Pros: The biggest advantage to using credit cards while traveling overseas is that credit card purchases are exchanged at the interbank exchange rate, usually the best rate you can get for currency exchange. While most credit card issuers charge currency conversion fees each time you make a purchase in a foreign currency (generally 1 percent from Visa or MasterCard plus an additional 1 - 2 percent for themselves), these fees are typically lower than those you'd pay to convert your own currency at a change bureau. And there are a few cards out there (many from Capital One) that do not charge any foreign transaction fees at all, not even the ones from Visa or MasterCard. Check out CardHub.com for a list.