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THIS WEEK ABROAD
Credit card companies are out with their latest offerings for 2026. We reviewed some of the best options for expats and nomads with no annual fee.
Plus, we looked into some popular digital phone number services for receiving two-factor authentication texts.
Check out our analysis in this week’s newsletter.👇
Tax & Money Corner
ZERO FEE CREDIT CARDS FOR EXPATS AND NOMADS IN 2026
Foreign transaction fees are like the quiet killer for many Americans abroad. Few note the hundreds of dollars a year quietly leaving their account via that 3% surcharge.
Fortunately, the fix is simple: get a credit card with zero foreign transaction fees.
Here at Savvy Nomad, we identified four such cards with no annual fees. What’s more, some are offering hefty signup bonuses in 2026!
• Wells Fargo Autograph
The Wells Fargo Autograph is the standout here. It earns 3x points on travel, dining, gas, transit, streaming, and phone plans, which is basically the entire digital nomad spending list.
No annual fee, no foreign fees, and a 20,000-point signup bonus (worth $200) after spending $1,000 in the first three months.
It also includes up to $600 in cell phone protection when you pay your phone bill with the card. For anyone who's ever been pickpocketed abroad (author’s note: totally not talking about myself here), that perk alone is worth writing home about.
• Bank of America Travel Rewards
The Bank of America Travel Rewards card is the one to grab if you're new to the points game and want something you'll never have to think about. No annual fee, no foreign fees, 1.5x multiplier on everything. No categories to track, no expiration on points.
The signup bonus is 25,000 points after $1,000 in spending. Not the flashiest card on the market, but the simplicity is the whole appeal.
• Discover it Miles
Discover it Miles brings a genuinely compelling offer for first-year cardholders: Discover automatically matches every mile you earn at the end of year one, making it effectively 3% back on all purchases for twelve months. No annual fee, no foreign fees.
The caveat is that Discover has less international acceptance than Visa or Mastercard, so treat it as a backup rather than your primary card overseas.
• Capital One VentureOne
Finally, the Capital One VentureOne rounds things out. No annual fee, no foreign fees, flexible miles redeemable against any travel purchase.
Worth noting: Capital One charges no foreign transaction fees on any card they issue, so if you already carry one, you may already be covered.
• Bonus Hack
Protip: always pay in local currency when a merchant or ATM gives you the choice.
Choosing to pay in dollars triggers something called dynamic currency conversion, which layers its own fee on top of everything else.
VIDEO OF THE WEEK
HOW TO KEEP A U.S. PHONE NUMBER WHILE OVERSEAS
Speaking of using credit cards overseas, nomads and expats will note that two-factor authentication texts are becoming more and more embedded in our financial lives. That’s especially true when you’re living overseas, where transactions are often automatically flagged by your bank or credit card company as suspicious.
But how do you keep access to your all-important U.S. phone number while living abroad?
In this video, we review several popular services like Tello, Google Fi, and Ultra Mobile PayGo that allow you to port over your US phone number. A number of viewers also chimed in via the comments section with their own helpful tips.
Check out our latest video and let us know your thoughts
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