How to minimize using your credit cards abroad.

It can be very tempting, when you go on holiday to take your credit cards with you and whip them on numerous occassions. This is all well and good, if you know full well that you can pay back whatever you spend once you get back to your home country, within a reasonable time frame.

However, relying on the credit card whilst in a foreign country can cause all sorts of problems apart from the foreign exchange rate charges and interest rates. What happens if you're wallet or purse is lost/stolen whilst on holiday. This is one of our worst fears, and dealing with such a scenario in a foreign country can be a nightmare. So before you go abroad, make sure that you've set up the necessary security measures for your cards that safeguard you against card fraud and also make notes on your bank's lost/stolen card contact details - in case it does happen to you. With a simple call you'll be able to cancel the cards stolen.

However, you may then realize you've got a problem with funds and getting access to them. This alone, can be a very stressful and worrying situation. But, this scenario can easily be avoided if you make sure you've got backup measures in place, such as traveler's cheques. Also, before you go you can look into western union money transfers and perhaps organizing someone to send you funds in case of an emergency. You may be able to wire the money through online banking back to the person from your account whilst you're abroad. Technology has enabled more ways of getting access to our money, but we should still rely on other traditional methods in case we run into trouble whilst abroad. If you do a lot of traveling it's perhaps a good idea to select a card that has low foreign exchange rate charges ideally 1% or less or just charges a low flat fee. This can help reduce your final holiday bill.