By Ariana Arghandewal, Bankrate.com

Credit cards are widely accepted in most parts of the world, which is great for those who want to maximize rewards on their trips abroad. Not only do many cards offer generous rewards on travel spending, but they also provide convenience and an added layer of protection in case your trip doesn’t go as planned.

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Using a credit card is better than using cash in most cases. However, you may still encounter issues when attempting to use your credit card abroad, so make sure to plan accordingly.

Can I use my credit card abroad?

In most cases, yes! The country you’re visiting may have different banks, but many of the payment networks common in the U.S. are widely accepted around the globe. Some credit cards, most commonly travel credit cards, even have no foreign transaction fees and earn rewards on specific purchases worldwide, such as restaurants. This helps you save money and earn more in rewards when you travel.

However, it’s important to know that while your card can be used abroad, it doesn’t mean it will always work. If your card is worn down or tends to be a little faulty at home, it can be just as finicky outside the country. Or if your credit card issuer is unaware that you’re traveling, they may assume your identity is stolen and decline your purchases. Some payment networks are also less common abroad. Luckily, there are workarounds to a few of the most common issues you may come across.

Bankrate tip

See Bankrate’s Travel Toolkit for tips and insights to boost your savings and maximize your travel.

How to make sure your credit card works abroad

A handful of factors may prevent your credit card from working overseas. Most of them have simple solutions and require just a bit of advance planning.

—Use a widely accepted issuer. Visa and Mastercard are the most widely accepted credit card payment networks worldwide. While American Express and Discover can come in handy in many situations, you may want to bring a backup Visa or Mastercard while traveling abroad, just in case.

—Use chip and PIN cards or a digital wallet. In many countries around the world, chip and personal identification number (PIN) cards are the norm. These cards use a microchip and PIN to validate transactions, instead of a cardholder’s signature. Rather than swiping the magnetic stripe through the card reader, consumers insert the card into the machine and enter the PIN associated with the chip. If you have a card with a chip in your wallet, set a PIN so you don’t run into trouble using it abroad.

Digital wallets are also becoming the norm for storing credit cards, debit cards, and even boarding passes for your flight. They often lead to faster, more secured payments with a lower risk of being lost or stolen. So, it may be beneficial to set one up and add your card. This way, you can keep the physical card tucked away as a backup.

—Notify your bank of your travel plans. If you’ve booked any part of your trip on your credit card, notifying your bank isn’t usually required. If you did not use your credit card for any bookings, then providing advance notice of your travel plans reduces the odds of your bank declining your transactions abroad. Knowing that you’ll be in Paris for a week, your bank is less likely to reject your purchases at patisseries. They’ll know your credit card isn’t compromised — you’re just being a tourist.

Is it worthwhile to use a credit card abroad?

Yes, using your credit card abroad provides security and convenience that cash does not. You’ll potentially earn rewards on every purchase, which you can save and redeem toward future travel experiences. The items you buy may also be covered by purchase protection, giving you extra peace of mind. More importantly, you won’t have to carry large amounts of cash and worry about the security risk it poses.

While you should bring some cash for smaller purchases or in a city where it’s the main form of payment accepted, a credit card provides stronger protection and other added benefits.

Are there fees for using a credit card abroad?

You’ll encounter two types of fees when using a credit card abroad — foreign transaction fees and merchant fees. Foreign transaction fees are around 3% and can be avoided since many travel rewards cards waive them.

Merchant fees can include surcharges or convenience fees for using your card. These fees help to offset the merchant’s processing costs and can vary from 3% to 8%. These fees help offset the costs of the added protection you receive from a credit card.

Unfortunately, there isn’t much consumers can do about these fees. You can either pay the fee, use cash or shop somewhere else to get around them. Still, there is a small way to save some money when using your card.

If a merchant asks whether you want to pay in U.S. dollars or the local currency, always opt for the local currency. Your credit card issuer is likely to give you a much better conversion rate than the local business owner will.

Also, always opt out of dynamic currency conversion, which allows cardholders to handle transactions in their home currency when shopping or taking money from an ATM. While you may be able to know the actual price of your purchase, the additional fee often makes the purchase higher than it would be otherwise.

The bottom line

What you pack in your wallet matters as much as what you put in your carry-on when you travel abroad. You’ll want to bring one or more credit cards with a widely accepted payment network. Even better, bring one that offers purchase and travel protection, generous rewards and travel perks. You may encounter a few issues when using a credit card to pay for purchases, but there are workarounds. By following safe use practices, you won’t have to carry large sums of cash or worry about your transactions getting declined.

©2025 Bankrate.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

En Nashville, Tennessee, una serie de controles policiales de la la Patrulla de Carreteras de Tennessee (Tennessee Highway Patrol) a principios de mayo se convirtió en el arresto de casi 200 inmigrantes por parte de Servicio de Control de Inmigración y Aduanas (ICE por sus siglas en inglés).

(Foto de ICE)

En grandes ciudades de todo el país, las autoridades de inmigración están intensificando los arrestos y detenciones, como parte de la renovada presión de la administración de Donald Trump para llevar a cabo deportaciones masivas.

En Nashville, Tennessee, una serie de controles policiales de la la Patrulla de Carreteras de Tennessee (Tennessee Highway Patrol) a principios de mayo se convirtió en el arresto de casi 200 inmigrantes por parte de Servicio de Control de Inmigración y Aduanas (ICE por sus siglas en inglés).

Según el Departamento de Seguridad Nacional cerca de la mitad de los detenidos tenían antecedentes penales.

Como parte del impulso de la administración Trump para llevar a cabo deportaciones masivas, ICE ha ampliado el programa 287(g), bajo el cual los agentes de policía pueden interrogar a inmigrantes bajo su custodia y detenerlos para una posible deportación.

A diciembre del año pasado, ICE tenía 135 acuerdos con policías locales en 21 estados, y al 19 de mayo, había firmado 588 acuerdos con organismos locales y estatales de 40 estados, mientras que otros 83 organismos estaban pendientes de aprobación, según la AP.

El 15 de mayo, una semana después de las operaciones en los barrios del sur de Nashville, donde viven muchos latinos e inmigrantes, la Patrulla de Carreteras de Tennessee anunció la firma de un acuerdo 287(g) con ICE.

Los operativos y los arrestos han puesto al descubierto las profundas divisiones entre los funcionarios locales y las autoridades federales. Las autoridades locales dicen que se les tomó por sorpresa. Las comunidades de inmigrantes afirman que han sido blanco de esta campaña.

Dias de despues de las operaciones, la Tennessee Immigrant Rights and Refugee Coalition (TIRRC), una coalición de derechos de los inmigrantes y refugiados, ha identificado a más de 90 de los detenidos mediante contactos con familiares y la búsqueda en los registros públicos.

Así que para hablar de lo sucedido en mayo en Nashville, invitamos a Lisa Sherman Luna, Directora Ejecutiva de la Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition. 

Más detalles en nuestra conversación a continuación.

Ciudad Sin Límites, el proyecto en español de City Limits, y El Diario de Nueva York se han unido para crear el pódcast “El Diario Sin Límites” para hablar sobre latinos y política. Para no perderse ningún episodio de nuestro pódcast “El Diario Sin Límites” síguenos en Spotify, Soundcloud, Apple Pódcast y Stitcher. Todos los episodios están allí. ¡Suscríbete!

The post PODCAST: ¿Qué pasó en Nashville, donde detuvieron a casi 200 inmigrantes en controles policiales? appeared first on City Limits.

The woman referred to as the “heart and the backbone of the Mendota Dakota community” has announced her retirement.

After 32 years of volunteer work with the Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Tribal Community, Sharon Lennartson has announced her retirement as tribal chair. Her spirit name, Wakiya Waste Win, translates in English to Good Thunder Woman, reflecting the positive power one brings in their daily life.

When Lennartson, 78, first became involved with the organization, there were only a handful of members, few community events organized and little in the organizational coffers.

Members of the community said she built a robust organization, created a community food shelf, began hosting language classes and started cultural events like a regular inipi — a sweat lodge, prayer and feast ceremony at the historic Hypolite Dupuis House in Mendota — as well as an annual wacipi, or pow wow.

“She is the backbone and the heart of the community,” said Rita Chamberlain, a volunteer and honorary member with the Mendota Dakota tribe. “Everybody respects her and her wisdom. Without that, I don’t know what would happen to the tribe. She’s like the glue.”

Honorary member Samantha Walker, who said she also holds lineal roots to the Mendota Dakota people, is currently completing a master of legal studies program in indigenous peoples law at the University of Oklahoma.

The reason she enrolled? Sharon’s encouragement, she said.

Walker was helping catalog items at the office when Sharon planted the seed in Walker’s mind.

“She said, ‘It seems like you really have a knack for this. You should do something about it.’ I felt called, that I needed to do more, beyond just giving my mind,” Walker said. “She places such a fire in the belly of everyone she touches, to uplift and to make change in the community around them.”

Mary Kay Kennedy, also an honorary member of the tribe, agreed with Walker’s reflections. Kennedy has been volunteering with the Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Tribal Community for more than a year.

“She is a ball of energy that once one thing ends, she goes to the next thing on her list,” Kennedy said. “I think the native name Good Thunder Woman really captures the spirit of who she is.”

For her part, Lennartson said she felt fulfilled to look back on what she has been able to build within the Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota tribe, that her passion for preserving Dakota culture, protecting the future of the tribe, and building lasting relationships within the community has been the foundation of her efforts.

“I love my community and my people,” Lennartson said.

The tribe has not yet announced Lennartson’s replacement.

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Sharon Lennartson’s retirement party

What: Members of the community will celebrate Sharon Lennartson and her decades of service to the Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Tribal Community. Her book, “Stolen Culture, Traditions, and Heritage,” will be for sale.

When: Wednesday, May 28. Set up will start at 3 p.m. Potluck from 4-6:30 p.m.

Where: St. Peter’s Church, 1405 Sibley Memorial Highway in Mendota Heights

RSVP: Rita Chamberlain at ritacham56@gmail.com

Today is Monday, May 26, the 146th day of 2025. There are 219 days left in the year. This is Memorial Day.

Today in history:

On May 26, 1940, Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of more than 338,000 Allied troops from Dunkirk, France, began during World War II.

Also on this date:

In 1864, President Abraham Lincoln signed a measure creating the Montana Territory.

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In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge signed the Immigration Act of 1924, which barred immigration from Asia and restricted the total number of immigrants from other parts of the world to 165,000 annually.

In 1927, the Ford Model T officially ended production as Henry Ford and his son Edsel drove the 15 millionth Model T off the Ford assembly line in Highland Park, Michigan.

In 1938, the House Un-American Activities Committee was established by Congress.

In 1954, an explosion occurred aboard the aircraft carrier USS Bennington off Rhode Island, killing 103 sailors.

In 1967, the Beatles album “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” was released.

In 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev signed the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty in Moscow following the SALT I negotiations between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. (The U.S. withdrew from the treaty under President George W. Bush in 2002.)

In 1981, 14 people were killed when a Marine jet crashed onto the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz off Florida.

In 2009, California’s Supreme Court upheld the state’s Proposition 8 same-sex marriage ban but said the 18,000 same-sex weddings that had taken place before the prohibition passed were still valid. (Same-sex marriage became legal nationwide in June 2015.)

2009, President Barack Obama nominated federal appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 2011, Ratko Mladić, the brutal Bosnian Serb general suspected of leading the massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica, was arrested after a 16-year manhunt. (Extradited to face trial in The Hague, Netherlands, Mladić was convicted in 2017 on genocide and war crimes charges and is serving a life sentence.)

Today’s Birthdays:

Sportscaster Brent Musburger is 86.
Singer-songwriter Stevie Nicks is 77.
Actor Pam Grier is 76.
Country singer Hank Williams Jr. is 76.
Celebrity chef Masaharu Morimoto is 70.
Actor Genie Francis is 63.
Comedian Bobcat Goldthwait is 63.
Musician Lenny Kravitz is 61.
Actor Helena Bonham Carter is 59.
Actor Joseph Fiennes is 55.
Actor-producer-writer Matt Stone is 54.
Singer-songwriter Lauryn Hill is 50.
Singer Jaheim is 47.