Advantages And Disadvantages Of Using Credit Cards Overseas

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NOTE: This is a guest post by Brendan Egan who has a consultancy firm and gives advice on all sorts of financial issues including the use of credit card.You can visit their site http://www.lowcards.com to learn more.

Many businessmen and professionals from other fields have to travel between different countries for their work endeavors. For such people, using credits cards on overseas location is regarded as a regular operation. Using credit cards on international locations can be advantageous to a person but at the same time has drawbacks as well. 

Advantages  

Firstly, using credit cards on international locations helps a person easily manage his financial payments through a single operation which the person would already be familiar with. 

Many banks have international coverage over different locations in the world. The VISA authentication of a credit card enables a person to use their credit card services on various international electronic point of sale terminal locations i.e. restaurants, hotels, etc. 

Many people feel uncomfortable carrying large amounts of cash in their pockets while traveling on long distance trips. By using credit cards, an individual is more easily able to protect and access a large amount of cash with a single credit card, depending on the credit card spending limit authorized by the specific bank. 

Disadvantages 

What many people do not realize is that, credit cards can be activated and deactivated by the specific bank which provides and authenticates the use of that credit card. Therefore, the bank which provides the specific credit card holds the right to cancel or deactivate all services of the credit card any time for whatever reason they feel is appropriate. This makes solely depending on credit cards for financial means on overseas location a bit risky. 

In case a person is in some sort of an emergency and the credit card services are terminated by the bank, then this can leave a person in a very complicated financial situation. 

Most importantly, every credit card usage overseas costs extra money. Every bank has special rates for using the credit card services overseas. Every transaction made by a credit card on an international location will definitely be a lot more expensive compared to the same service charged in a location inside the home country of the credit card provider. 

Using a credit card overseas has its own advantages and disadvantages, whose extent could vary from person to person. For instance, executive business professionals would find using credit cards overseas suitable as many of them are able to afford the extra expenses. However, for any normal individual, who is on a family holiday might find the cost of international usage overbearing.