10 best business credit cards with no foreign transaction fees in December 2024
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Most business credit card issuers charge a small foreign transaction fee for each purchase made with any currency other than the US dollar. These transaction fees can quickly add up for companies that regularly do business outside the United States.
If you spend the equivalent of $100,000 in other currencies on some business credit cards, you can pay up to an additional $3,000 in foreign transaction fees. You get nothing in return for paying these fees, so if you frequently travel internationally for business, it’s in your best interest to avoid them.
Luckily, many business credit cards have eliminated these fees as a benefit. This guide will share some of the best international business credit cards with no foreign transaction fees.
Best business credit cards with no foreign transaction fees
Here’s a breakdown of the best business credit cards without foreign transaction fees:
Best overall card with no foreign transaction fees: Ramp Business Credit Card
The Ramp Business Credit Card is ideal for businesses looking to avoid foreign transaction fees while benefiting from a streamlined expense management platform. With cashback on purchases and no preset spending limits, it’s perfect for businesses that value simplicity and flexibility. Additionally, Ramp offers robust tools for managing spending, automating expense reporting, and providing real-time insights into your financial health—all with no fees, including no foreign transaction fees.
Best for flexible travel rewards: Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card
This card is ideal for business owners who want flexibility in how they use their rewards. It offers 3X points on key business categories like travel, shipping, and advertising, plus a generous welcome bonus. You can redeem points for travel at a 25% higher value through Chase Ultimate Rewards or transfer points to various airline and hotel partners.
Best for its bonus categories: American Express® Business Gold Card
The Amex Business Gold shines with its customizable bonus categories, earning 4X points in the top two spending categories each month. This is ideal for businesses with varied expenses, maximizing rewards based on their highest spending areas, and it offers flexibility in redemption options through the Membership Rewards program.
Best for earning cash back: Capital One Spark Cash Plus
This card offers a flat 2% cash back on all purchases, making it the best for businesses seeking simplicity and high cash-back rewards across all spending. There’s no preset spending limit, which is great for businesses with large budgets. Plus, it offers 5% back on hotels and car rentals booked through Capital One Travel.
Best for frequent flyers: CitiBusiness® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® Mastercard®
For businesses that frequently fly with American Airlines, this card offers great value with 2X miles on American Airlines purchases, gas stations, and other select categories. You also get travel perks like free checked bags and preferred boarding, making it an excellent choice for frequent flyers loyal to American Airlines.
Best for travel perks: The Business Platinum Card® from American Express
The Business Platinum Card is perfect for luxury business travelers who want a wealth of travel perks, including lounge access, Global Entry/TSA PreCheck credits, and annual airline fee credits. Despite the high annual fee, the array of perks and rewards, including hotel status and flexible point transfers, makes it worthwhile for frequent travelers.
Best for fair credit: Capital One® Spark® Classic for Business
For business owners with fair credit, this card offers an opportunity to earn 1% cash back while building credit. It’s easier to qualify for, has no annual fee or foreign transaction fees, and is ideal for businesses that may not yet qualify for more premium options but still want to earn rewards.
Each card is tailored to different spending habits and preferences, making it important to match your choice to your business needs.
Here's a look at each of these cards in more detail:
What is the best credit card to use abroad?
You’ll save money if you use an international business credit card that doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees. Some credit card issuers charge a foreign transaction fee of around 3%, so the savings will be significant.
Many airline cards don’t have foreign transaction fees, but you should do your research and check the terms before applying for any business travel credit card. Often, the business credit cards that offer the best travel rewards also come with a high annual fee.
How do I avoid foreign transaction fees?
You can avoid foreign transaction fees with a credit card that doesn’t charge these fees. However, that’s not the only way you can get around this additional expense. Consumers can also buy goods and services with the local currency or use a checking account or debit card with no foreign transaction fees.
As another alternative, you can use a personal travel credit card that doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees, but that complicates the travel expense reimbursement process. If international business travel is a frequent occurrence, it’s worth applying for a business credit card that offers no foreign transaction fees.
What is a foreign transaction fee?
A foreign transaction fee is a charge that your credit card issuer applies when you make a purchase in a foreign currency or through a foreign bank, typically while traveling abroad or shopping with international merchants online. Some credit cards, especially those designed for travel, waive foreign transaction fees altogether.
What’s the average credit card foreign transaction fee?
Foreign transaction fees usually consist of both an issuer fee and a card network fee, usually totaling between 2.7% and 3%, depending on your card. You can find the specific fee details in your cardholder agreement. While this may seem small, these charges can add up quickly, especially if you frequently travel and spend thousands abroad. To save money, it’s important to minimize or avoid foreign transaction fees when possible.
Can any credit card be used internationally?
Yes, most credit cards can be used internationally, but it depends on whether the card is part of a global payment network like Visa, Mastercard, or American Express, which are widely accepted worldwide. However, some cards may not be accepted in certain regions or countries, especially if they are tied to smaller, local payment networks.
Get a Ramp Business Credit Card to avoid foreign transaction fees
The Ramp Business Credit Card doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees and simplifies the process of international travel expense management. You can issue unlimited physical and virtual cards to employees traveling internationally and set spending limits at the employee or card level.
Ramp cards also come with travel management features like real-time trip expense monitoring, custom trip budgets and spending categories on employee cards, and easily accessible travel itineraries. All these features add up to save Ramp customers an average of 5% a year.
FAQs
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- Average net savings of 5% due to cost-reducing features
- Unlimited physical and virtual employee cards
- Access to $350,000 in deals from various partners
- Automated expense management software
- View vendor information and pricing on a single dashboard
- Automate accounts payable
- No fees or interest
- Cashback rewards with flexible redemption options
- Built-in expense management software
- No credit check or personal guarantee required
- Must be a registered business to qualify
- Must have most of your business spend in the US
- 5x points back on flights and prepaid hotels
- 1.5x points back on eligible purchases and 1x points back on all other purchases
- Statement credits for Dell, Indeed, Adobe, wireless telephone service providers, and others
- $200 airline fee credit
- Global Lounge Collection
- Premium Car Rental Privileges
- Advanced travel perks
- Statement credits
- Up to 5x points back
- High annual fee
- You have to travel often to make the most use of this card
- 5x points back only applies for flights and prepaid hotels booked on AmexTravel.com
- 2.5% cashback on all purchases of $5,000 or more
- Unlimited 2% cashback on all other purchases
- Increased spend potential if you pay off your balance at the end of each month
- Redeem cashback for gift cards to over 175 brands
- Travel benefits like unlimited 5% cashback on travel purchased through Ultimate Rewards
- No additional cost to add employee cards
- Track expenses online with auto-generated reports
- High cashback
- Travel perks
- Employee cards and management at no additional cost
- High annual fee
- Other travel cards have more perks
- The late payment fee is either $40 or 2% of the minimum payment due, depending on which is higher
- 3% cashback for purchases on Amazon and its subsidiaries, up to $120,000 per year
- 2% cashback at U.S. restaurants, U.S. gas stations, and wireless telephone services purchased directly from U.S. service providers
- 1% cashback on other purchases
- Track employee cards and distribute them at no additional cost
- Travel benefits
- You can assign an account manager to oversee your account
- No annual fee
- Give out employee cards without any additional cost
- No balance transfer fee
- A $100 Amazon Gift card is a less generous bonus than other business credit cards
- You must do business in the U.S. to maximize your rewards
- 3% cashback on Amazon purchases only applies for the first $120,000
- Unlimited 1% cashback
- Free business-grade benefits that help you manage your expenses and employee spending
- Free employee cards
- Set spending limits on each employee card
- Roadside Assistance and Capital One Travel help you save money
- Fraud and security alerts
- Extended warranty
- Accessible for business owners with fair credit
- Virtual card numbers enhance security
- Set up AutoPay so you know your bills are getting paid each month
- No welcome bonus
- Limited perks compared to other cards
- Low cashback compared to other cards
- Unlimited 1.5x points back for every dollar that you spend
- 0% intro APR for the first nine billing cycles
- Cash flow management tools
- Travel and emergency services
- Balance Connect for overdraft protection
- Earn up to 75% more rewards on every purchase if you have a business checking account with Bank of America and qualify for the Business Platinum Honors tier
- Free access to your business credit score
- No annual fee
- Unlimited 1.5x points back on every purchase
- 0% introductory APR for the first nine months
- 4% balance transfer fee
- The value of points depends on how you redeem them
- Fewer travel perks than other cards
- 3x points back for every $1 on the first $150,000 you spend on the following: shipping purchases, advertising purchases for social media sites and search engines, travel, and internet, cable, and phone services. Limit refreshes every account anniversary year
- Receive 25% more in travel redemption
- 5x points on Lyft rides
- Employee cards at no additional cost
- Extended warranty protection
- Travel Cancellation/Interruption Insurance
- Lower max APR than most credit cards
- Opportunities to earn high points back with unlimited 1x points back for all other purchases
- Monitor employee spending
- Travel perks
- Limits on 3% cashback
- High annual fee
- 5% balance transfer fee
- 4x points in two categories of your choice
- 3x points on flights and prepaid hotels booked on AmexTravel.com
- 1x points on all other eligible purchases
- Choose a Gold or Rose Gold card
- Business credits for purchases at select business merchants
- Pay Over Time option enables cash flow flexibility
- No preset spending limit
- High points back, especially in two categories of your choice
- No spending limit
- Expense management tools
- High annual fee
- The late payment fee is $40 or 2.99% of the due payment, depending on which is higher
- Points system is more complex since you have to monitor your spending across multiple categories
- Unlimited 2% cashback on all purchases
- Pay-in-full charge card
- No preset spending limit
- Business-grade capabilities
- Free employee and virtual cards
- AutoPay enables automatic payments
- Receive year-end summaries of your business spending
- Get your $150 annual fee refunded every year if you spend at least $150,000
- Unlimited 2% cashback
- No preset spending limit
- High annual fee
- You must pay off your balance in full at the end of each month
- Other cards have better travel perks
- Earn 2x miles for every dollar spent on cable and satellite providers, eligible American Airlines purchases, car rentals, select telecom merchants, and gas stations
- Earn 1x miles for every other purchase
- View transaction summaries for the past month, three months, or prior year
- 10% discount on eligible American Airlines vacations
- 24/7 personal business assistant to help with travel, hotel, and dining arrangements
- Receive 1 loyalty point for every dollar you spend
- Upgrade to a higher cabin of service on American Airlines flights
- Preferred boarding
- No mileage cap
- Additional perks as you accumulate loyalty points
- High annual fee
- You must use American Airlines to get the maximum benefits
- The card is primarily for people who travel often