USD credit card for Swiss tourist in USA

Life Hacking
1

I’m going to travel the USA and I’m looking for an financially attractive credit card. I’d like to avoid the bad exchange rates that Swiss credit cards typically offer. I want to use Interactive Brokers to exchange CHF to USD with very little cost.

Are there free USD credit cards that I could sign up for? I’m fine with prepaid. Cash back would be nice.

Any recommendations?

2

Wise?

Process:

  • Make an estimate of what you will spend.
  • Convert on IBKR and withdraw for free (once a month) to Wise.
  • Use the physical Visa Debitcard from Wise to spend your money for no fees (but also no cashback).
  • If money runs out before the month is over:
    • Automatically spend more from other balances on Wise for competitive fees. Top up from own CHF bank account.
    • Withdraw more from IBKR for a fee (1 USD for IBKR with ACH)
  • If there is money left over:
    • A lot of money can be sent back to IBKR for a fee (~5 USD for Wise with ACH)
    • Few money can be converted for very competitive fees and spent with your card or withdrawn for a fee (~1 CHF)

Minimal cost:

  • IBKR conversion rates
  • 8CHF for physical card (free replacements at expiry)

Advantages:

  • Wise and IBKR are fully integrated (e.g., special withdrawal action in IBKR)
  • Works for many currencies
  • Even without IBKR: Conversion fees much better than banks.

Disadvantages:

  • Needs calculating for expected spending (or pay fees)
  • No cashback

Comment:

  • There are probably more profitable options for more hassle

Links:

  • Wise marketing material for their partnership with IBKR:
5 Likes
3

Thank you very much for the comprehensive reply! Wise looks good. Just opened an account…

Do you know this: do I need a special “USD denominated” credit card? Or can I just get the normal one? If I get the normal one, will I be charged in USD and the money will be taken from my USD account?

4

Hey,

I still have a gbp debit card with Wise. Every time they will offer to pay in GBP, I’ll chose to pay in the local currency (USD for USA). It will use the USD cash already purchase in advance and do not convert GBP to USD for every transaction.

1 Like
5

One drawback of converting cash in IBKR is that the cash needs to “settle” for 3 days before you can withdraw it. At least in my experience (never used wise though).

6

That’s not an issue for me as I have a margin account.

7

Then you’d be actually taking a loan for those three days and pay some interests, right?

8

Yes, exactly. The interest would be tiny for only three days, though.

1 Like
9

Yuh have a card (debit) that can hold USD, you can convert in IBKB and then send it to Yuh

1 Like