Big Change Announced for Fidelity® Rewards Visa Signature® Credit Card

In an era that has many consumers worried about losing credit card benefits, Fidelity is rolling out a new one for its customers.

The Fidelity® Rewards Visa Signature® Credit Card recently announced it will no longer have a foreign transaction fee.

This is great news for one of Team Clark’s favorite credit cards for investing rewards.

In this article, we’ll go through Fidelity’s announcement and what it means for existing and prospective cardholders.

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Fidelity Removes Foreign Transaction Fee from Credit Card

Fidelity officially announced that it removed the foreign transaction fee from its Fidelity Rewards Visa Signature card effective September 1, 2023. It previously was charging a 1% fee on every purchase made with the card outside the United States.

Now, you’re free to roam the globe without paying an extra fee for swiping your credit card.

Here’s what this means for new and existing customers:

New Applicants

This change will be effective immediately for new card applicants.

If you go to the disclosures page for this credit card during the signup process, you’ll find that the new policy is already in place:

Existing Cardholders

Fidelity released the following statement about foreign transactions completed with an existing credit card:

“Beginning September 1, 2023, new transactions made with an eligible Fidelity® Visa Signature® Card account will no longer be charged foreign transaction fees for international purchases.”

There is no action required to make this effective.

Fidelity is sending out notices to eligible existing cardholders to alert them to the change on their account for this billing cycle. As a cardholder myself, I received the following email notification on Sept. 25, 2023:

To be considered “eligible” for this automatic update, Fidelity says that your card must not have any of the following exclusions:

• Your credit card account was recently reported as lost or stolen
• Your credit card has an open dispute for unauthorized or fraudulent transactions
• Your card is in collections or is closing.

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Should I Be Considering the Fidelity® Rewards Visa Signature® Credit Card?

Learn More → This Is the Card for You If: You want a cash back rewards card that can aid your investing goals. This card can deposit rewards directly into Fidelity retirement and investment accounts. Annual Fee: $0.00 Card Issuer: Elan Financial Services Card Processor: Visa Rewards Program Details: Earn unlimited 2% cash back on everyday spending. You can spend your rewards or deposit them into any eligible Fidelity account, giving your money more chances to grow. Fidelity® Rewards Visa Signature® Review

If you have a Fidelity investment account, you may want to seriously consider adding this one to your wallet.

This rewards program is one of the simplest on the market: You get points that are equivalent to 2% cash back on everything you purchase with the card. There are no spending categories or rewards limits, and the rewards you earn never expire. And participants in the Fidelity Rewards+ program may be eligible for bonus boosts that make the points worth even more than that.

However, in order to get the full 2% cash back value on your points redemption, you must invest the rewards into a qualifying Fidelity investment account.

Here are the different types of Fidelity accounts where you can deposit your credit card rewards:

• Brokerage Account
• Fidelity® Cash Management Account
• Fidelity®-managed 529 College Savings plan
• Retirement Account (IRA, Roth IRA, etc.)
• Fidelity Go® Account
• Fidelity Charitable® Giving Account®
• HSA

Every $2,500 spent equals a $50 deposit into your eligible Fidelity account, according to the card’s terms and conditions.

If opt to use your points for another redemption method, it may be valued at less than 2%.

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Final Thoughts

Getting rid of the foreign transaction fee with this no-annual-fee credit card is sure to make Fidelity cardholders happy. And since Fidelity took away two of the card’s most popular perks back in 2021, it’s nice to see they’re adding more value in 2023.

Many credit cards charge 3% or more on every transaction that you make outside the United States. So this perk can be a real money saver.

Money expert Clark Howard, who is an avid international traveler himself, recommends using a credit card with no foreign transaction fees to make the bulk of your purchases while abroad. He also is a big proponent of Fidelity as a financial services company.

So you can see why a credit card that allows you to put rewards to work as investments while also avoiding transaction fees while traveling is a combination that has Team Clark’s approval.

We already include this credit card among the “best” for no-annual-fee rewards cards because of its 2% cash back valuation on everyday purchases that are invested. Adding this new perk is just another reason to like it.

Do you have the Fidelity credit card? Will you be using it for international purchases moving forward? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the Clark.com community.

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