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Post Updated 29 Jul 2023
These charges were something that I couldn’t avoid, until now. I’ve found the best debit card for Australian travellers – and I’m saving heaps of cash!
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In order to prepare for our big adventure to visit every country in the world, I did my research looking for a debit card I could use everywhere that wouldn’t charge me any foreign transaction fees.
When I found out about the ING debit card, it honestly sounded too good to be true.
Here’s what makes the ING Orange Everyday account so amazing:
When you’re travelling to another country and need cash, you’ll likely use an ATM. When you use a foreign ATM, your bank will charge you a fee, PLUS the ATM will charge you a fee. Each fee is often around $3-6.
This means you can easily get charged an extra $5-8 every time you make a cash withdrawal while abroad. *sigh*
In many countries, the daily withdrawal limit is often quite low. This means you need to make several withdrawals each day to ensure you have enough local currency until you find another functioning ATM. (which is sometimes quite rare in some parts of the world).
ING Direct will reimburse up to 5 ATM withdrawal fees you get charged per month – this really is the best debit card for Australian travellers.
Any ATM fees or foreign transaction fees will be reimbursed within 5 days of being charged. It’s such a good feeling to see the fees that have been charged to my account being reimbursed.
See an example below, I have been charged $2.50 for each ATM withdrawal which was then reimbursed. The same happened when I withdrew cash at an ATM in Tunisia.
I have been reimbursed $5.87 for the bank fee that was charged to me at the time.
Yes, it’s true. This account doesn’t charge you any foreign transaction fees, ever!
It’s worth remembering that many other debit cards charge a fee of 3% of every transaction you make while abroad.
This means that when you use your debit card to pay $100 for a hotel, your bank will charge you a foreign transaction fee or an extra $4.00.
It may not seem like much, but when you’re paying for hotels, restaurant meals and cheap flights booked online regularly, this adds up very quickly.
TIP: If you’re travelling in remote regions or a destination where it’s hard to get the 5 required card transactions on this account, here are some things that work for me. I charge my monthly Telstra mobile bill online to this account and when I do go to a supermarket overseas, I often separate my items and charge to this account.
This means I get 3 or 4 transactions done at the same time and then I don’t have to think about it. (or you could do all 5 and get them all if you wish).
Note: I’ve set up this ING Direct Everyday bank account essentially as my Travel Account ONLY. I still have my original bank account with a different bank that I’ve had since I was very young. I’ve simply set up an online transfer to move the money from that account to my ING travel account each month.
When I return to Australia, I plan to sort my finances and put all my money into this ING Direct account as they are much better than my other bank.
Now that you’ve signed up for the best debit card for Australian Travellers – Make your life a little easier and download the App.
1. You can set up travel alerts within seconds
Travel alerts are your way of informing the bank that you’re travelling abroad. This is important so they don’t think your card was stolen and block your transactions from going through.
It’s easy to download the online App or update your account on the ING website to add new countries you’ll be visiting within seconds. You can add up to 15 countries at a time, it’s so simple and easy to do.
I often hear stories of other travellers how their card has been declined or blocked when they travelled overseas and they had to call their bank just to let them know! This is very frustrating as these days people often travel to multiple countries. So for this reason, this feature is a huge plus and my card has not been declined once in the last 40 countries I’ve visited.
2. Their customer service is fantastic.
How nice it is to be able to speak to a knowledgeable and helpful consultant within minutes of calling. Hands down, the team at ING are up there with the best. In fact, I think they have won awards for their excellent customer service.
So, who’s ready to start saving loads of cash? Sign up today and use our referral code HMU366
In six months of travel, we have easily saved about A$400 – $500. In terms of saving money – it’s the best thing I have ever done. This is 100% the best debit card for Australian travellers so get one before your next trip.
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9 Comments. Leave new
Hey where was this? Ethiopia? The ING account sounds great, but I’m surprised there’s no “ETB” indicating the currency etc.
Hi David, thanks for your suggestion, it’s a good one. Yes, the pics used in our post are from transactions in ETB currency in Ethiopia. At the moment, a list of our transactions doesn’t show which currency was used at the time, but it does show the city that the transaction took place and this is enough for us to keep track of our spend etc. ING Direct Bank seem to always be progressing, so it’s probably something that they may add in the future to improve the customer journey to keep track of International transactions.
Hey Ladies,
it’d be great if you also included strategies for long-time travelers to comply with the 0% fee requirements of this account while away. Let me explain. Say you leave home for several months and you rely on your savings to fund your trip. My last trip for example was 5 years long and I relied on my savings with only minor passive income coming in. So here is when it gets trickier. The Orange Everyday, which I now have and love, requires you to have $1000 deposited every month + 5 transactions. So what would you do, under the circumstances described above, to satisfy these requirements while not having actual income coming in every month?
So far, my plan for my future long trips is to pour 12k of my savings into my secondary bank account (a different bank here in Australia) and set up an automatic transfer of 1k every month to my Orange Everyday. Then use the card 5 times a month to purchase things on the road, which honestly, can be tricky if you spend a long time in remote regions as I do. Granted, this also means that you won’t most likely use your card anyway, so you won’t have any fees either but it may happen.
Anyway, I wondered if you had any other strategies to deal with this. I think it’d be worth it to include them in the article as a useful travel hack add-on to this debit card travel hack.
Cheers, and let me know if you happen to be around Fortress WA.
I think I skimmed the part that you mentioned about transferring the money from your other account. Sorry about that. 🙂
Hi Nico,
Thanks for your comment. I see that you re-read this post and discovered the part about transferring the $1000 per month from a secondary bank account. Fantastic! As I mentioned, this works for me as I don’t have a reliable income.
To answer your question about getting those 5 transactions per month on your ING account when travelling in remote regions etc, you can also get them when you purchase something or pay a bill online.
For example, I charge my monthly Telstra mobile bill online to this account and when I do go to a supermarket overseas, I often separate my items and charge to this card. This means I get 3 or 4 transactions done at the same time and then I don’t have to think about it (or you could do all 5 and get them all if you wish).
I hope these additional hacks work for you, and great idea to update this post with them…I’ll do it now! 🙂
Hi Rach
Thanks for the great tips. How has the exchange rate compared when you do ATM withdrawals? The travel cards seem to brag about locking in a good rate and having the money ready in the currency of the country you’re in.
Hi Jill,
Honestly, I’m very happy with the exchange rates with ING, they’re great! Each time I withdraw cash from any ATM, I first check the approx exchange rate on XE.com, (on my phone app). This is a good tool to use to see the ‘real time’ exchange rates in all currencies. Then, when I check my online banking statement, I can see that the conversion rates from my cash withdrawal are very close to XE.com, and that makes me happy.
I’ve used travel cards in the past, but I’m personally not a fan. The nature of my travels takes me to many random countries that use different currencies, so the travel card doesn’t work for me personally. It may work well for someone that needs just one or a few popular currencies, say USD in EUR for a yearly holiday, for example. From past experience, the rates were not very competitive on travel cards and once you’ve returned from your holiday I’m unsure if the funds left on the card have an expiry date on them either.