Your Australian bank still charges you overseas after 1 October, here's how much

As of 9 October 2026, the big four still charge you between 3% and 3.5% every time you use an ordinary debit card overseas, and $5 for most overseas ATM withdrawals. The Reserve Bank’s 1 October reforms cut what Australian businesses pay to accept cards and banned card surcharges at home, but they did not touch the fee your own bank charges when you spend in another currency. On a $3,000 holiday that fee works out at about $100 to $115 on a standard big-four card, against roughly $0 to $13 on the debit and e-money cards that advertise no international fees.

What changed on 1 October, and what did not

The fee for paying with your card overseas did not change; the rules for paying by card in Australia did. From 1 October 2026 the Reserve Bank removed surcharging on debit, prepaid and credit cards on the eftpos, Mastercard and Visa networks, and lowered the caps on interchange fees for domestic card transactions. A cap on foreign-issued cards follows on 1 April 2027. The RBA’s own release describes these as changes to what Australian businesses pay to accept cards.

None of that reaches the international transaction fee your bank charges you, which each bank sets in its own fee schedule. And the surcharge ban governs businesses in Australia, so a hotel in Bali or a car hire desk in Los Angeles can still add a card fee. We covered the home side in Australia’s card surcharge ban, and what it changes for travellers, and the cuts to points and card insurance in our tracker of Australian credit card rewards cuts. This page is about debit cards and cash, because that is where most of a holiday budget goes.

What the big four charge on an ordinary debit card

CommBank and NAB charge 3.5% and Westpac and ANZ charge 3%, and all four add a flat fee at most overseas ATMs. We read each bank’s own fee page or fee booklet on 9 October 2026. The detail differs in ways that matter once you add a few withdrawals.

Two quirks are worth knowing. Westpac charges 2.2%, not 3%, when a transaction is in a foreign currency but the merchant or its bank is in Australia. And ANZ calculates its 3% on the transaction plus any ATM operator or branch fee, so the local machine’s own charge is itself charged a fee. Every bank warns that the ATM’s owner may add its own charge on top.

The 0% debit and e-money cards, and their catches

Up and Macquarie charge no fees of their own on overseas purchases or ATM withdrawals, while Wise and Revolut are close to free inside their limits. Each figure below comes from the provider’s own pricing page on 9 October 2026, Australian accounts only.

The Wise figures are its own quotes for converting $1,000, taken from Wise’s price calculator on 9 October: $3.09 to euros, $3.39 to US dollars, $3.49 to pounds and $3.79 to yen or Indonesian rupiah. Revolut defines market hours by excluding Friday 5pm to Sunday 6pm Eastern Standard Time, and charges 1% on a Standard plan for exchanges in that window, or 1.5% once you are over the monthly limit. Its paid plans raise or remove the limits from $5.99 a month. We compare those two in detail, with the UK numbers, in Wise vs Revolut for travel money; the Australian limits are the ones above.

What a $3,000 trip costs on each card

A standard big-four debit card costs about $100 to $115 in fees on a $3,000 trip; the 0% cards cost between nothing and about $13. Our example: $2,500 of card purchases in US dollars and $500 of cash in two $250 withdrawals from a local bank’s ATM, all on weekdays, on one month’s statement.

How we got there. CommBank: 3.5% of $2,500 is $87.50, and each withdrawal is $5 plus 3.5% of $250, so $27.50 for two. NAB applies 3.5% to the whole $3,000 ($105) plus $5 twice. Westpac and ANZ: 3% of $3,000 is $90, plus $5 twice. NAB Platinum: purchases free, cash at 3.5% ($17.50) plus $10. Wise: about 0.34% on $3,000 is roughly $10.20, plus 2.69% on the $100 above the free $400. Revolut: the first $2,000 is free, 0.5% on the next $1,000 is $5, and 2% on the $150 above the cash allowance is $3. None of these include an ATM owner’s own fee, or any difference between each provider’s exchange rate; Revolut sets its own variable rate.

Dynamic currency conversion can make you pay twice

Always choose the local currency when a card machine or ATM abroad offers to charge you in Australian dollars. That offer is dynamic currency conversion: the merchant’s provider sets the exchange rate instead of Mastercard or Visa, and the markup is built into the number you see.

For Australians there is a second cost. NAB’s schedule charges its 3.5% on a “single-currency international transaction”, one made in Australian dollars but processed overseas. CommBank’s 3.5% covers purchases where the merchant or the processor is located overseas, and ANZ’s 3% applies wherever the merchant or its bank is outside Australia. So on those cards, saying yes to Australian dollars can mean the merchant’s markup and your bank’s fee together. On a 0% card it means paying a markup you had otherwise avoided. Our guide to paying in local currency at the card machine explains how the screens are designed and what the law requires them to show.

The verdict

Do not travel on a standard big-four debit card. Their 3% to 3.5% fee on a $3,000 holiday is about $100 to $115, and the 1 October reforms did nothing to it. If you would rather stay with your bank, CommBank’s World Debit or NAB’s Platinum Visa Debit removes most of it. Otherwise an Up or Macquarie account gives you no-fee spending and cash from your own bank, and Wise or Revolut suits travellers who also want to hold foreign currency. Carry two cards on different networks, and choose the local currency at every till.

Keep reading

Sources: CommBank, “Choose the debit card that suits you” (Debit Mastercard and World Debit Mastercard fees and footnotes); NAB, “A Guide to Fees and Charges, Personal banking fees”, effective 31 October 2025, Overseas access; Westpac, “Accessing money overseas, ATMs” card fees (Debit card and Worldwide Wallet tabs); ANZ, “Account Fees and Charges” (01.12.2025, with changes effective 30 October 2026), Overseas Transaction Fee and Overseas ATM Transaction Fee; ANZ Plus, “Does ANZ Plus charge international fees?”; Up, Pricing and Travel pages; Macquarie, Transaction Account page; Wise, “Pricing for the Wise debit card” (Australia) and Wise price calculator quotes for A$1,000; Revolut Australia, “Our pricing plans” and Standard fees; Reserve Bank of Australia, Media Release 2026-10, “Review of Merchant Card Payment Costs and Surcharging – Conclusions Paper”. All read 9 October 2026. Trip costs are our arithmetic. No credit card is recommended here. This is general information, not financial advice; fees change, so check the current terms before you travel.