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Airport Currency Exchange Guide · Last checked 18 October 2026

ATM vs Forex Card vs Cash: What Costs Least Abroad?

There is no one cheapest way to pay abroad. What you pay depends on the card you hold, the bank behind it, the country you land in, and one small button on a payment machine. This guide lays out the fees that the sources we found actually describe, shows how they stack, and gives you a way to work out your own answer before you fly.

The short version

Four ways to get money abroad

What the fees look like in documents we could read

We found one official schedule of charges and a handful of secondary sources. Prices differ by bank, by card and by date, so treat every figure below as an example, not as a rule for your card.

The official example is the schedule of charges for the TATA Neu IndusInd Forex Card, effective 6 December 2024. It lists an issuance fee of 299 rupees and a reload fee of 99 rupees. For ATM withdrawals abroad it lists fixed charges per withdrawal of 2.25 US dollars, 2 euros, 1.50 pounds, 300 yen, 8 dirhams or 20 Hong Kong dollars, depending on the currency. A balance enquiry at a foreign ATM is also charged, at 0.50 US dollars in the same schedule. It states a cross-currency markup of 3.50 per cent, and an inactivity charge of 250 rupees per quarter after 18 months. GST is added on top. This is one card from one issuer, so it shows the kinds of fee to look for, not what every forex card charges.

A second source is a Business Standard article from 27 March 2025, which cites Bankbazaar. It gives ranges across the market: forex card reload fees of about 75 to 100 rupees, a cross-currency markup of about 3.5 per cent, ATM fees of about 2 to 4 US dollars and issuance fees of 500 to 1,000 rupees. For credit cards it gives a foreign transaction fee of 1 to 3.5 per cent, a Dynamic Currency Conversion fee of about 1 per cent plus taxes, and a cash advance fee of 2.5 to 3.5 per cent plus interest. The article also says that a forex card locks in the exchange rate at the time of loading, and that carrying both a card and a forex card is sensible.

A third source is moneyHOP, a commercial comparison site, which describes the State Bank of India charges as follows: a 3 per cent fee plus 18 per cent GST on debit card purchases abroad, a 100 rupee fee plus 3.5 per cent plus GST for ATM withdrawals abroad, and a 3.5 per cent plus GST markup on credit card purchases. For cash taken on a credit card it lists a 500 rupee fee plus 3.5 per cent, with finance charges from day one. This is a commercial source and we have not checked it against the bank's own page, so we treat it as a lead and not a confirmed figure.

One piece of arithmetic is worth knowing. When a fee of 3.5 per cent carries 18 per cent GST, the effective cost is 3.5 multiplied by 1.18, which is 4.13 per cent. SharpScroll uses the same calculation.

Where the fees stack

The charge abroad is rarely a single percentage. It is usually a combination of some of these:

Belong, a commercial platform, makes a similar point in a 2 July 2026 article. It says a zero forex markup card removes the bank's markup but rarely removes the card network's own conversion, which it describes as often around 1 per cent, and that ATM fees, annual fees and Dynamic Currency Conversion can still apply. Because Belong sells its own products and this is a single promotional article, we treat the 1 per cent figure as a lead.

What about "zero forex markup" cards?

SharpScroll lists four Indian credit cards with no foreign markup: the IDFC FIRST Mayura Metal card, the RBL Bank World Safari card, the Scapia card from Federal Bank, and the ixigo AU Small Finance Bank card. The annual fees it gives range from nothing to 5,999 rupees. The page is undated apart from "2026" and tells readers to check current terms.

We read the Scapia page itself. It says "zero forex fees on all international spends" and lists no joining fee and no annual fee. It does not define "forex fees", it does not mention the word markup, and the full fee table is not on the page. We therefore cannot say from the page alone that nothing at all is charged abroad. For a traveller the sensible reading is this: the bank-side markup may be zero, and you should read the card's own fee document for anything else before you rely on it.

ATMs: the fixed fee problem

Because many ATM charges are a flat amount per withdrawal, the cost as a share of the cash depends on how much you take out. Here is a made-up example using the TATA Neu schedule's 2 euro figure to show the principle, with GST ignored for simplicity.

The cost per euro is four times higher on the small withdrawal, and any percentage markup comes on top of both. So on a card with a fixed ATM fee, fewer and larger withdrawals usually cost less per unit, within the limit of how much cash you are comfortable carrying.

The ATM operator abroad may also charge its own fee, and the machine may offer to convert the amount into your home currency, which brings us to the most avoidable cost of all.

Dynamic Currency Conversion: the question to say no to

Dynamic Currency Conversion, or DCC, is the offer to pay in your home currency instead of the local one. It can appear at an ATM, at a shop terminal or on a hotel bill.

The Business Standard article puts a DCC fee at about 1 per cent plus taxes. SharpScroll puts DCC markups at 5 to 8 per cent. The two figures differ widely, they come from different kinds of source, and neither is a measured study, so we cannot give a single number. What both sources agree on is that DCC is a cost you can choose to avoid, and SharpScroll advises paying in the local currency. Our guide to Dynamic Currency Conversion goes into this in more detail.

The practical rule, which is our advice and not a sourced fact, is simple: if a terminal asks which currency you want to be charged in, choose the local currency every time.

Credit card cash advances

Business Standard gives a cash advance fee of 2.5 to 3.5 per cent plus interest, and moneyHOP describes finance charges from the day of the withdrawal. The figures vary by bank and we have not checked them against a bank's own page, but both sources point the same way: cash on a credit card is the expensive route. Use a debit card or a forex card for cash and keep the credit card for purchases.

What about the exchange rate itself?

Besides the fees, a card transaction is converted at some rate. The older sources we found, a Doctor of Credit post and a Wise explainer, both several years old and one from a company that sells foreign exchange, describe the Visa and Mastercard rate as close to wholesale, with the issuer adding its own fee. We found no current, independent figure for how far a network rate sits from the mid-market rate, so we repeat no number.

You can check it yourself. After a purchase, compare what left your account with what you would have paid at the mid-market rate that day. The difference is your total cost, fees and rate together.

A worked example

The numbers below are made up to show how the cost can stack. They are not any bank's real charges.

You plan to spend the equivalent of 1,000 units of your home currency, using the mid-market rate as the baseline, so that a cost of zero means you get exactly the mid-market rate.

No option wins in general. A card with no markup can cost as much as one with a markup if you withdraw small amounts often.

How to choose, in practice

This is our advice, based on the sources above, not a sourced fact.

What we could not confirm

A simple plan

  1. Before you travel, open the fee document for each card you plan to take and note the markup, the ATM fee and the cash advance fee.
  2. Look up the mid-market rate for your destination currency so you have a yardstick.
  3. Decide how much cash you actually need, and plan for fewer, larger withdrawals.
  4. Say no to home-currency conversion at every terminal.
  5. After your first purchase, check what left your account against the mid-market rate to see your real cost.

FAQ

Is a forex card cheaper than an ATM withdrawal?
It depends on the card. The sources we found show forex cards carrying issuance, reload and ATM fees, and a cross-currency markup of about 3.5 per cent on at least one product. A debit card can carry a similar markup. The only reliable way to know is to read the fee document for each card.

Should I use my credit card for cash?
The sources we found treat it as the expensive route, with a fee and interest from day one. We would avoid it.

What does "zero forex markup" mean?
It means the bank does not add its own markup to foreign purchases. It does not guarantee that no other fee applies, such as an ATM charge, an annual fee or a network conversion fee.

Should I pay in my home currency when asked?
No. Choose the local currency. The offer is Dynamic Currency Conversion, which the sources we read describe as an added cost.

Sources and how we checked them

Checked on 18 October 2026. Where we call something confirmed, at least two of these sources agree. Several are commercial companies promoting their own services.

Editorial note: The counter, rate and airport information in this guide is editorial and is not paid for. Rates and fees change, so confirm the final rate at the counter before exchanging.

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