So you booked a trip to Sri Lanka? That’s awesome, you’re going to have a great time! I can say that with confidence, since I’ve spent the past four months here, as well as 5 months last year. But to ensure this will really be the case for you too, you need to make sure that you are properly set up when it comes to paying for your goods and services, as I discovered just the other day (more on that later). Imagine being stuck here without being able to pay to leave, or pay for your food when you are here. If you are solo traveling that could be a real issue. But since you are reading this article, we can ensure that doesn’t happen to you. Let’s have a look at how to get you properly set up, first and foremost for reliability, but also how to save money on fees.

Before we begin, I just want to bring your attention to two things:

One, since I am Swedish my advice comes from that perspective. I write in English since most of what I write will be beneficial to non-Swedes as well, but you might not have the options I suggest available to you, or in a slightly different form, and you will therefore need to be aware of that.

Two, this article contains affiliate links. By using those links, you will help me in a great way to writing more content like this, at no extra cost to you. In some cases, you will even benefit from using my links, since it will give you discounts, or some other advantage.

TLDR

  • The most important part is being able to pay. This is even more important if you are a solo traveller, and no one is around to bail you out. Fees are secondary to your ability to pay.

  • Get the app, debit card and credit card of your domestic, traditional, bricks-and-mortar bank, to have a stable starting solution.

  • Get an additional credit card from another provider. If you already got a Mastercard from your normal bank, get a Visa now, or vice versa. This way you have a backup and something to compare fees and features against, so you can choose the best option for any given transaction.

  • Get the Revolut and Wise apps, and a card for each.

    You can get them here:

This way you add additional backups, and since these apps are widely used by people from different countries you can easily send money to people you meet while traveling. This is not only a nice thing, but can really make a big difference if you should find yourself unable to use your own card(s). Also, these providers usually have better rates than more traditional providers, so you will save money by having them in your kit. Finally, if your credit rating doesn’t allow you to get a domestic credit card (sometimes even a debit card) then you will still be able to get both Wise and Revolut, since they don’t do a credit check (at least in my experience).

That was the TLDR. If you want to know more about which fees and features are important to look out for, how to test your kit after you get it (to confirm which is actually the best real world solution) and to read about some things that has happened to me over my years of traveling, which has made me change my view on what is important when it comes to my payment solutions, then please enjoy the rest of the guide below.

How to always be able to pay

Bring multiple cards

Paying as little as possible in fees, FX rates etc while you are traveling is of course a nice thing (and we’ll get to that), but one thing that is even more important than that is reliability – because what happens when you are not able to pay at all? The reason why I decided to write this guide is that I recently found myself unable to get cash from the ATM, and since cash is still king in Sri Lanka, this becomes a real problem. As a solo traveller, it’s especially troublesome because I don’t have a companion to bail me out.

What happened in my case was that the setup I have been using for five months last year, and four months so far this year, suddenly stopped working. When I went to my local ATM and used my go-to card, it just said “Temporarily unable to perform this transaction”. No biggie, I still had some cash left, so I just returned another day. This happened once more when I returned, and while the message said that it was temporary, I was now running low on cash. I tried the ATM of the same bank (Bank of Ceylon, my preferred bank here) in another town – same issue. I tried an ATM of another bank, and this time the card worked. Good, I now had a backup option, and had the cash I needed for now.

The next time I needed to get some cash, I tried my previous go-to solution and it still didn’t work. I went to my backup solution from last time, in a neighboring town, but this time the ATM was empty, so the backup solution also failed.

Thankfully, I came prepared.

I went home and got all my cards and then went to my local ATM. Card number one didn’t work. Card number two didn’t work. Card number three did work. Great, now I had the cash I needed and I knew that the ATM was not the issue. The third card has a ATM withdrawal fee of 2% (minimum 40 SEK), so I would prefer not to use it, but as I said initially, just being able to pay is the main thing, so I was glad I had that card with me. My advice from this section is therefore clear – bring multiple cards.

When getting these multiple cards, I suggest that you get some credit cards and some debit card, as well as some that are Mastercard and some that are Visa. This is to ensure, that even if the card itself is fine, the underlying system for that particular card might not be working. By having options that are not contingent on the same system, you have a better form of redundancy, i.e. if Visa is having problems you might still be able to use Mastercard, or vice versa.

I just wrote “if the card itself is fine” and that is and important condition, and another good reason to bring multiple cards, because if you bring just one card and that card gets lost, stolen or simply breaks, then it doesn’t matter if the infrastructure beneath it is still up and running. You usually need the physical card in order to get money from an ATM, so you might be able to pay with some kind of tap-and-go solution, like your phone or a wearable, but in order to get hard cash the physical card is still required.

Once you have your multiple cards with you, I suggest bringing just one card with you when you are out and about, and leaving the rest in your room, with at least one card in the safety box if you have one. This way, if the card you have with you gets lost or stolen, then you have at least one backup in your room, and if you should have a break-in while you are out, then you have at least the card you had on you left in your possession. I have never had any problems, knock on wood, and Sri Lanka is a very safe country, but this is my standard practice wherever I go.

Bring multiple apps

In Indonesia, I once lended 200 EURs worth of local money to a guy I didn’t know. We had shared a boat ride to a local surf spot, but before that we had never met. His card wasn’t working, so even though he had money he couldn’t pay for himself. For some reason I felt I could trust him, and since I felt his pain, and knew that I would feel terrible to be in his shoes, I decided to lend him the cash he needed right now, before he could sort out his situation more long term somehow. He had an app so he could transfer money to my Swedish bank account, but since that money would not reach my account before he and I parted ways, I really had no idea if that money would be a loan or turn out to be a “gift”.

If you were to find yourself in a similar situation as he did, the people around you might not be so trusting. Thankfully, there are now ways to make this a non-issue. What I’m talking about is how there are now apps where you can instantly send money to someone else, as long as you both have the same app and you know their username. This username has different names depending on which app you are using, for instance Revtag (from Revolut) or Wisetag (for Wise), but what they all have in common is that no one has to give out any account information or worry about security.

Since these transactions are (at least for Revolut and Wise):

  • Instant.
  • Free.
  • Only require the recipient to give out a nickname.

This means that any stranger could help you to get the cash you need. You could just send them the agreed amount, they could immediately check that they have received the money, and they could with full confidence give you the cash. The trust needed when I helped the fellow surfer in Indonesia is therefore no longer required.

It does however require that you have the same app as they do, and to maximize the chances that you do, then I suggest getting multiple apps. This also helps with finding the right app for the job in other cases where you need to send or receive money, and also allows you to use the cheapest option each time.

Another reason for having multiple apps, is that you then have multiple options for tap-and-go payments. Even though card payments are far from common in Sri Lanka, and you sometimes are charged an extra 3 percent for the convenience, this means that you have an additional way to pay when tap-and-go is offered.

Belt and suspenders

I am what we in Sweden would call a “cautious general”, i.e. I tend to prefer to err on the safe side and reduce risks, at least when the costs of doing so are low. I therefore have more cards than I am ever (hopefully) likely to need, as well as additional apps that are just there as backups. I will get to which ones I actually use, but just for reference my complete setup is this as follows.

Cards

The first three cards in the list are the ones I use. The others I keep as backups.

CardDebit/CreditVisa/MastercardApple Pay
Bank NorwegianCreditVisaYes
Nordea PremiumCreditMastercardYes
RevolutDebitVisaYes
Backup Cards
Revolut ProDebitMastercardYes
WiseDebitVisaYes
Nordea DebitDebitVisaYes
Preem MastercardCreditMastercardNo

Apps

These are the apps I use when it comes to payments. In addition, I have other apps and online banks, but those are for things like investments, mortgage and pensions, so they are not relevant here and have therefore been excluded.

AppSwedish/InternationalAvailable to non-Swedes
Nordea BankSwedishUnlikely (unless you are a Nordic citizen)
NorwegianInternationalPerhaps (of course yes for Norwegians)
RevolutInternationalYes
WiseInternationalYes
Backup App
PayPalInternationalYes

How to pay

I have divided the content here under Purchases, Transfers and ATM withdrawals, since they differ in what fees and features are relevant for each kind of payment. For each section I have also added a heading called “What I do”, so if you want the easy way, without too many details, and you are a Swede, then perhaps start there. If you are a non-Swede just check if the things I say under this heading also applies to you when it comes to availability, fee structure etc, and make the necessary adjustments (the content under Fees and Features will help with that). If you are a detail-oriented Swede, then Fees and Features will also be helpful for you. For all use cases, reliability is always a “feature” to consider, since no matter how good a product or service is, if it cannot be used it has no value. I have discussed this earlier, in detail, so I will omit it in this section, but it is always a consideration.

Purchases

Like I said earlier, cash is still king in Sri Lanka, but more and more places are starting to offer card payments. I like using card payments whenever offered (and there is no extra 3 percent fee), since it shows the vendors that card payments are liked by the customers, and offers them a competitive advantage. Card payments are also better for the environment and I don’t have to go extra to an ATM to get cash, as well as avoid problems with not having change.

Fees

The costs to consider for card purchases are the FX fees (the fee you pay for paying in a foreign currency) and, for some providers, any extra weekend fee as well as any other limits where additional fees apply.

Additional fees can for instance be a so called “fair usage fee”, where any FX transaction you do over a certain amount, an extra fee is added to every transaction you make, until the limit is reset at the end of the month. For instance, any transaction above 10 000SEK per month, incurs an extra 1% fee.

Costs that are not relevant here are the ATM fixed fees and ATM variable fees.

Features

Cashback is a feature on some cards where you actually get some of the money you pay back, by getting a lower bill the following month. My Nordea Premium has this feature, which means that 0.5% of most of my purchases are paid back to me the following month. Since this offsets some of the FX fee, I have taken this into account when comparing this card to other options. So when you compare options, and you find a card A that has the same 0.5% cashback as my card, if that card has a FX fee of say 2%, then what you are actually paying is 2-0.5 = 1.5% and this is what you should use for any comparison. So if you find card B, that has a FX fee of 1.55% this initially looks better than card A, with a 2% fee, but when comparing with the net fee of 1.5%, then card A actually wins.

An alternative to cashback are some kind of points. These points are a kind of loyalty scorecard, and they can be converted to various things later on. How, and under which terms, these points can be used and converted depends on what card they are connected to. I find that these points systems are usually not worth that much since when I try to use the points, the terms are not as nice as they first seemed. When trying these kind of solutions in the past, the points converted to very little in actual monetary value, and in many cases the points could only be used for things that weren’t of interest to me.

I like cashback since it gives you actual money back. This is a very straight forward version of points, since there is no conversion to be made, so there are no tricky terms to navigate, and you can buy whatever you want with the money you’ve saved.

Insurance is something that can be very useful when buying something expensive. For low cost purchases it is usually not worth the hassle of trying to get the insurance claim approved, but when you buy your flight to Sri Lanka, and when booking your accommodation, this feature actually makes sense. So when making these kind of purchases, I would say that the insurance part is the most important part. If you pay a little bit extra in FX fee, that’s fine since you get a lot of protection if something happens with your flight, accommodation etc. You likely have a good home insurance or travel insurance, but even though I have those too I have in quite a few cases had really good use of my credit card insurance, so keep this in mind when buying the more expensive and important things for your trip.

Tap-and-go is a hand thing that allows you to pay with your card by just putting it close to a payment terminal. This is a neat feature, but the main plus of this is that it is also possible to use a smartphone or a wearable to pay with instead. As mentioned before, this can be important if your card gets lost, stolen or broken, but also for daily life it is really nifty since it allows you to pay with your smartphone by using something like Apple Pay or Google Pay.

Not all cards have this feature, and that is for instance the main reason why I stopped using my Preem Mastercard. If the fees and features between two cards are similar, and only one has the tap-and-go feature so I can pay with my phone, I will go for that card.

What I do

For purchases, this is my current hit-list:

1. Nordea Premium
  • It has cashback, which offsets some of the FX cost and therefore makes it a cheaper option than cards with lower FX rates, but no cashback.
  • It has Tap-and-go, and it works with Apple Pay and I can therefore pay with my phone, making it a convenient option.
  • It has a very good insurance side to it, which has helped me well in the past.
  • It is a very reliable option, and has never failed me yet.
  • Since it is a credit card, I get all purchases on a monthly bill, so in case there is some dodgy transaction there, then I don’t have to be out of pocket while the credit card company confirms that the transaction was actually made by a criminal.
2. Norwegian
  • Backup card.
  • Has Cashback.
  • Ok FX.
  • Has Tap-and-go and works with Apple Pay.
  • Has insurance, but I have yet to try it.
  • Usually stable.
  • Credit card, so good against fraudulent transactions.
3. Revolut Standard
  • Second backup card.
  • Better FX than both Norwegian and Nordea Premium, but no cashback, so for the net cost the other two options are actually cheaper in the end.
  • Revolut also has a weekend add-on of 1% extra, so on weekends it becomes more expensive to use.
  • Has a fair-usage-limit of 10 000 SEK, after which it becomes more expensive to use.

By looking at the bullet points for the three cards, you can see the effects of the considerations I’ve talked about before. Revolut seems like the best option from the start, since it has the best FX. I have tested this with actual transactions and looked at what amount of SEK is deducted from my account, or added to the credit card bill, and confirmed that Revolut is the cheapest option. This changes however, if any of the conditions for add-on fees are met. This means that when I use it if have to think about whether or not it’s a weekend, and whether or not I am over the 10 000 SEK limit for the month. Since the difference in cost is only marginal (for the real world tests I’ve done) I choose to simply not use the Revolut card for purchases, unless my primary card, and first backup card fails.

Transfers

Transfers are simply when you send money to someone, usually by using an app or a website. This could be for a purchase, but could also be for something like repaying someone that took the bill at dinner since split bills wasn’t allowed (or if someone needs to bail you out, as previously mentioned in detail). I don’t use this much in Sri Lanka, but I use it to pay my hotel bill each month and I’ve used it for paying a Visa Agent. This has saved me money and hassle, so it is good to have this in place before you go.

Fees

The fees to consider, and to not consider, are the same as for purchases:

The costs to consider for card purchases are the FX fees (the fee you pay for paying in a foreign currency) and, for some providers, any extra weekend fee as well as any other limits where additional fees apply.

Additional fees can for instance be a so called “fair usage fee”, where any FX transaction you do over a certain amount, an extra fee is added to every transaction you make, until the limit is reset at the end of the month. For instance, any transaction above 10 000SEK per month, incurs an extra 1% fee.

Costs that are not relevant here are the ATM fixed fees and ATM variable fees.

Features

Cashback is not relevant here, since it only applies to purchases. Therefore this is not something that can offset any other fees.

Insurance is usually also not applicable here. There are cases where the provider says that transfers made can provide the same protection as paying with a card, but unless the provider explicitly offers it and you see that you fit the terms, consider insurance off the table.

Compatibility is a thing to consider, since if you want to send money to someone, as least fast, cheap and easy, then they usually need to have an account with the same provider.

Capability is also something to consider, since not all providers offer the same services. For instance, I have found that some providers simply don’t offer the possibility of sending LKR (the Sri Lankan currency), so then you would have to have a backup option.

What I do

My main apps for transfers are Wise and Revolut. I also have PayPal, as a backup.

Wise I use to send LKR, so this is what I used for paying my Visa Agent. When checking Revolut I found that it wasn’t really an option, so therefore Wise is my app of choice for LKR.

Revolut I use for USD. My hotel bill can be paid in USD, since my hotel has both a LKR account and USD account. When comparing paying in LKR or USD if found that it was cheaper to pay in USD, so that is what I do. Since both Wise and Revolut offers this option, I do a quick check each time I pay the monthly bill, to see which app seems to offer the best price before the transaction, When confirming the actual post-transaction amounts in SEK, i.e. what I actually paid in my own currency, I have found the pre-transaction estimates to be accurate enough to make the choice. Since I’ve done this a few times now, and sometimes even chosen the lesser pre-transaction option, just to see what the real world results would be, I have found that Revolut is the better choice. It is both cheaper and easier, and is therefore now my default for USD. I always do a check in the Wise app, to see if they somehow seem to offer a better rate this time, but other than that I just stick with Revolut for USD.

Since my hotel bill brings me close to the 10 000 SEK fair-usage limit for Revolut each month, and since Revolut is the best option for paying my hotel bill, I now use Revolut solely for this purpose. This is one reason why I stopped using Revolut for ATM withdrawals and card purchases. For those things, Revolut is now only a fallback even though it potentially has a slightly lower costs.

Weekends are a thing to consider here, since Revolut has the weekend add-on. However, Wise takes at least 2 days to make the transaction, so this becomes irrelevant when comparing the two. If it is a weekend and I can wait, then I just wait until it’s a weekday and the Revolut add-on is removed. The Revolut transaction has proven to be delivered to my hotels Sri Lankan USD account the same day every time, so it doesn’t go any faster if I use Wise two days before, so Wise is actually not a better option, even during weekends. And if the transaction needs to happen fast, then Revolut is my only option and I just have to pay the extra weekend fee, which then really becomes an express fee.

PayPal is usually an expensive option, so I only use it when it when needed. For instance, I once paid a doctor in Vietnam using PayPal, since it was the only thing he used.

ATMs and Cash withdrawals

Choosing the right ATM

Before going into which card to use for getting cash, I first just want to add that the ATM itself sometimes comes with a fee. The fees I’ve seen have always been 800LKR. That’s not a huge amount but it’s unnecessary, since there are free options. I imagine that this fee is for international cards, and for the cards I have checked the fee stays the same, so unless you have a Sri Lankan card you need to keep this fee in mind.

This is the main reason I go to BOC to get my cash, since they don’t have this fee. It is also available in my town, making it a convenient option.

The ATMs I’ve seen with this 800LKR fee are HNB and DFCC. I haven’t checked all the ATM brands around, since I have my go-to ATM locally and it doesn’t come with a fee, so I just keep using that one, but if you can’t use BOC and you have to look for another ATM I would suggest you start with something other than HNB and DFCC. Happy hunting!

Fees

Like for purchases and transfers, fees to consider are FX fees, weekend add-ons and limits where additional fees apply (such as FX limits per month).

Here some additional fees and considerations are worth to take into account. What I’m talking about are any ATM fixed fees, ATM variable fees and cash withdrawals limits.

ATM fixed fees are per transaction fixed fees for a withdrawal, i.e. 40 SEK per time.

ATM variable fees are fees that vary depending on the amount of cash you get, i.e. 2% on the amount.

Cash withdrawal limits are threshold values where the pricing structure changes, so for instance if you get more than 2000SEK worth of local currency per month you pay extra for everything about that 2000 SEK limit.

Features

Features aren’t really a thing here. Cashback and Insurance don’t apply. Tap-and-go could be a feature, i.e. I have seen some ATMs where you don’t need the card but instead tap some kind of reader on the ATM. I haven’t been able to use it though, so it is likely for local cards only.

The only “feature” to account for here, as discussed in detail earlier, is the reliability part.

What I do

Norwegian is my default card. Since cashback and insurance aren’t a consideration here, the only things that remain are costs, reliability and ease of use.

Norwegian has no fixed costs, no limits to keep track of and has worked almost always. It is therefore my go-to card for ATM visits.

Another benefit of this is that I therefore keep my Norwegian card with me (inside the phone cover for my iPhone) so if I suddenly need to get cash, or need a physical card for something else (for instance, tap-and-go doesn’t always work) I have one, and since I normally use the Nordea Premium my backup solution is from another provider. Since Norwegian is a Visa card and Nordea Premium is a Mastercard it makes the setup even more robust, and it has worked very well for me for a long time.

Revolut is my first backup.

In my real world tests, I have found that Revolut is the cheaper option, but only until any add-on conditions kick in. The analysis for ATM withdrawals, and what I actually do because of the results of the analysis, is similar to purchases, due to the Revolut add-ons.

As for purchases, when using the Revolut card at the ATM I have to think about wether or not it’s a weekend, and wether or not I am over the 10 000 SEK limit for the month. For ATM withdrawals Revolut also have a 2000SEK/m withdrawal limit, after which I would pay an extra 2%, and since Sri Lanka is such a cash heavy place this limit is easily reached. Since the difference in cost is only marginal (for the real world tests I’ve done) even when no extra add-ons apply, I choose to simply not use the Revolut card for ATM withdrawals, unless my primary card fails. If I then have space left until I reach any add-on limit, I can use the Revolut card as a backup.

Nordea Premium is my second backup.

It has never failed me, which gives it a given place in my setup. As previously discussed, reliability is key.

It also is very convenient to use, so if it wasn’t for the fees it would be my primary card.

When it comes to fees, it has a 2% fee on cash withdrawals (which is an ATM variable fee) but this fee also has a minimum cost of 40 SEK, which actually makes this a fixed fee for me, given the amounts I usually get per ATM visit. I could get more cash each time, but that would mean having cash lying around my hotel room which is not ideal. Also, since Norwegian doesn’t have this fee, that card is better than Nordea Premium anyways, so this card only becomes an option if Norwegian is somehow out of commission.

Real world testing

If you really want to get into the details of this with your own setup, like I did, then this section is for you.

After making a thorough analysis of the cards available to me, using theoretical numbers on each providers terms and conditions, I got the kit that made the most sense to me regarding fees, features and reliability at the time.

Since terms and conditions change over time, I sometimes go over my current “stack” and do real world tests. The theoretical version is tedious and a bit tricky, since it can sometimes be hard to make a good comparison, but after you have the kit it gets easier.

One reason why the theoretical comparison is tricky is that different providers have different starting points for their calculations, so even when just comparing basic FX rates, you cannot beforehand know what their starting point is. Some providers have their reference rate pretty close to the so-called mid-market rate, whereas others are further from it. So if two providers state the identical 1.55% FX fee, if one adds that number to say 1% and the other on 1.1%, then Provider B will be the lesser option, even though they seem identical at first. Hence the reason for real world tests.

For the real world tests, I simply compare the amount deduced from my account (for debit cards) or added to the bill (for credit cards) for identical transactions at the same time. This is possible to do for ATM withdrawals, since you just do multiple withdrawals on the same visit and then compare the post-transaction numbers (in SEK in my case). This is the easy and most reliable way to find out what is best with your current setup. You don’t have to calculate anything and see how all the different fees and limits are likely to work together, since the only thing you really care about is “How much in my own currency is do I actually pay for X amount of local currency?”.

If you will only be a short while in Sri Lanka this might not be worth the effort, but for anyone staying for longer this is the best way to confirm what is actually best with your current setup.

If you are indeed staying a while, I suggest trying your cards with a small amount at your first ATM visit, see the actual values, and then just use the card that came out on top. That said, you will still need to take into account any weekend add-ons as well as any limits on amounts or frequency. This makes the exercise trickier, but you now have the best baseline numbers you can get and then add the additional complexity in your calculations using these real world baselines. Not a perfect foundation for an easy and accurate analysis, but as good as it gets I would say.

How to get kitted out

Great, you now know a fair bit about what to consider for when it comes to getting set up for your trip. Let’s have a look some final considerations and how to get kitted out in the right order (since the order sometimes matters).

Features vs Fees

We’ve already covered per transaction fees, like FX fees, and the features that come with each transaction, like insurance for a flight ticket bought with the right credit card. But there are some additional things to consider. Let’s take my Nordea Premium as an example.

The Nordea Premium has an annual fixed fee of 1200SEK. This fee is reduced if you belong to a higher customer segment than just a standard customer, just like Revolut offers better terms for higher customer segments than Standard. But just as I try to stay frugal, and don’t spend enough to benefit from getting a Revolut Plus plan or above, let’s assume that going beyond a standard Nordea customer is not for you, just to keep things simple.

Since I travel quite a bit I have found that the four airport lounge visits that are included in the annual fee for the Nordea Premium actually offsets the annual fee of the card. What I mean here is that a lounge visit of this kind costs about 300SEK per visit, and since I get four of them per year, the total value is 4*300=1 200 SEK, which also happens to be the annual fee for the card. This way the card becomes “free”.

These lounge visits are of course not a necessity, but more of a way to bring more ease into my life, and you might argue that this is consumption that would not have happened if I didn’t have the card. You would indeed have a point in this, and in general I suggest looking for payment solutions that don’t come with any fixed fees, since it usually takes a higher yearly spending than what I have to offset any annual fees, and any additional loyalty points etc that might come with a card aren’t enough to make up the slack. So you are right if you say that any annual fee is usually very hard to make up for, unless you are a heavy spender, and therefore best to be avoided.

You might not fly as much as I do, but perhaps really appreciate some other feature that a certain card has, so do have a check about that as well when you look into which cards to get.

Regardless of what features that might be right for you, one “feature” that is important for everyone is reliability, as I’ve said a few times before. Case in point is my Nordea Premium. This card has never failed me, and this alone makes it worth paying 1200SEK per year for, so do keep reliability as a strong deciding factor when you get your kit, which we will cover next.

Getting the kit the right way

1. Start with a traditional bank

As I have mentioned several times by now, reliability is key – and this is where the traditional, stable, bricks-and-mortar banks shine.

The reason I suggest you start with a traditional bank is not only due to reliability, but also that you already have at least one bank so it’s an easy option.

Traditional banks are usually also so-called full service banks, so for instance, in case you need to contact them, they have a call center, and you don’t have to rely on just a chat if things gets dicey during your trip. Small things like that actually do matter.

The main thing though, apart from reliability, is the credit checks that usually comes with traditional banks. At least in Sweden, even getting a debit card means that the bank does a credit check, so not having anything else to negatively affect your credit score, like a credit card from some other provider, is really helpful. By starting with the traditional bank you therefore have the best possible chance to pass the credit checks.

If you like your current bank, just stick with that, but make sure you have what you need from them by going through this check-list:

Get the app. When traveling, the app is the most common way you access your bank, so make sure you have it before you go.

Get a credit card (if you pass the credit check). Credit cards are good when traveling for a number of reasons, but the main thing is that they are the most likely to work on airplanes, trains, or just remote locations, since they usually don’t need a live connection. A debit card needs to do a live check against your account, to see if there is enough money there, but a credit card is on credit anyway so it doesn’t require this is the same way.

Get a debit card (if you pass the credit check). Even if you are able to get the credit card, I suggest you also get the debit card, since it is usually cheaper to use at the ATM than the credit card and it’s also good as a backup.

In case your credit score prevents you from getting the credit card, then the debit card will be your only option, but at least you then have a way to directly access your money. The credit check for a debit card is usually easier to pass, since in most cases it doesn’t look at your income, in the way it matters for a credit card, so as long as you have always paid your bills on time etc, the debit card should be within your reach.

This is why the debit card is usually the only option if you are a student, since you are likely somewhat limited for income, but do try to see if a credit card is also possible for you.

One thing to remember here, is that the credit limit you apply for matters, so even if you can only get a very low limit on the card, by all means ask if you could get a card with a lower limit, if the first application is denied. Having a card with a low limit is still a lot better than having no card at all.

2. Get a second credit card

If you got a credit card from your traditional bank, then I still suggest that you try to get another one, but from a different provider. This way you increase the reliability of your setup and can also start to compare fees and features of other credit cards, to calibrate your toolkit.

Another reason for getting multiple cards, is the total amount of credit line at your disposal. I’ve been in the situation where I’ve paid for expensive items, like accommodation and flights, for both me and some friends, and then your credit line quickly gets eaten up. Another time, I had to pay for an ambulance boat, since I was in a tropical island clinic but needed to get to a mainland hospital, and the insurance had yet to come through, and in order to shell out that amount I needed access to a good credit line. Hopefully this never happens to you, but in my case I was very happy to be able to pay for the boat.

If your normal bank said no to the credit card, I suggest you try another provider, since the credit checks differ. Once again, keep in mind that a lower credit limit might be your ticket to getting a card at all, so this might be the key to getting the yes you want for your application.

3. Get international

Apart from having the things you want from your domestic provider(s) I suggest also getting some international banks, of the more fintech kind.

These providers are good for:

  • Sending money to others, since regardless of their home countries they are likely to have at least one of these international providers.
  • Comparing fees, features and transaction times, so you can pay in the cheapest, fastest and most convenient way.
  • Offering additional backups.

I suggest you get Revolut and Wise accounts and a card for each. If you get them here you get some additional perks, so if that sounds good to you here are the links:

In my experience, getting these banks and corresponding cards don’t require a credit check, so if you were struggling with this for your domestic setup, then these cards should save the day for you.

If you already got both a debit and two credit cards from a domestic provider, I still suggest you get both Wise and Revolut, for reasons previously discussed.

Getting the accounts, apps and cards was easy and took about a week. Since I went for the free options, the only cost was the shipping fee for the physical cards.

Get PayPal. As mentioned before, this app I use only as a backup, but since it is free until you use it I suggest you add it to your stack just in case.

Bon Voyage

I’m sure you are now keen to get your payment kit in order for your trip so I’ll wrap things up here. If you want a summary there is a TLDR at the very top of the guide. Enjoy your time in SL!