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The right card to take overseas

With the dollar worth only about 0.69 euro—a three-year low—it’s “ever more important for people to be careful about how they spend money abroad,” said Odysseas Papadimitriou in CNBC.com. Credit cards are generally a better deal than traveler’s checks and cash, but not all cards are created equal. The ideal card won’t charge a foreign-transaction fee, which can go as high as 3 percent, and will offer rock-bottom exchange rates. All of Capital One’s cards meet those benchmarks, while only a handful of Chase, Citi, and American Express cards are fee-free. Travelers abroad should never sign a bill expressed in dollars—sometimes offered “to simplify things for American customers”—since the merchant is really out to profit from a jacked-up exchange rate. And bring your passport when shopping with a credit card abroad; many merchants won’t do business without one.

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