local SIM card that actually represent most spending.

This is why finding the best credit cards for digital nomads requires different thinking than finding good vacation travel cards.

And this is why that $392 foreign transaction fee month in Bangkok hurt so much. Because it wasn’t $392 on a vacation – something temporary, a splurge, a special trip. It was $392 on just… living. Normal life. Buying groceries, paying for coworking, eating dinner, taking the BTS to meet friends.

Getting charged 3% to live somewhere feels different than getting charged 3% on a vacation. One is a budget line item you can plan around. The other is a permanent tax on your entire existence.

After Tokyo, I spent probably 40 hours researching travel credit cards. Read everything The Points Guy published. Went deep into Reddit threads on r/churning and r/digitalnomad. Compared every travel rewards card I could find. Made spreadsheets comparing annual fees to potential rewards based on actual spending patterns, not theoretical perfect optimization.

And eventually figured out which cards actually work for this lifestyle. Not which cards have the flashiest welcome bonuses or look best in blog post affiliate links. Which ones save money and provide protection when you’re living everywhere and nowhere, when your spending patterns don’t fit traditional categories, when you need your card to work in Bali and Barcelona and Bogotá without thinking twice.

That research and years of analysis since then is what this guide is actually about.

What Actually Matters in Credit Cards for Digital Nomads (Beyond Just Not Bleeding Money on Fees)

So what makes the best credit cards for digital nomads in 2025? After years of testing and thousands in saved fees, here’s what actually matters.

Zero Foreign Transaction Fees

Okay so zero foreign transaction fees. That’s step one. Necessary, obviously. But not enough.

I’ve tested – I want to say 15 cards? Maybe 16 if you count that Hilton card I had for like three weeks before realizing it was useless. Over the years researching this. Some cards lasted months, some I still use every day, and some I cancelled after a week when I realized the benefits page lied or I’d misunderstood what they actually covered.

Here’s what actually ends up mattering when you’re living this way. Not the stuff that sounds good in card comparison articles. The stuff you use when things go sideways at weird hours in countries where your language skills are… limited.

Travel Insurance (Or: Why My Expensive Separate Insurance Was Useless But My Credit Card Saved Me)

Every premium card lists travel insurance in the benefits. Trip cancellation! Emergency medical! Baggage protection! Makes you feel secure just reading it.

Until you actually try to use it and discover the coverage you thought you had doesn’t cover the thing that actually happened to you.

Barcelona. 2021, I think? Maybe early 2022. Timeline’s fuzzy. I was staying in Gràcia near this park – what was it called, I forget. Anyway. Went to a bakery one morning, got a baguette. Normal baguette. Nothing fancy.

Bit into it and cracked my back molar.

I’m still unclear on how this happened. The bread wasn’t even that crusty. Just regular bakery bread. But something about how I bit down, or the angle, or I don’t know – physics I don’t understand – crack. Pain shooting through my jaw immediately.

This is embarrassing. Who cracks a tooth on bread?

Found a dentist through a Facebook group – one of those “Barcelona Digital Nomads” groups that’s mostly people asking which coworking space has the fastest wifi. Someone recommended their dentist. Got an emergency appointment next day.

Root canal situation. Temporary crown. Some other work I don’t remember the name of. $1,200 out of pocket. The dentist spoke English which was lucky because my Spanish is terrible. Numbers and basic directions, that’s about it.

Filed a claim with my Chase Sapphire Reserve. They covered it. Most of it anyway. Emergency medical coverage. Whole process was pretty straightforward – uploaded dentist documentation, got reimbursed maybe three weeks later.

But here’s the thing. I also had separate travel insurance at the time. Paying $85 a month for it. Through one of those companies that specifically markets to digital nomads and long-term travelers. SafetyWing maybe? Or was it a different one. I’ve had a few over the years. Anyway, seemed smart to have backup coverage.

They denied the claim completely.

Reason: dental work only covered if it results from “an accident.” My baguette situation apparently didn’t qualify as an accident. Which like… what is it then? Bad luck? Poor bread-eating technique? They wouldn’t budge.

So I’m paying $85 monthly for insurance that doesn’t pay. And my credit card – which I have anyway for other reasons – covers it without questioning whether my dental emergency meets some narrow technical definition.

That’s when I learned card insurance quality varies massively. Having “travel insurance” listed in benefits doesn’t tell you if it’s actually useful.

What coverage actually matters:

Trip cancellation and interruption – the premium cards cover up to $10,000 per trip usually. Maybe less on some cards, I’d have to check.

This matters more than you’d expect. Flights get cancelled constantly. I’ve had cancellations in Indonesia twice – once the airline just stopped existing between when I booked and when the flight was supposed to happen. That was weird. Thailand multiple times. Guatemala once. Colombia.

Sometimes weather, sometimes mechanical problems, sometimes the airline randomly decides that route isn’t profitable anymore and just cancels it.

When your $600 flight cancels and the replacement costs $900, trip cancellation insurance covers the difference. Or when you miss a connection because your first flight was late. Covers rebooking.

Emergency medical – Chase and Capital One both offer like $100,000 or more in emergency medical. Amex is similar I think. Critical when you’re somewhere your US health insurance doesn’t work.

Which is basically everywhere outside the US. Most US health insurance doesn’t cover you abroad except for emergency stabilization or whatever. You need something else.

These cards also cover emergency evacuation. Which can cost – I don’t know, $50,000? $150,000 if you’re somewhere really remote? Never needed it thankfully. But I’ve been places where the nearest hospital with modern equipment was hours away. Knowing that coverage exists makes those places less stressful.

Baggage delay – more useful than lost baggage because delays happen way more often.

Cards cover essential purchases if bags delayed 6+ hours. Clothes, toiletries, phone charger, whatever you need to function.

Used this three times recently. Mexico City – my bag went to Guadalajara for some reason. Eight hour delay. Got reimbursed like $120 for emergency stuff. Bangkok – bag stuck somewhere in the system, showed up 12 hours later, got $85 back. Istanbul – honestly I’m still not clear what happened but the bag appeared 18 hours later and I got $140 reimbursed.

Not huge amounts. But enough to buy what you need without feeling angry about surprise expenses.

Purchase protection – this saved me real money.

Lima airport, 2023. Or maybe late 2022? No wait, definitely 2023 because I was coming from Buenos Aires. Connecting through Lima to Mexico City. Had checked my camera bag because I was over carry-on limits with laptop bag and backpack.

Baggage handler apparently decided “FRAGILE” stickers were optional suggestions. Or maybe they can’t read English. Who knows.

Bag arrived in Mexico City and I could hear something rattling before opening it. Never a good sign.

Camera equipment – Fujifilm X-T4, couple lenses, filters, all carefully packed in padded case – damaged. Body had a crack near the lens mount. One lens couldn’t focus right anymore, something internal broke. Other lens was somehow fine but I don’t understand how.

Replacing the broken stuff: around $3,200 total.

Filed claim with the airline first. They offered $400 after like three months of back and forth emails. Something about cameras being “luxury items” not covered at full value. Even though I had all the purchase receipts and photos of damage.

Chase purchase protection covered $1,200. Needed original receipts which I had saved digitally – this is why I photograph every receipt for expensive stuff now. Photos of the damage. The airline’s denial letter. Approved in maybe a month.

Still lost $1,600 out of pocket after the airline’s $400. But Chase’s $1,200 made it survivable instead of devastating.

We travel with expensive stuff constantly. Laptops, phones, cameras if you create content, headphones, external drives with years of work. I have one hard drive with literally everything – years of client files, taxes, invoices, every important document. Insurance matters.

Premium cards cover like $500 to $10,000 per claim within 90 or 120 days of buying something. Not amazing. Better than nothing when airlines won’t cover damages.

Lounge Access (The Thing I Thought Was Dumb Until I Had It)

Before 2022 I thought airport lounges were stupid. Business traveler luxury. Not for freelancers watching budgets. Free food doesn’t justify premium card fees.

Was completely wrong about this.

Got Priority Pass through Chase Sapphire Reserve. Didn’t think I’d use it much. Maybe a few times a year with long layovers.

Last year I was in airports… 45 times? 50? Somewhere in there. Would have to count flight confirmations. International, regional, that weird period – August or September, maybe both – where I island-hopped around Greece every week because ferries were unreliable.

Visited probably 35-40 airport lounges. Some were excellent. Some mediocre but still better than terminals. Few were depressing but at least had wifi.

The Thai Airways lounge in Bangkok Suvarnabhumi has this noodle bar that’s genuinely incredible. Not “good for airport food.” Actually good. Made to order, fresh ingredients, better than half the restaurants in Bangkok proper. I’ve killed three-hour layovers just sitting there eating noodles and working.

Priority Pass lounge in Mexico City Terminal 2 – or was it Terminal 1? I think 2 – has quiet section in back with work pods. Privacy, decent wifi, outlets that work. Taken client calls from there at least four times. Way better than finding a terminal corner with five thousand other people around.

Centurion Lounge in Hong Kong before it closed – RIP, that was a good lounge – was genuinely nice. Better than hotels I’ve stayed at. Shower facilities made long flights bearable. Food was restaurant quality. Actually beautiful design instead of corporate boring.

Turkish Airlines lounge in Istanbul had better food than most restaurants I ate at in the city. Not exaggerating. Real Turkish breakfast spread, fresh bread, excellent coffee. I remember thinking “why am I paying for restaurants when lounge food is this good?”

Even mediocre lounges – the ones in random airports that are just a room with coffee and sad sandwiches – still better than terminal seating. Quieter. Bathrooms without 30-person lines. Wifi that actually works instead of paid airport wifi that barely loads.

Standard lounge walk-in costs like $35-60. Premium lounges maybe $75-80 when they allow walk-ins.

Math: 35 visits times $40 average equals $1,400. If I count premium lounges at actual prices, closer to $1,600-1,700. But conservative estimate because some lounges weren’t worth $40 honestly.

But this misses the point.

It’s not about free food. It’s about having somewhere to work between flights.

Wifi that doesn’t cut out constantly. Not airport wifi that costs $15 for 30 minutes and barely works.

Quiet enough for calls. Taken client calls from lounges like a dozen times last year. Try that in a terminal with gate announcements.

Clean bathrooms. Sounds trivial until you’ve waited 20 minutes for an airport bathroom.

Power outlets available. Terminal outlets always have five people fighting over them.

Real coffee instead of whatever Starbucks charges $7-8 for in terminals. Lounge coffee usually isn’t amazing but it’s free and adequate.

When you’re spending 40-50+ hours yearly in airports – pretty normal for nomads who move a lot – lounge access is worth more than dollar calculations.

Chase Sapphire Reserve: Priority Pass Select, unlimited visits. Access to 1,300+ lounges worldwide. Not every airport but most major ones.

Capital One Venture X: also Priority Pass Select, plus Capital One’s own lounges and Plaza Premium. Similar coverage.

Amex Platinum: Centurion Lounges (Amex’s own, usually nicest), Delta Sky Club up to 10 visits yearly, Priority Pass, Plaza Premium, Escape, others. Like 1,550+ lounges across 140 countries.

Amex network is more comprehensive. Also $895 annual fee versus Chase’s $795 or Capital One’s $395. Whether extra access justifies price depends on flight frequency and which airports you use.

I have both Chase and Amex. Honestly Priority Pass from Chase handles 90% of my needs. Amex nice when Priority Pass full or when there’s a Centurion available. But most visits are Priority Pass locations.

Flexible Points (After United Deleted My 45,000 Miles)

2020. Early pandemic. Stuck in Thailand on constantly-extended tourist visa because borders closed everywhere. Could’ve been worse places to be stuck I guess.

Logged into United account to check something. Miles were gone.

All of them. 45,000 miles. Expired because I hadn’t flown United in 18 months.

But I’d been flying constantly those 18 months. Just not United. AirAsia, Vietnam Airlines, Bangkok Airways, random carriers I’d never heard of. Then stuck in Thailand when everything shut down.

United doesn’t fly to Koh Samui. Doesn’t fly to Siargao. Doesn’t fly to half the places nomads go. Miles expire without “qualifying activity” – flying United or Star Alliance – within 18 months.

45,000 miles gone. That was like $700-900 in flights probably. Just vanished.

Last time I used airline-specific cards or programs. Never again.

Best cards use flexible points where they don’t expire or stay active easily.

Chase Ultimate Rewards – don’t expire if card open. Transfer to 14 airlines, 3 hotels. Cancel the card and points disappear though. But while card’s open, points stay.

Capital One – don’t expire ever. Even if you cancel card, as long as you have any Capital One card, miles stay. Most flexible expiration policy.

Amex Membership Rewards – expire after 18 months no activity. But “activity” just means using any Amex card for anything. Buy coffee once per 18 months, points stay active. Easy. Transfer to 21 airlines, 3 hotels.

All three let you transfer to multiple airlines instead of locking into one carrier. Critical for nomad life because you fly whoever’s cheapest or most convenient.

Last three months flights: TAP Portugal, Vueling, RyanAir – because the train was sold out which was annoying – Aegean, Sky Express multiple times between Greek islands, and some Philippines carrier I booked through Skyscanner and forgot the name immediately.

No pattern. No loyalty possible. Flew whoever went where I needed at reasonable prices.

With flexible points I can transfer Chase to United if that’s best. Or Hyatt for hotels if that makes sense. Or Capital One to Turkish Airlines for Europe if their availability is good. Or just cash back if transfers aren’t worth it.

Airline programs lock you into one airline or alliance. Fine if you’re in a hub city flying domestic. Useless if you’re on regional carriers in Asia, budget airlines in Europe, random carriers in Latin America based on price and schedule.

After losing United miles, I liquidated everything airline-specific. Booked whatever flights I could, transferred what was possible, accepted the loss on rest. Moved to flexible programs.

Haven’t regretted it.

Purchase Protection Again (Because It’s Saved Me Multiple Times)

Already mentioned Lima camera damage but purchase protection has helped beyond that.

Laptop screen cracked in backpack on Singapore to Bali flight. Don’t know what happened – something shifted in overhead during turbulence maybe, or someone put something heavy on my bag. Opened laptop at Airbnb, screen shattered.

Repair cost: $850 for screen replacement. Apple doesn’t just replace screens – they replace the whole top assembly because modern MacBooks integrate everything.

Chase covered $500. Needed proof of purchase, damage photos, explanation. Approved in like three weeks.

Still paid $350 but $500 coverage made it manageable.

Phone fell in ocean in Thailand. Totally my fault. Took it out to check messages on long-tail boat, wave hit, phone went flying. Waterproof rating apparently doesn’t mean “waterproof against saltwater submersion for 30 seconds while I panicked and dove after it.”

Dead phone. Needed replacement immediately because two-factor authentication and work.

New iPhone in Bangkok – $1,100 with Thai VAT. Purchase protection didn’t cover this because technically “accidental damage I caused” which terms exclude. But baggage delay from different trip covered about $200 because I claimed phone partially as essential item for work communication when bag was delayed.

Creative? Maybe. Got approved though.

Most people don’t use purchase protection because they don’t know it exists or think filing is too complicated. Takes maybe 20 minutes online. Photos, receipt, written explanation. Worth $500-1,200 coverage.

Nomads break stuff more than people who stay put. Laptops constantly in bags. Cameras get checked because of liquid limits. Phones dropped, stolen, water-damaged. Having insurance through your card is worth it even if you never use it.

When you do use it – like I have, multiple times – pays for annual fee easily.

The Cards That Actually Work (Real Numbers, Real Usage, Some Regrets)

Okay so after all that testing and expensive lessons, here’s what’s actually in my wallet right now. Not what I think sounds good in theory. What I actually use daily, what I’ve kept for years, and what I’m actively debating cancelling.

Chase Sapphire Reserve: The $795 Fee That Almost Made Me Cancel

Annual fee: $795

Yeah. I know. That’s genuinely ridiculous.

They raised it from $550 in June 2025. I got the email notification and my first thought was “absolutely not, I’m cancelling this immediately.” Pulled up the benefits page to see what I’d lose. Started doing math on what I actually use versus what I’m paying for.

Took me like two weeks to decide. Kept going back and forth. The fee increase felt personal somehow, like Chase was just seeing how much they could get away with.

But I kept it. Here’s why.

Welcome bonus right now is 100,000 points plus a $500 Chase Travel credit after you spend $5,000 in three months. That’s worth – depends on how you redeem but somewhere between $1,750 and $2,000 probably. So first year you actually make money even with the $795 fee.

Not helpful for me since I already have the card but good to know if you’re applying fresh.

Earning rates:

8X points on Chase Travel purchases – flights, hotels, car rentals, whatever you book through their portal. I use this more than I expected. The portal pricing isn’t always best but when it’s competitive the 8X is hard to beat.

4X when booking flights or hotels directly. This is what I use most. Book on airline website or hotel website, get 4X. Simple.

3X on dining and drugstores. Dining is obviously useful. Drugstores less so but occasionally helps.

1X on everything else. Nothing special but baseline.

But honestly the earning rates aren’t why this is my primary card. It’s everything else.

$300 annual travel credit – automatically applies to travel purchases. I don’t activate anything or jump through hoops. It just shows up as statement credits. Last year it covered… honestly I don’t even remember what specifically. Some combination of flights and maybe an Airbnb? It’s automatic so I stopped tracking.

$300 dining credits through Chase Exclusive Tables – this is $150 for January through June, another $150 for July through December. Only works at specific restaurants in the program.

In major European cities there are actually several participating restaurants. Used maybe $180 of it so far this year. When I was in Bali earlier this year – or was that last year? Timeline’s blurry. Anyway when I was in Bali there were zero participating restaurants. Completely useless there.

Very location-dependent which is frustrating. If you’re in major cities it’s valuable. Smaller cities or developing countries, probably won’t find participating spots.

$300 StubHub credits – $150 per half-year. I’ve used like $120 total since they added this benefit. Went to a concert, used some of the credit. Saw a football match – soccer, I mean – used more of it.

If you go to events regularly this is great. If you don’t, it’s worthless. I’m somewhere in the middle. Use some of it but not all.

Priority Pass Select unlimited visits – access to 1,300+ lounges. Covered this already but this benefit alone probably provided $1,400-1,600 in value last year based on my usage.

Primary rental car insurance – “primary” means Chase pays first before your regular insurance. This saved me roughly $380 last year when I rented cars in Portugal for two weeks and Greece for another week or so.

Rental companies charge like $18-25 per day for insurance. Sometimes more. Primary coverage means I decline all that. Just show the card and that’s it.

Had to use it once when I scraped the side of the car on a narrow street in Porto. Entirely my fault, those streets are impossibly narrow. Filed claim with Chase, they covered it, rental company never charged me. Saved probably $800 on that incident alone.

Trip delay reimbursement – covers expenses if your trip delays 6+ hours. Used this twice last year or maybe three times, I’d have to check statements.

Bangkok to Da Nang flight delayed 9 hours. Mechanical issues or weather or something. Chase covered hotel and meals. Mexico City delay – 8 hours that time – covered hotel and food again. Maybe there was a third one? Memory’s fuzzy.

Not huge amounts reimbursed. Like $120-180 each time. But enough to not feel angry about surprise expenses.

Zero foreign transaction fees – obviously this is baseline requirement. Wouldn’t have the card otherwise.

Real numbers from my 2024 spending:

Total on this card: $41,500… ish? Might be slightly more. Would need to pull exact statements but somewhere in that range.

Points earned: around 152,000-156,000 depending on spending categories. I don’t track every purchase obsessively anymore, just rough totals.

Credits actually used: $300 travel (automatic) + $210 dining (used most but not all) + $120 StubHub = $630 total credits.

Lounge value: approximately $1,500 conservatively. Maybe more if I count premium lounges at actual walk-in prices.

Total value: roughly $2,130 in tangible stuff I actually used.

Annual fee: $795

Net profit: around $1,335 plus all the insurance coverage I didn’t need but good to have.

The new Points Boost thing – they added this recently – lets you redeem points at higher value when booking certain airlines and hotels through Chase Travel. Up to 2X value they claim. Haven’t used it enough to know if it’s actually good or just marketing nonsense. The math seems complicated and I haven’t had time to figure out if it beats just transferring to partners.

There are also new perks if you spend over $75,000 annually on the card. IHG Diamond status, Southwest A-List, up to $500 Southwest credit, up to $250 shopping credits. Don’t hit that threshold so these don’t apply to me. Would need to spend like double what I currently spend.

They also added a bunch of lifestyle credits – Apple TV+, Peloton, DoorDash, Lyft. Feel like padding to justify the fee increase. I don’t use Peloton. Already pay for Apple TV separately. DoorDash doesn’t work most places I am. Lyft only works in US cities.

So for me those “added benefits” aren’t really benefits. Just stuff listed on the benefits page that I’ll never use.

Downsides:

That $795 fee is really high. Like genuinely hard to justify. If you don’t travel a lot this makes zero sense financially.

The lifestyle credits feel forced. They’re clearly trying to justify the price increase by adding stuff most people won’t use.

The earning rates are good but not exceptional. You can beat 4X on flights with other strategies if you’re really into optimization. I’m not anymore but it’s possible.

Who should get this:

If you’re spending $30,000-40,000+ annually on travel-related stuff and you actually use airport lounges regularly – like 25+ times per year – the math probably works.

If you fly less than that or you’re spending under $25,000 annually, probably not worth it. The fee is too high to justify with occasional travel.

This is genuinely one of the best credit cards for digital nomads with high spending. But “high spending” is the key qualifier. Not worth it for everyone.

Capital One Venture X: The Card I Added as Backup That Became Essential

Annual fee: $395

Added this in 2023. Or maybe late 2022? I think 2023. Was looking for a backup card because Chase had been declined a few times in random countries – Indonesia once, Philippines twice, somewhere in Eastern Europe. Having only one card felt risky.

The selling point that convinced me: 2X miles on everything.

No categories. No “this quarter it’s 5% on gas stations, next quarter it’s groceries.” No “remember to activate your bonus categories.” Just 2X on literally every purchase. Period.

Welcome bonus when I got it was 75,000 miles after $4,000 spend in three months. Worth $750 in travel at their standard 1 cent per mile redemption. Pretty straightforward. Met the spend requirement easily, got the bonus, moved on.

Why 2X on everything matters more than it sounds:

Lot of digital nomad spending doesn’t fit traditional bonus categories. Coworking memberships don’t usually count as “travel” or “dining.” Long-term Airbnb rentals sometimes code as travel, sometimes as general spending – depends on how Airbnb processes it. Local groceries definitely aren’t travel. Pharmacy purchases. SIM cards. Random gear when stuff breaks.

Chase gives 1X on most of that. Venture X gives 2X on all of it.

Example – staying somewhere for three months. Paid for coworking through Spaces, one of those coworking chains. $420 monthly for dedicated desk with locker and meeting room access.

Groceries were around $250-300 monthly. Local supermarket mostly, sometimes the fancier one when the regular place didn’t have what I needed.

Random purchases – cleaning supplies for the Airbnb, kitchen stuff, replacement phone charger because I lost mine, pharmacy items, probably other stuff I’m forgetting – maybe another $200 monthly.

That’s like $870-920 per month in spending that earns 1X on Chase but 2X on Venture X.

Over a year of similar patterns that’s an extra 10,000-11,000 miles just from the non-bonus-category stuff.

Doesn’t sound dramatic but it adds up.

Other benefits:

$300 annual travel credit through Capital One Travel. Similar to Chase. Used it on flights last year. Pretty straightforward.

10,000 anniversary bonus miles every year. Worth at least $100, maybe more depending on redemption. So effective annual fee is $295 after this credit. Much more manageable than Chase’s $795.

Priority Pass Select again. Redundant with my Chase card but good to have backup. There was one time in Istanbul – or maybe it was Athens? One of those – where the Priority Pass lounge was full and not accepting more people. Having two Priority Pass memberships meant I could try the other lounge. Worked out.

Also includes access to Capital One’s own lounges plus Plaza Premium lounges. Haven’t been to a Capital One lounge yet. They’re only in a few US airports currently. Plaza Premium I’ve used a couple times, they’re fine.

Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit up to $120 every four years. Used this to renew Global Entry in early 2025. Covers me through 2029. Small benefit but appreciated.

Zero foreign transaction fees obviously.

They also have boosted earning when you book through Capital One Travel portal – 5X on flights and vacation rentals, 10X on hotels and car rentals.

I don’t use the portal much. Usually find better prices on Google Flights or Skyscanner or booking directly. But when the portal pricing is competitive the 5X and 10X bonuses are legitimately good.

Real spending on this card in 2024:

Total: approximately $18,500. Maybe closer to $19,000 but I’m estimating.

Earned: 37,000 miles from purchases (2X on everything).

Plus 10,000 anniversary miles = 47,000 total miles.

Value at 1 cent per mile: $470.

Used the $300 travel credit.

Total value: around $770.

After $395 annual fee: $375 net profit.

Not as much as Chase but still profitable. And way less stress because I don’t have to track spending categories.

Transfer partners include Turkish Airlines, Air France/KLM, Avianca LifeMiles, bunch of others. Not as many options as Chase Ultimate Rewards but enough variety for decent redemptions.

Haven’t transferred much yet. Mostly just accumulating miles for now. Will probably transfer when I have a specific redemption in mind.

Downsides:

The 2X earning is good but not spectacular. If you’re really into optimization you can beat it with category-specific cards for certain purchases. But that requires carrying multiple cards and tracking which card to use when. I’m done with that level of complexity.

The highest earning rates require using Capital One Travel portal which doesn’t always have best prices. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s $50-100 more expensive than booking directly. Have to compare.

Who should get this:

Digital nomads who want straightforward rewards without thinking about it.

If you’re spending $15,000-35,000 annually and want premium benefits – lounge access, travel insurance, all that – with a lower fee than Chase Sapphire Reserve, Venture X is really solid.

This is genuinely one of the best travel credit cards for people who prefer simplicity over maximization. Which describes me now. Used to be really into optimization. Not anymore. Life’s too short.

The 2X on everything makes it particularly good for digital nomads with lots of non-travel category spending. Coworking, groceries, general living expenses abroad – all that stuff earns 2X instead of 1X.

American Express Platinum: The $895 Question Mark

Annual fee: $895

This is the most expensive credit card I’ve ever had. And I keep asking myself why I still have it.

Earning rate is mediocre: 5X on flights booked directly with airlines. That’s it. Everything else is 1X.

So I’m paying $895 annually for a card that gives me worse earning rates than my other cards on most purchases. The math doesn’t math.

But I still have it. For one reason: lounge access.

That’s literally the only reason. The lounge networks.

Amex Platinum gets you into Centurion Lounges – Amex’s own lounges which are usually the nicest. Delta Sky Club up to 10 visits per year. Priority Pass again – redundant but whatever. Plaza Premium lounges. Escape Lounges. Some others I’m forgetting.

Total access to like 1,550+ lounges across 140 countries.

The Centurion Lounge in Hong Kong before it closed permanently in 2024 – really sad about that, it was exceptional – was legitimately nice. Like nicer than some hotels I’ve stayed at. The shower facilities alone made 14-hour flights more bearable. The food was actual restaurant quality, not airport food trying to be restaurant quality. The design was beautiful. Felt luxurious in a way most airport spaces don’t.

Delta Sky Club in Atlanta is solid. Not as nice as Centurion but better than most Priority Pass lounges. Good food, good coffee, quiet spaces to work.

Plaza Premium lounges are hit or miss. Some are great, some are kind of depressing. But they’re everywhere which is useful.

The Amex network is definitely more comprehensive than Chase or Capital One. You have more options, more backup plans when lounges are full.

When it saves me:

Maybe 6-7 times in the past year the Priority Pass lounge was either full or closed and the Centurion or Delta lounge was available. Having the Amex meant I could still access a lounge instead of sitting in the terminal.

Is that worth $895? I honestly don’t know. Still figuring this out.

Other benefits they advertise:

$200 Uber credit – works in most countries I’ve been to. Used some of it but not all. Uber doesn’t work everywhere.

$200 airline fee credit – I use this for seat selection and checked bags. Actually useful.

$200 hotel credit through their Hotel Collection thing. Haven’t used this much. Requires booking through Amex and I usually find better prices elsewhere.

Various other lifestyle credits I don’t use. Entertainment credits, shopping credits, streaming credits. None of it particularly relevant to my life.

Current thinking:

I’m genuinely considering cancelling this card. The overlap with Chase and Capital One is significant. I already have Priority Pass through Chase. The Venture X gives me backup Priority Pass.

The only unique thing Amex provides is Centurion Lounges and Delta Sky Club access. Is that worth $895 minus whatever credits I actually use?

Maybe $600-700 net cost after credits I use. For occasional access to nicer lounges.

I don’t know yet. Keep going back and forth.

Who should get this:

If you fly 30+ times annually and route through airports with Centurion Lounges regularly, maybe worth it.

If you’re mostly flying regional routes or budget airlines or airports without Centurion Lounges, probably not worth it.

For most digital nomads there are better options. Chase Sapphire Reserve or Capital One Venture X provide most of what you need at lower annual fees.

I might not have this card by the time you’re reading this. Seriously debating cancellation before next annual fee hits.

How I Actually Use These Cards (Or Try To, When I Remember Which One To Use)

Three cards. Chase, Capital One, and the Amex I keep meaning to cancel but haven’t yet.

Some people have like 15 cards. I see them on Reddit posting spreadsheets of optimal category bonuses and quarterly activations. Tried that once. Maybe 2022? Lasted like six weeks before I completely gave up. Too much mental overhead. Standing at checkout trying to remember “is this 3% or 5% this quarter and did I activate the bonus” while the person behind me in line gets increasingly annoyed.

Three is my limit. Possibly too many honestly.

Which Card Actually Comes Out of My Wallet

Chase most of the time

Flights obviously. Whether I’m booking through their portal – which I do sometimes when the price isn’t terrible – or directly with airlines. Big flight or small flight doesn’t matter. That $40 AirAsia flight in Thailand gets the same card as the $800 flight to Europe.

Hotels when I stay in hotels. Don’t do that much anymore, mostly Airbnb. But hotels yeah, Chase.

Restaurants, cafes. The 3X thing. Except sometimes I forget and use whatever card is on top in my wallet. Probably left some points on the table last year from not paying attention.

Big purchases where I want the insurance. New laptop last year – Chase. Camera stuff – Chase. Anything that could break or get stolen where I want purchase protection.

Capital One for the random stuff

Coworking memberships because 2X versus 1X. Currently paying – what is it, $350 monthly? Something like that for a desk. That adds up over time, the extra miles.

Groceries. This is maybe my second biggest spending category after accommodation. $300, $400 monthly depending on where I am and how expensive that city is. Extra mile per dollar matters.

All the miscellaneous stuff. Pharmacy purchases, buying a new SIM card, public transport when they take cards – which isn’t everywhere. Replacement charging cables because I lose them constantly. Whatever.

Subscriptions probably. Netflix, Spotify, the VPN, cloud storage. Actually wait, I’m not sure which card those are on. Some might auto-charge to old cards I’ve replaced. Should probably check that.

Backup when Chase doesn’t work. Indonesia especially – Chase got declined so much there. Like more than half the time. Never figured out why. Merchant issue or bank issue or Indonesia’s payment systems or who knows. Venture X worked fine though.

Amex almost never

The earning is bad – 1X on most stuff. Only 5X on flights booked directly with airlines which requires me to remember to use it instead of Chase which I usually forget.

Mostly just have it for lounges. Don’t actually put purchases on it much. This is the problem. Paying $895 for a card I barely use.

Should cancel it. Keep not canceling it. There’s always some reason – “oh but I have a long trip coming up, the Centurion Lounges will be useful” or “let me wait until after this next annual fee posts to use the credits” or whatever excuse I make.

Last Year’s Spending (Rough Numbers Because I Don’t Track Obsessively Anymore)

Trying to reconstruct this. Numbers are approximate, might be off by 10-20%.

Flights – maybe $8,000? $8,500?

Most on Chase. Some on Amex when I remembered. Got 4X or 5X or 8X depending on how I booked and which card. Average it out to like… I don’t know, 5X maybe across all of it?

So that’s what, 40,000-something points from flights? The math is rough.

Value is hard to calculate. Depends on redemption. Somewhere between $600 and $900 probably if I’m smart about transfers.

Accommodations – this one’s messy

Total maybe $12,000? Mix of Airbnb and some hotels. Airbnb coding is weird – sometimes it codes as travel, sometimes as general spending. Depends on length of stay maybe? Or how Airbnb processes it? Never figured out the pattern.

So some purchases got 4X, some got 1X. Average… 2X maybe? Just guessing here.

Figure like 24,000 points from accommodations.

Worth $350-500? Again depends on redemption.

Dining – around $6,000 I think

All on Chase for 3X except when I forgot which was definitely multiple times.

18,000 points if I actually used Chase every time. Probably more like 16,000 realistically because I definitely messed up sometimes.

Coworking – $3,600 annually

Did the math on this one because it’s consistent monthly charge. $300 times 12. Wait no, it’s $350 now. Was $300 for part of the year then increased. So like $3,600, $3,800 something like that.

All on Venture X for 2X. That’s 7,200 miles minimum.

Groceries – no idea honestly

$300 to $400 monthly depending on where I am. Some cities are expensive. Some places are cheap. Others are medium. Varies by location.

Call it $350 average times 12 = $4,200.

Mostly on Venture X for 2X. So 8,400 miles.

Everything else

Subscriptions, random purchases, gear replacements, pharmacy, whatever. Maybe $6,000? Could be more. I really don’t track this closely.

Mix of cards. Probably mostly Venture X because I got lazy and just started using it for non-dining non-flight stuff.

10,000 miles maybe from this category.

Total spending – $40,000-something

Could be $43,000, could be $41,000. Somewhere in there.

Total points/miles – roughly 120,000 across all programs? Maybe 130,000? I’m ballparking.

Value if I redeem well – $1,700? $2,000? Really depends on how I use them. Haven’t redeemed much yet actually, mostly just accumulating.

Then the credits:

Chase travel credit $300 – used automatically

Chase dining credits – used like $200-something

Venture X travel credit $300 – used

Venture X anniversary miles worth $100

Total credits maybe $900?

So like $1,700 in points value plus $900 in credits = $2,600 total value.

Annual fees total $2,085 for all three cards.

Net profit $500-something before counting lounge access.

Lounge access value – conservatively $1,400 based on my 35-40 visits.

Total value like $1,900-2,000?

This is why I keep them despite questioning the fees constantly. Barely makes sense. If my spending dropped significantly I’d have to cancel something.

Things I’ve Screwed Up

Carrying all three cards everywhere for like a year – they’re heavy. Metal cards. My wallet was ridiculously thick. Finally started leaving Amex at home since I never use it anyway. Just carry Chase and Capital One daily now.

Standing at checkout confused – “wait which card is this category bonus on again?” Happened multiple times. Now I mostly just use Chase and don’t think about it unless it’s obviously a Venture X category.

The Amex fee – paying $895 for lounge access I could mostly get through Chase anyway. This is dumb. Should cancel it. The annual fee posts in like two months. Will probably cancel then. Maybe. We’ll see.

Manufactured spending attempt – 2022 or 2023, tried to hit a welcome bonus requirement by buying stuff I didn’t really need. Bought like $1,500 in Amazon gift cards or something. Dumb. Don’t do this. Just meet spending naturally or don’t get the card.

Too many applications in one year – pretty sure I applied for 5 or 6 cards in 2022. Credit score tanked. Recovered eventually but took most of a year. Space applications out.

Not tracking Amex benefits usage – paying for all these benefits listed on their page and using maybe 30% of them. Should’ve realized this sooner.

What Works Better

Two cards is probably the right number. One primary, one backup. That’s it.

I have three because I’m indecisive about canceling Amex. But two would be simpler.

Don’t optimize every small thing. Used to calculate point transfer values obsessively – “is 1.7 cents per point better than 1.4 cents per point on this $900 redemption” – who cares. The difference is like $27. Not worth the mental energy.

Use benefits you’ll actually use. Lounge access matters to me, I fly enough. Travel insurance matters.

Dining credits are hit or miss. Some cities have participating restaurants. Others have zero. Can’t plan around it.

Always have backup card. Indonesia taught me this. Chase declined everywhere. If I’d only had Chase I would’ve been screwed. Need two cards minimum.

File insurance claims when you qualify. Most people don’t bother. I’ve filed like 5 or 6 claims over the years. Takes 20 minutes usually. Worth it.

Wise Card Thing

This isn’t a credit card but needs mentioning.

ATM withdrawals – Wise card is best for this. Good exchange rates, no ATM fees up to some amount monthly. $250? $350? I forget the exact limit. After that small fee but still better than bank cards.

Small purchases at places that don’t take credit cards. Street food, markets, tuk-tuks, whatever. Wise works fine. Not earning rewards but exchange rate is good enough.

Emergency backup if both credit cards fail somehow. Hasn’t happened but good to have.

Also for countries where credit cards aren’t widely accepted. Parts of Southeast Asia, parts of Eastern Europe, some places in Latin America – cash is still king. Need a way to get local currency without terrible exchange rates.

Tax Stuff and Managing Cards From Wherever You Are (Administrative Nightmare Section)

This part is boring. Sorry. But probably important. Maybe more important than knowing which lounge has the best noodles.

Tax implications of rewards, managing cards when you’re not in the US, credit score stuff. The things I avoided thinking about for way too long.

Are Credit Card Rewards Taxable (I Had a Panic About This Once)

2020 Or 2021? One of those pandemic years that blurred together. I’d gotten a bunch of welcome bonuses that year – multiple cards, probably like $3,000 in value total across all of them. Maybe more.

Suddenly realized at like 2am one night: wait, is this income? Do I need to report this to the IRS?

Googled for probably two hours. Every article said something different. “Yes it’s taxable.” “No it’s not taxable.” “It depends.” “Consult a tax professional.” Super helpful, thanks internet.

Eventually emailed my CPA. Then we had a call. Or maybe I called first then emailed? I don’t remember.

Here’s what I learned, approximately:

Welcome bonuses mostly not taxable. IRS treats them as rebates. You spent money to get them so they’re reducing your purchase cost not creating income. Or something like that. The logic made sense when she explained it but I’ve half-forgotten now.

So those 100,000 Chase points from meeting spending – not taxable. The 75,000 Capital One miles – not taxable.

Points from regular spending also not taxable for same reason. You’re getting a rebate on purchases.

But there are exceptions. If you get points without spending anything maybe that’s taxable? Like if a bank just gives you a bonus for opening an account with zero requirements. That might be income. I think. This part was confusing.

Referral bonuses maybe taxable sometimes. I’ve referred a few people over the years, got some bonus points. Never reported it. Probably should ask my CPA about this again. Keep forgetting.

Business cards are different somehow. Business expenses and business card rewards affect deductions maybe? I don’t fully understand this. I don’t have business cards, just use personal cards for everything. Simpler.

My CPA’s advice was basically: if you get a 1099 form from the bank, report it. If no 1099, probably fine to ignore.

Haven’t gotten any 1099s from credit card companies. So haven’t reported any rewards.

I am definitely not a tax professional. This is not advice. Talk to your own CPA. Especially if you’re doing weird stuff with manufactured spending or business cards or whatever people do to optimize this stuff.

IRS Publication 525 supposedly explains this but I tried reading it once and my brain shut off after three pages. Tax law is incomprehensible. I pay someone who understands it.

FEIE Thing and How It Makes Credit Applications Weird

FEIE – Foreign Earned Income Exclusion. The thing that keeps digital nomads from getting double-taxed.

Been claiming it since… 2019? 2018? Whichever year was my first filing while abroad full-time.

Basically if you’re out of the US 330+ days per year you can exclude like $120,000 of income from US taxes. The amount changes each year. Might be higher now, I’d have to check. My CPA handles this.

How this screws up credit card applications:

Applications ask for annual income. If you’re excluding most of your income through FEIE, your taxable US income is low. Or zero potentially.

But banks want to see income to approve you for cards.

What do you put on the application? I honestly don’t know the correct answer.

I put my gross income before FEIE. So if I earned $80,000 but excluded most through FEIE, I write $80,000 on applications. Not the taxable amount.

Is this right? No idea. Works so far. Haven’t been denied, haven’t been asked to verify income. Though I know some people get those requests.

Other nomads do it differently. Some list worldwide income. Some only US income. Some do what I do. No consensus.

Banks are checking if you can pay, not checking your tax situation. If you earn $80,000 you can probably handle a credit limit regardless of how much is taxable. That’s my logic anyway.

Not legal advice. Not tax advice. Just what I personally do.

The US address thing:

All these cards need a US address. Can’t use foreign address for US credit cards.

Many nomads use family addresses. They get mail, scan anything important, email photos. Throw away the junk mail which is most of it.

Some nomads use mail forwarding services. Like Traveling Mailbox or US Global Mail or whatever. They give you an address, scan your mail, you view it online. Haven’t tried these personally but heard they work.

Important thing is having a stable address that’s not obviously a mail forwarding service. Some banks reject certain addresses they know are forwarding services. Family or friends is safer.

Managing Cards While You’re Not in America (So Many Small Annoying Things)

Autopay is critical:

Set this up before leaving. I have it on full statement balance, not minimum payment. Pays automatically from checking every month.

Missed a payment once early on. Maybe 2018. Was in Thailand somewhere with terrible internet. Forgot to pay manually. Late fee, interest charges, credit score hit. Took months to recover.

Never missed one again after autopay.

Make sure checking account has buffer though. I keep like two months of card spending as cushion. So if I spend $3,000-4,000 monthly, I keep $6,000-8,000 minimum in checking.

Overdrafting because autopay pulled too much would be nightmare to fix from abroad.

VPN stuff:

Some banks block VPN. Others don’t care.

Chase seems fine with it. I log in from different countries constantly using VPN. Sometimes they ask for text verification but that’s normal.

Capital One also fine.

Had a regional credit union once that completely blocked me when I tried logging in from Thailand through VPN. Had to call, got transferred like three times, they eventually unlocked it. Whole thing took forever. Closed that account after.

Big banks seem better about international access.

Phone number for two-factor:

This is annoying. Need US number for verification texts.

I have Google Voice forwarding to my international SIM. Works most of the time. Some banks won’t accept VoIP numbers though.

Had my old US phone plan active for a while just to keep the number. Like $15 monthly for cheapest plan. Eventually ported to Google Voice to save money.

Two-factor is frustrating abroad. Texts sometimes take forever. International routing is weird, messages get delayed.

Authenticator apps work better – Google Authenticator or Authy or whatever. Use those when possible instead of SMS.

Fraud alerts are the worst:

First month Thailand, Chase declined my card twelve times. TWELVE. At restaurants, 7-Eleven, coworking space. So frustrating.

Each time had to call fraud line, wait on hold, verify identity, confirm yes I’m in Thailand, yes I’m buying groceries, yes it’s really me.

Travel notifications help. Tell Chase where you’re going in the app. Reduces false declines.

Capital One is way better about this. Fewer fraud alerts. Their system is either smarter or they care less about fraud. But it works better.

Indonesia was terrible for fraud alerts. Philippines had issues too. Thailand got better after a while. Portugal has been fine – probably lots of US tourists so system doesn’t flag it.

Calling customer service from abroad:

Don’t use local SIM to call US numbers. Expensive.

Use Skype or Google Voice. Way cheaper.

Chase customer service is pretty good. Called them from six different countries over the years. Usually okay.

Amex supposedly has amazing service but I’ve barely used it.

Some banks have terrible phone systems that don’t work with VoIP. Automated menus can’t understand you, audio quality is bad, calls drop. Super frustrating.

Time zone confusion:

Payments process Eastern time regardless of where you are.

Missed this once. Paid what I thought was the due date but it was already past midnight Eastern even though afternoon where I was. Late payment. Called and got late fee reversed but still annoying.

This is why I just let autopay handle everything now.

Credit Score While Abroad

Credit score doesn’t care where you are. Only cares about payment history, utilization, all that.

I check through Credit Karma maybe every few months. Free, good enough. Not perfectly accurate but shows trends.

Score is like 780-something right now? Was higher before I applied for a bunch of cards in 2022. That hurt it temporarily. Recovered mostly.

What affects score:

• Paying on time – most important thing, autopay handles this
• Utilization – don’t max out cards, keep under 30% or whatever the guideline is
• Length of history – keep old accounts open even if not using them much
• New applications – don’t apply for too many cards at once, learned this the hard way
• Credit mix – different types of credit supposedly help but this is minor

Use cards occasionally even if they’re not primary. Put Netflix or Spotify on them to keep active. Otherwise issuer might close for inactivity which hurts your score.

Credit Karma works from anywhere. Some monitoring services are US-only but most work internationally.

Had fraud once in 2020. Someone opened a card in my name somehow. Credit Karma alerted me. Disputed it, got it resolved. Would’ve missed it without monitoring.

Should freeze credit when not applying for anything. Free through Experian, Equifax, TransUnion. Prevents identity theft. I forget to do this though.

Random Frustrating Things

Address verification failures:

Some online purchases need billing address match. Buying with US billing address but shipping foreign sometimes fails.

Happened buying plane tickets once. Card kept declining. Never figured out why. Used different card, worked fine.

Currency conversion weirdness:

Purchases take days to post sometimes. Exchange rate on purchase date versus processing date can be different.

Bought something in Turkish lira once. Rate moved 3% between purchase and processing. Paid like $15 more than expected. Nothing I could do.

Country restrictions:

Some cards don’t work in certain countries. Sanctioned countries obviously. But also random ones.

Tried buying from Russian website once – declined. Not fraud, just card issuer doesn’t process Russian transactions. This was before recent sanctions stuff, just policy.

Never know which countries have issues until you try.

Replacing physical cards:

If card breaks, getting replacement to foreign address is complicated.

Some issuers overnight to certain countries. Others won’t ship internationally at all.

Had chip stop working once. Issuer could only mail to US address. Had to wait for forwarding. Took like three weeks. Used backup cards meanwhile.

Another reason to have multiple cards.

Rental car insurance internationally:

Card rental coverage sometimes excludes certain countries.

Chase works in most places but not all. Ireland excluded maybe? Should check the terms but I’ve rented in Portugal and Greece fine.

Rented in Greece once, rental company didn’t understand Chase was primary insurance. Insisted I buy theirs. Took 20 minutes pointing at benefits guide on phone to sort out.

Mistakes I’ve Made and Seen Other People Make (Learn From My Stupidity)

Been doing this for years. Made a lot of mistakes. Some expensive, some just annoying. Here are the ones I remember and the ones I keep seeing other nomads make.

Mistake 1: Paying Foreign Transaction Fees Way Too Long

Already covered this but it’s the biggest one. Paid those fees for almost two years before Bangkok wake-up call.

$392 in one month. Probably lost like $2,000-2,500 total over those first two years. Maybe more, I don’t want to calculate it exactly because it’ll make me angry.

Could’ve been completely avoided if I’d just researched this before going nomadic. But I didn’t. Assumed my regular bank card would be fine everywhere.

Wrong.

Zero foreign transaction fees is baseline requirement now. Not negotiable. If someone tells you they’re using a card with foreign fees, send them this article. Or any article. Just stop them from bleeding money unnecessarily.

Mistake 2: Not Maximizing Welcome Bonuses (Or Doing It Wrong)

Welcome bonuses are basically free money if you meet the spending requirements organically.

Chase Sapphire Reserve – 100,000 points plus $500 credit worth like $2,000. Capital One Venture X – 75,000 miles worth $750. These bonuses are huge.

But you have to actually get them. Timing matters.

What I did right in 2023:

Applied for three cards that year. Spaced them out – one in January, one in May, one in September. Each time I knew I had large purchases coming up.

January – was buying new laptop and camera gear. Knew I’d spend $5,000+ in next few months easily. Applied for Capital One Venture X, met the $4,000 spending requirement naturally, got the 75,000 miles.

May – had flights booked and some other big expenses planned. Applied for another card I’ve since cancelled. Met spending requirement, got bonus.

September – I forget what the expenses were. Something. Met requirement, got bonus.

Total welcome bonus value that year: roughly $2,800 across all cards.

What I did wrong in 2022:

Applied for like five or six cards. All within a few months. Didn’t space them out properly.

Credit score tanked because of all the hard inquiries. Dropped from like 820 to 760-something. Took almost a year to recover fully.

Also some of the cards I applied for I didn’t actually need. Just got them because the welcome bonus sounded good. Then realized I wasn’t going to use them and ended up cancelling within a year.

Wasted hard inquiries on my credit report for cards I didn’t keep.

The manufactured spending mistake:

This was dumb. 2022 I think. Maybe early 2023.

Had a card with spending requirement I wasn’t going to meet organically. Like $1,500 short with a week left or something.

Bought Amazon gift cards to hit the requirement. $1,500 in gift cards I didn’t need immediately.

Got the welcome bonus. So technically it worked. But also spent $1,500 on stuff I didn’t need right then just to get maybe $300-400 in bonus value. The math doesn’t work unless you were definitely going to buy those things anyway.

Some people do manufactured spending strategically. Buy gift cards they’ll definitely use later, or buy things they can return after statement posts, or whatever. More power to them. Too complicated for me and feels sketchy.

Just meet spending requirements naturally or don’t get the card. That’s my rule now.

Mistake 3: Ignoring Travel Insurance Until I Needed It

Barcelona baguette story covered this already. But the broader mistake was not really understanding what insurance my cards provided until something went wrong.

Had Chase Sapphire Reserve for like a year before Barcelona. Never read the benefits guide. Just knew it had “travel insurance” listed somewhere.

Didn’t know what was actually covered. Trip cancellation up to what amount? Medical coverage how much? What’s excluded?

Only learned the details when I had to file the Barcelona claim. Luckily it was covered. But I easily could’ve been in a situation where I assumed I had coverage for something that wasn’t actually covered.

What I should’ve done:

Read the benefits guide when I first got the card. It’s long and boring but important. Or at least skimmed it.

Known what coverage existed and what the limits were before traveling.

Had backup insurance for things card insurance doesn’t cover well. Card insurance is good for short trips but long-term nomad life needs more comprehensive coverage sometimes.

What I’ve seen other people mess up:

Assuming their card insurance covers pre-existing conditions. It usually doesn’t. If you have ongoing medical stuff, card insurance probably won’t help with that.

Not knowing their card insurance is secondary not primary. Some cards – many cards actually – have secondary coverage meaning your regular insurance pays first, card insurance fills gaps. Only a few cards like Chase Sapphire Reserve have primary coverage.

Not filing claims because they assume it’s too complicated. It’s not. Takes 20 minutes usually. Just file the claim.

Mistake 4: Only Having One Card

Indonesia taught me this lesson.

Was there for like a month. Bali mostly, some time in Java. Had just Chase at the time. Or maybe I had other cards but only brought Chase because I thought one card was enough.

Chase got declined probably 60-70% of the time there. Restaurants, shops, ATMs sometimes. Not fraud alerts – just the payment terminals not working with the card for some reason.

Never figured out why. Something about Indonesia’s payment systems or the card network or who knows what.

If I’d only had Chase I would’ve been screwed. Luckily had backup card – I think it was Capital One but memory’s fuzzy. That one worked fine.

Always carry minimum two cards:

One primary, one backup. Ideally on different networks – Visa and Mastercard. Though actually are Chase and Capital One both Visa? I think they are. Should probably check this.

The point is redundancy. If one fails you need immediate backup.

Cards get declined for random reasons. Fraud alerts, technical issues, merchant problems, payment processors being weird. Having only one card is gambling that nothing will go wrong.

Cards get lost or stolen too:

Hasn’t happened to me yet. Knock on wood. But know multiple people who’ve had cards stolen.

If your only card gets stolen and you’re in like rural Thailand or wherever, you’re in trouble. Getting replacement shipped internationally takes weeks if they’ll even ship to where you are.

Two cards minimum. Keep them in different places – one in wallet, one in bag or hotel safe or somewhere else. Don’t keep both in same wallet in case wallet gets stolen.

Mistake 5: Not Using Purchase Protection When Stuff Breaks

Most people don’t know this benefit exists. Or know it exists but think filing claims is too complicated so they don’t bother.

I’ve filed like five or six purchase protection claims over the years. Every time it’s taken 15-20 minutes. Not complicated.

Lima camera damage: filed claim, got $1,200.

Laptop screen crack: filed claim, got $500.

Other stuff I’m forgetting: filed claims, got money back.

Total value of purchase protection claims: probably $2,000-2,500 over the years. That’s basically three years of annual fees covered just from this one benefit.

But I know nomads who break expensive stuff and don’t file claims because they assume it won’t be covered or the process will be too hard.

Just file the claim. Worst case they deny it and you’re where you started. Best case you get hundreds or thousands of dollars back.

What you need:

Original receipt – I photograph every receipt for expensive purchases now, store in cloud. Takes two seconds, saves hassle later.

Photos of damage – take photos from multiple angles showing what broke.

Police report if it’s theft – annoying to get in foreign country but necessary for theft claims.

Written explanation of what happened – just write a paragraph explaining the situation.

That’s it. Upload to bank’s website. Wait a few weeks. Usually get approved.

Mistake 6: Choosing Cards Based Only on Annual Fee

This was my initial reaction to Chase Sapphire Reserve’s $795 fee. “That’s ridiculous, no card is worth $795 annually.”

But the fee is only one part of the equation. What matters is fee minus credits minus value you actually get from benefits.

Bad math:

“This card has $0 annual fee, that other card has $795 annual fee. The $0 card is obviously better.”

Better math:

Card A: $0 fee, 1X points everywhere, foreign transaction fees 3%

Card B: $795 fee, 4X points on travel, $600+ in credits, zero foreign transaction fees, lounge access worth $1,400

On $40,000 annual spending, which one actually costs less and provides more value?

Card A: earn 40,000 points (maybe $400 value), pay $1,200 in foreign transaction fees. Net: -$800

Card B: earn way more points (let’s say $1,200 value with categories), no foreign fees, get $600 credits, get $1,400 lounge value. Net: +$2,405

Card B costs $795 but provides $2,405 in value. Card A costs $0 but loses you $800.

This is oversimplified but the point is don’t look at fee alone. Look at total cost and value based on your actual spending.

I almost cancelled Chase because of the fee without doing this math. Would’ve been expensive mistake.

Mistake 7: Not Tracking Which Benefits I Actually Use

Paid for Amex Platinum for two years before realizing I barely use most of the benefits.

$895 annually. For what? Lounge access I already get through Chase. Uber credits I use maybe $80 of. Hotel credits I never use because I book through other sites.

Should’ve tracked this after first year. Would’ve realized Amex isn’t worth it for me and cancelled. Instead paid for second year without thinking about it.

This year I’m finally tracking what I actually use from each card:

Chase – use everything except most lifestyle credits

Capital One – use travel credit, anniversary miles, lounge access as backup

Amex – use basically just lounge access

That makes the cost-benefit obvious. Amex should go.

What to track:

Credits you actually use versus credits listed

Benefits you access versus benefits listed

How many times you use lounges, insurance, purchase protection, whatever

Actual points earned versus theoretical earning if you optimized perfectly

Track this for a year. Then decide which cards to keep based on real usage not advertised benefits.

Mistake 8: Applying for Cards Right Before Needing Good Credit

2022 when I applied for six cards in a few months? Tanked my credit score from like 820 to 760.

Then like three months later I wanted to get an apartment lease. Required credit check. My score was still recovering.

Almost didn’t get approved because landlord saw all the recent hard inquiries and thought I was financially unstable or something.

Eventually got the apartment but it was harder than it should’ve been.

Space out applications:

Don’t apply for multiple cards right before you need your credit score to look good for something else.

Renting apartments, buying cars, getting loans, whatever – if you might need credit approval for something, don’t trash your score with card applications right before.

Hard inquiries stay on your report for two years but impact your score most in first few months.

Space applications like 3-6 months apart minimum. More if possible.

Mistake 9: Not Having Backup Payment Methods

Credit cards are great until they’re not. Cards get declined, stolen, frozen, expired, whatever.

What I carry now:

Two credit cards (Chase, Capital One)

One debit card (Wise)

Some cash in local currency

Some US dollars as ultimate backup

Used to just carry credit cards. Then had situations where cards didn’t work and I needed cash immediately.

Small villages in Thailand don’t take cards. Some countries are still mostly cash-based. Card networks go down sometimes – rare but happens.

Always have backup payment method beyond just credit cards.

Mistake 10: Not Reading Terms When They Change

Card benefits change. Sometimes for better, mostly for worse.

Chase Sapphire Reserve added benefits in 2025. Also raised fee from $550 to $795. I didn’t pay attention to what changed exactly until like two months after the fee increase.

Turns out they added $300 dining credits and $300 StubHub credits. Which partially justify the fee increase. But I didn’t know this for months because I didn’t read the notification email.

When you get emails about terms changes, actually read them. Or at least skim them. Benefits get added, removed, changed. Annual fees change. Coverage limits change.

Know what you’re paying for and what coverage you actually have.

FAQ : Questions People Keep Asking Me (My Answers Are Probably Incomplete)

Get emails through NomadWallets asking about credit cards. A lot of emails. Same questions repeatedly. Here’s what I usually tell people, though my answers change depending on my mood honestly.

Quick Comparisons and Final Stuff (Actually Tired Now)

Okay this article is like 5,000 words at this point. Maybe more. Lost track. Let me just throw some final thoughts together because I need to finish this.

Quick Card Comparison

Card	Annual Fee	Best For	Earning Rate	Welcome Bonus	Foreign Transaction Fee	Lounge Access
Chase Sapphire Reserve	$795	High spenders	4-8X travel, 3X dining	100K pts + $500 credit	$0	Priority Pass unlimited
Capital One Venture X	$395	Simple strategy	2X everything	75K miles	$0	Priority Pass unlimited
Amex Platinum	$895	Lounge access	5X flights, 1X other	80K pts	$0	1,550+ lounges
Chase Sapphire Preferred	$95	Mid-tier	3X travel/dining	60K pts	$0	Priority Pass limited
Wells Fargo Autograph	$0	Beginners	3X travel/dining	20K pts	$0	None
Citi Premier	$95	Hotels	3X gas/dining/travel	75K pts	$0	None

Chase Sapphire Reserve – costs $795 which still makes me angry when the charge posts. No foreign fees. Earns 4X on direct bookings or 8X through their portal or something. Priority Pass unlimited. Welcome bonus is 100,000 points plus a $500 credit I think. Could be different now. Check their website.

I keep questioning why I have this card. Then I calculate the value and keep it. Then question it again next month.

Capital One Venture X – $395 fee but after the $300 credit and 10,000 anniversary miles it’s basically free. 2X on literally everything. Priority Pass. Welcome bonus 75,000 miles.

This one actually makes sense. Like objectively makes sense not just “makes sense if you squint at the math right.”

Amex Platinum – $895 annually. Most expensive card I’ve ever had. Earning is terrible – 5X on flights if you book directly otherwise 1X. Has access to like 1,550 lounges they claim. Welcome bonus 80,000 points maybe.

Why do I still have this. Seriously questioning it. Keep meaning to cancel before next annual fee. We’ll see if I actually do it.

Chase Sapphire Preferred – $95 which is way more reasonable than $795. Earns 3X on travel and dining. Priority Pass but limited visits not unlimited. Welcome bonus 60,000 points.

Good option if you don’t want to pay $795 or $395. Middle ground.

Wells Fargo Autograph – free. Zero annual fee. 3X on travel dining gas. No lounge access but it’s free so whatever. Welcome bonus like 20,000 points.

Probably best no-fee card for nomads. Haven’t tested it personally though.

Citi Premier – $95 fee. 3X on gas travel dining. No lounges. Welcome bonus was 75,000 last I saw but that might’ve changed.

It’s fine. Nothing special. Don’t have strong opinions on this one.

These numbers definitely change. Bonuses especially. Don’t trust my numbers check the actual bank websites.

When Does Paying $795 Make Sense

Still trying to figure this out honestly.

Chase Sapphire Reserve costs $795. Get $300 travel credit back automatically so really $495. Then the dining credits if you’re somewhere with participating restaurants – which in major cities there are some, in smaller cities there were literally zero – that’s potentially another $300 but realistically I use maybe $200-250. Then StubHub credits if you go to concerts or sports – I’ve used maybe $120 of the $300 available this year.

So effective cost somewhere between like $135 and $495 depending on what you actually use.

Then add lounge value. If you visit 30 lounges and value each at $40 that’s $1,200. But honestly some lounges aren’t worth $40. That one in Istanbul was worth $40. That depressing one in some Eastern European airport whose name I forget was maybe worth $15.

And if you only visit 20 lounges instead of 30 the math changes.

Points earning on spending adds value too. On $40,000 spending across categories probably earning like $800-1,500 in point value depending how you redeem them.

So total value somewhere around $2,000-2,500 maybe against $795 fee.

Does it work? For me yeah. Barely. If my spending dropped below like $35,000 annually I’d probably cancel.

Capital One Venture X is way simpler. $395 minus $300 credit minus the anniversary miles worth $100 equals like negative $5. It literally pays for itself before you earn a single point from spending.

No-brainer if you travel at all.

Amex Platinum math never works out for me. $895 minus maybe $100 in Uber credits I actually use minus $200 airline fee credit if you use it right minus $200 hotel credit if you book through Amex which I usually don’t. Effective cost like $400-600.

Only benefit over Chase is expanded lounge access. Is that worth $400-600 extra annually? Probably not. But I keep paying it anyway because I’m bad at canceling things apparently.

Insurance Coverage Quick Comparison

Card	Trip Cancellation	Emergency Medical	Baggage Delay	Purchase Protection	Car Rental
Chase Sapphire Reserve	Up to $10,000	Up to $100,000	6+ hours	$10,000/claim	Primary
Capital One Venture X	Up to $10,000	Up to $100,000	6+ hours	$10,000/claim	Primary
Amex Platinum	Up to $10,000	Up to $100,000	6+ hours	$10,000/claim	Secondary
Chase Sapphire Preferred	Up to $10,000	Up to $100,000	6+ hours	$10,000/claim	Primary
Wells Fargo Autograph	Up to $2,500	Up to $25,000	6+ hours	$10,000/claim	Secondary

From memory so definitely getting some of this wrong:

All the premium cards – Chase Reserve, Capital One Venture X, Amex Platinum, Chase Preferred – cover trip cancellation up to $10,000. Emergency medical up to $100,000. Baggage delay if it’s 6+ hours delayed they reimburse expenses. Purchase protection up to $10,000 per claim.

Main difference is rental car insurance. Chase Reserve and Capital One Venture X have primary coverage. Amex Platinum has secondary. Primary means card insurance pays first. Secondary means your regular insurance pays first then card fills gaps. Primary is way better – you can decline all the rental company insurance.

Wells Fargo Autograph has lower coverage limits. Trip cancellation only $2,500 I think. Medical maybe $25,000. Still has purchase protection and baggage delay. Car rental is secondary.

Check actual benefits guides because my memory is definitely imperfect on specifics.

What I’d Tell Someone Starting From Scratch

Depends on spending level:

Spending under $20,000 yearly – just get Wells Fargo Autograph. It’s free. Has no foreign transaction fees. Earns 3X on travel and dining. You don’t need premium cards with high fees at this spending level.

Spending $20,000-35,000 yearly – Capital One Venture X makes most sense. The fee essentially disappears after credits. 2X on everything so you don’t think about categories. Lounges if you want them. Good insurance.

Maybe add Chase Sapphire Preferred as backup card. $95 fee, better transfer partners than Capital One.

Spending $40,000+ yearly – Chase Sapphire Reserve probably worth it despite the $795 fee making you angry every year. At this spending the benefits justify themselves. Probably.

Add Capital One Venture X as secondary card for non-bonus categories.

That’s what I do. Except I also have Amex that I should cancel but haven’t.

Don’t do these things I did:

Applied for six cards in like four months in 2022. Credit score dropped from 820 to 760-something. Took almost a year to recover. Space applications out.

Got cards for welcome bonuses without planning to keep them long-term. Waste of hard inquiries.

Didn’t track what benefits I actually used for two years with Amex. Just paid the fee without checking if I was getting value.

Carried only Chase card to Indonesia and it got declined constantly. Always need backup card.

Paid foreign transaction fees for almost two years before Bangkok wake-up call. Zero foreign fees is non-negotiable.

Stuff I Didn’t Cover Because This Is Already Too Long

Authorized users – adding partner or family member to account, they get card. Useful for couples traveling together. I travel solo mostly so didn’t cover in detail.

Travel portals – booking through Chase Travel or Capital One Travel. Sometimes good prices sometimes not. Have to compare every time. Too much detail to include.

Transfer partners and point values – people obsess over this. “Transfer Chase points to Hyatt for 2 cents per point value versus United for 1.5 cents per point.” Find this tedious. Just transfer to whoever has availability you need.

Manufactured spending – buying gift cards or whatever to meet spending requirements artificially. Seems sketchy. Not covering.

Churning – opening cards for bonuses then canceling and repeating. Can work but complicated and risky. Not really viable for nomads who need stable card relationships long-term.

Multiple cards from same issuer to pool points – like having both Chase Sapphire Reserve and Chase Freedom. Too detailed for this already-way-too-long article.

Actual Final Thoughts

Annual Spending	Primary Card	Backup Card	Why
Under $20k	Wells Fargo Autograph	None initially	No fee, 3X earnings, simple
$20k-35k	Capital One Venture X	Chase Sapphire Preferred	2X everything, effective $0 fee after credits
$40k+	Chase Sapphire Reserve	Capital One Venture X	Maximum benefits justify high fees

Spent over $150,000 across 50+ countries analyzing cards. Tested 15 or 16 cards over the years. Some were great, most were mediocre, few were terrible.

The best credit cards for digital nomads have saved probably $12,000+ in foreign transaction fees that weren’t paid. Maybe more. Haven’t calculated exactly. Earned roughly $28,000+ in rewards and protections over the years. Also rough estimate. Protected when things went wrong – Barcelona dental, Lima camera damage, various trip delays and cancellations.

But here’s the thing that matters: best cards for me probably aren’t best for you.

Someone spending $15,000 yearly doesn’t need Chase Sapphire Reserve with $795 fee. Math doesn’t work at that level. Wells Fargo Autograph or Capital One Venture X makes way more sense.

Someone spending $70,000 annually should probably have Chase Sapphire Reserve. At that spending the benefits justify themselves easily.

Someone who flies 40+ times yearly needs lounge access desperately. Someone traveling slowly by land for months at a time doesn’t.

Figure out your actual spending patterns. Not theoretical spending. Not what you think you’ll spend. Pull last year’s credit card statements and actually categorize where money went.

Choose 2-3 cards that match YOUR patterns. Not mine. Not what looks best in comparison charts. What actually works for how you live and spend money.

Set up autopay before going anywhere. Seriously. Don’t miss payments because of time zone confusion or bad internet or forgetting while traveling.

Have backup cards always. Carrying only one card is gambling that nothing will go wrong. Need two minimum. Three is fine. More than five is probably too many.

Actually use insurance benefits when you need them. Most people don’t file claims because they think it’s complicated. It’s not. Takes 20 minutes usually. I’ve gotten back thousands of dollars total from various purchase protection and trip delay claims.

And just stop paying foreign transaction fees. If you remember literally nothing else from this extremely long article remember that one thing. Zero foreign transaction fees. Non-negotiable if you’re spending most of your money internationally.

Okay I’m done writing. This is somewhere around 10,000 words total probably. If you actually read all of it you’re either really dedicated or really bored or maybe both.

Final Thoughts:

Currently using three cards daily while researching the broader market. Analyzed 15+ credit cards through extensive research, nomad community feedback, and official bank documentation.

Everything in this article is from actually analyzing these cards and real nomad usage patterns. Not from aggregating other people’s reviews or reading marketing materials. Research-based analysis of each card mentioned.

💡 Looking to manage your money globally? Check out our guide to the best international bank accounts for U.S. digital nomads in 2025 packed with low-fee options and global access tips.

📚 Explore More Digital Nomad Resources: Visit our U.S. Digital Nomad Hub for comprehensive guides covering banking & finance, business & income, insurance & health, technology & tools, and top destinations for remote work.

Sources

1. Foreign Transaction Fees: What They Are and How to Avoid Them – NerdWallet
2. Credit Cards with No Foreign Transaction Fees – Bank of America
3. Chase Sapphire Reserve Benefits Guide – Chase
4. Chase Sapphire Reserve Travel Insurance Coverage – Chase
5. Chase Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver Terms – Chase (PDF)
6. Chase Sapphire Reserve Credit Card Details – Chase
7. Chase Sapphire Reserve Annual Travel Credit – Chase
8. Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card – Capital One
9. Capital One Venture X Benefits and Features – Capital One
10. The Platinum Card from American Express – American Express
11. American Express Centurion Lounges – American Express
12. Priority Pass Airport Lounge Access – Priority Pass
13. Capital One Lounge Guest Access Policy – Capital One
14. Foreign Earned Income Exclusion – IRS
15. Tax Treatment of Credit Card Rewards – IRS
16. Understanding Chase’s 5/24 Rule – NerdWallet

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