The best credit card for Australia (2022): withdraw money for free in Australia and save money!

Withdraw money easily with the right Australia credit card and save on unnecessary costs? Is it possible at all? Yes, it works! How we explain you in this article. We have summarized all the important information and compared two recommended credit cards for Australia.

Not long ago, we traveled through the country by camper for seven weeks and were able to put our Australian credit cards to the test in the big cities as well as outside of Australia.

In addition to all the important information, we therefore also report on our own experiences and clarify the most important questions about withdrawing money in Australia. In addition, there are topics such as security, differences between Australian banks and exchange options.

More posts for your Australia trip:

Important requirements for an Australia credit card

• free withdrawal in Australia or. worldwide possible
• free use abroad (d. h. Paying abroad for free)
• Credit card free of charge
• no annual fee
• modern, simple and travel-friendly TAN procedure
• friendly, helpful and fast customer service
• Convenient and travel smartphone app

Before we consider a new credit card, we always orient ourselves on these criteria. The good thing about travel credit cards are the low to non-existent fees, but also the possibility to use them for free not only in Australia, but in all other countries.

Credit card Australia: Comparison table

Now let's have a look at the credit cards for Australia. In this section, we compare our favorite with a possible alternative or. Replacement credit card. Our winner is the Hanseatic Genial Card*. It offers some advantages that we have not found with any other card. The Barclaycard is also a top credit card for Australia with very good conditions and many plus points, but can not quite keep up with the Genialcard.

(On the smartphone, the table can be moved from left to right.)

Our winner: Hanseatic Genial Card

The Genial Card of the Hanseatic Bank is undisputedly the most advantageous credit card for Australia and all other countries. What makes the credit card so special, we have clearly summarized in this section.

The most important advantages

• The credit card is completely free of charge.
• You can withdraw worldwide free of charge.
• There are no annual fees.
• You can pay with the card for free. no foreign use is due.
• You can also apply for the credit card individually and thus without a current account of the Hanseatic Bank. You must then specify another account from which the amounts are debited.
• Withdrawal limit of €500 per day
• user-friendly, easy to understand app
• Payment with Apple Pay possible
• bonus: 15% cashback in over 300 online stores

The disadvantages

• foreign fees that may be incurred when withdrawing in Australia are not refunded.
• High debit interest rate of 12.82. Therefore, pay your credit card bills on time every month.

TAN procedure of the Hanseatic Bank

The Hanseatic Bank offers two TAN methods: pushTAN and photoTAN. Both are great for travelers!

With pushTAN, a TAN is sent to your smartphone via the Hanseatic Bank app. With photoTAN, you have to scan a colored QR code with the Hanseatic app to do your online banking. Afterwards, the QR code is converted into the respective TAN number.

Installment plan

As a full-fledged Visa Card, the Genial Card is accepted worldwide. The billing is monthly, but there is one important detail you should pay attention to: the so-called partial payment procedure.

The Hanseatic Bank deducts only three percent of the monthly credit card statement from your account. This means that the remaining 97 percent will not be debited automatically and must be transferred to the card by yourself. If you forget to transfer the money in time during a trip, you will have to pay interest.

But now comes the big advantage of the Genial Card: you can completely skip the annoying installment facility in online banking. After that, the entire amount of your credit card statement is automatically collected and you no longer have to think about the transfer. Top!

Application

• Video Ident: A bank employee identifies you via webcam (faster).
• Post Ident: You have to go to a post office branch and be identified by an employee there.

Afterwards, the bank will check your application and your details. If everything fits and is approved, the Australia credit card will land in your mailbox within a few days or weeks.

Alternative and backup: Barclaycard

The Barclaycard is our backup in case the credit card of the Hanseatic Bank unexpectedly gets into trouble or is lost. It is also free of charge and is used in conjunction with an additional current account.

The most important advantages

• There are no annual fees.
• You will receive up to 50 euros starting credit when you open your account.
• Mobile payment with Apple Pay or Google Pay is possible.
• Withdraw cash free of charge worldwide
• Pay free of charge worldwide (no foreign transaction fee).
• The Barclaycard is completely free of charge.
• The Barclaycard can be applied for individually and without a current account.
• Students can also apply for a Barclaycard.
• Withdrawal limit of 500 € per day
• User-friendly, easy to understand app

Disadvantages of the credit card

• Foreign fees in Australia are not reimbursed.
• The credit card can only be used in conjunction with a current account (which can also be an advantage).
• MobileTAN procedure only

Foreign fees in Australia

Depending on the country, the local banks may charge so-called third-party fees. In Australia, the collection of fees depends on the respective bank: some collect third-party fees, but some do not. Depending on the bank, the fee can be up to 5 Australian dollars (approx. 3 Euro) per withdrawal. Whether the fee is collected, the respective machine shows you in time.

You should be careful with Commonwealth Bank and Westpac. With ANZ Bank or NAB, on the other hand, there are no third-party fees. If possible, we have always gone to one of these two banks.

If you should withdraw money from an ATM with foreign fees, we have bad news for you: Currently, there is no good travel credit card that will reimburse you for these fees. Banks such as comdirect, DKB or Santander have taken over this service in the past, but unfortunately have stopped in the meantime.

Pack a spare credit card!

Better safe than sorry – a replacement credit card is more than just a precautionary measure and absolutely worth its weight in gold in an emergency. Anyone who has been traveling for a while can certainly confirm this.

Sure, the main credit card can be stolen. This is what most people think of at first. Often, however, it is enough that it accidentally breaks, is heavily scratched or simply withdrawn by the ATM without reason. We have experienced this ourselves.

For all these and other cases, a replacement credit card should always be at hand. If you never need it – top! If you do, you will be infinitely glad about it and avoid unnecessary stress.

Tip: Speaking of theft! Stow and carry your replacement credit card separately from your main card. In case your wallet or credit card gets lost, this will keep you solvent.

You can apply for the replacement credit cards here:

Security: using the Australia Credit Card correctly

So that you can roam the towns and villages of Australia with peace of mind and hopefully never have to use your replacement credit card, we have summarized the most important tips and information on the topic of security in the following sections.

Credit card fraud in Australia

Stick-on keyboards, tiny mini-cameras or self-made card slots – scammers try to get your credit card data in many different ways. This is also the case in an otherwise very safe travel destination like Australia.

Often they try to read the credit card number, the IBAN and the CCV (three-digit PIN on the back) and record or film the PIN entry.

To make sure that ATMs are reliable and in order, we stick to the following tips every time we make a withdrawal:

• We briefly check the keypad and the card insertion module of the respective machine.
• During PIN entry we cover the keypad very well.
• We only withdraw from machines that are part of banks, supermarkets, gas stations or shopping malls.
• We completely avoid ATMs that are abandoned on the side of the road or in dark corners.
• we use RFID blockers* for all our credit cards.
• With these little precautions we have never been victims of credit card fraud – good luck!! Nevertheless, there is no 100 percent guarantee, because fraudsters always come up with new scams.

Never let Australia credit card out of your sight!

One of the most important tips: Never let your Australia credit card out of your sight! No matter what the staff in the hotel, restaurant or clothes store wants to tell you, insist that the card stays with you.

If it disappears in the hands of an employee in the next room, you can no longer trace what happens to it there. If the card is read or copied? Does it ever come back? All questions you don't have to ask yourself if the card always stays in your own hands.

This type of credit card abuse often has consequences weeks or months later: Either you see strange withdrawals on your next credit card statement or the bank contacts you itself due to conspicuous withdrawals.

Withdraw small amounts

We only withdraw what we need. As a rule, this was never more than 150 to 200 euros in Australia. Since the price level is relatively high, it could sometimes be a little more.

The idea behind it is: If your wallet is stolen or lost, only a small part of the money is gone and not all of it.

But sometimes we had to withdraw larger sums, for example to pay for a tour or the camper in cash. In these cases we withdraw the money relatively short term or hide it extremely well. In no case carry it in your wallet all the time.

Loss, theft or similar – what now??

First things first: don't panic, usually there is always a solution!

Banks, financial institutions and credit card providers have 24-hour hotlines or emergency numbers, sometimes even extra international hotlines you can call. If the card is lost, you should have it blocked immediately. This is how you prevent someone else from using it.

All further steps you discuss afterwards with the respective contact person of your bank. Depending on the provider, the options might differ. Basically, we have made the experience that the banks are very interested in finding a reasonable solution for you and the existing problem.

• Hanseatic: +49 (0) 40 600 096 422
• Barclaycard: + 49 (0) 40 890 99-877

Visa or Mastercard – which makes more sense in Australia?

Visa and Mastercard are accepted in Australia at pretty much all ATMs and also in stores. There are no advantages or disadvantages.

While researching other countries, we found that Mastercards sometimes cause problems. Sometimes they don't always seem to work with the operators of stores, restaurants or hotels – especially in Asia. In Australia everything is fine even with a Mastercard!

Apply for a credit card for Australia in time

The online form for your Australia credit card is filled out quickly. Nevertheless, the data must be read, checked and approved at the bank. Also the card itself has to be produced. Depending on the size and current business volume of the bank, it can take several weeks until the process is completed and the card arrives at your bank.

We recommend to apply for your credit card for Australia one or even two months in advance. So you have enough buffer in case there are any questions or you are rejected and have to apply for another card.

You can apply for the credit cards here:

Banks in Australia

Banks and ATMs can be found in every major Australian city and also in smaller villages. The four most popular banks in Australia are:

• National Australia Bank (NAB)
• Commonwealth Bank
• ANZ
• Westpac

As already mentioned above, NAB and ANZ Bank do NOT charge foreign fees, but the other two do.

Note: We do not guarantee the accuracy of our information, as foreign fees can change regularly.

Taking cash with you to Australia – makes sense?

We always have a small nest egg in the form of cash (Euro) with us. If all else fails, a few bills that you can exchange quickly are never wrong. But most of the time it is not more than 100 euros.

We never take really large amounts with us and prefer to withdraw more often. For us personally, it is simply too unsafe to have several thousand euros permanently in our luggage.

Exchange cash

If you want to change Euros into Australian Dollars, you can do that in Australia without any problems. Exchange offices can usually be found inside bank branches. We do not recommend independent exchange offices, because the exchange rates are much worse than at official banks.

Tip 1: If you have cash with you and want to exchange it, avoid the exchange offices at the airport or exchange only what is necessary. The rate here is often significantly worse than in the city.

Tip 2: Exchanging some start money in Germany makes very little sense. The exchange rates at home are even worse than at the airports in Australia – often because the German banks have to order the foreign currency first.

Exchange rate in Australia

We would like to briefly show you the current exchange rate in Australia and compare the price level a little bit. Australia is a modern and highly developed country, fully absorbed in the western standard of living.

The current conversion is therefore very simple: 1 Euro = ca. 1,60 Australian Dollar (November 2019)

No question – Australia is rather one of the more expensive travel countries. Especially the costs for hotels, alcohol or camper rentals are quite expensive. But we found food relatively cheap. Also, the prices vary greatly depending on the region and the city. What you must not forget with all the costs: Australia is very pleasant to travel and has an excellent tourist infrastructure!

By the way, we have summarized the exact costs of our Australia trip in this article: Australia Costs& Prices – This is how much you pay for 7 weeks of vacation

Do you have any further questions on "Credit Cards for Australia"? Or would you like to add something?? Just write us a comment!

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