I’m looking for the following features, but not sure they all exist in one card:
- No foreign transaction fees
- Annual fee offset by travel credit or free flights (or no annual fee)
- Travel insurance AND rental car insurance (both within Australia and overseas)
- A reasonable point return per dollar
- International lounge passes would be a nice extra, as would bonus points
I’ve been looking at the AmEx Explorer card because I like the 100,000 bonus points, two international lounge passes, and the fact that the fairly high annual fee is offset by travel credit. However, I don’t like the 3% foreign transaction fee. ANZ Rewards Travel Adventures looked good too, with no foreign transaction fee, free roundtrip flight on Virgin, and two lounge passes – but the passes can only be used domestically, which is less appealing than the AmEx offer. Neither offers rental car insurance. I have found some cards with rental car insurance, including the BankWest Zero cards, which have no annual fees, but they only insure rental cars overseas. HSBC Platinum offers 2 lounge passes and rental car insurance both domestically and overseas, but you need to spend $6,000 to avoid annual fees, which isn’t great on that card because there are no travel benefits for spending $.
SO, do I need two cards, or is there one card that would include everything I’m looking for? I’d also appreciate feedback on any of the cards I mentioned, or suggestions for similar alternatives, even if they don’t tick all the boxes. Thanks!