Credit card - low/zero forex fee credit card in Bahrain

Nope, you won't have any luck with normal credit cards.  You will get conversion fee PLUS VAT for foreign transactions.

The way I handle it is:

1) I use my AMEX $ card for USD purchases - so no conversion fee or otherwise

2) I use my HSBC Global Money Card (linked to my HSBC Expat account in channel islands) for other FX transactions.  You load whatever currency you want on the card and use it normally - normal FX conversion rates.   I have so far used it to take out cash and normal point of sale transactions in Norwegian Kroner, Euro and AED.  You transfer back whatever is left to your main account at the end of the trip

You might want to check which banks, if any, offer something similar to point #2.  I know of banks in Saudi offering similar solutions but haven't come across one in Bahrain - never looked to be honest.

@XTang Thank you very much for the detailed response. They look good and I will try to adopt these options.

I can offer some help as well.

Credimax has a visa card called cardy ex. The card has multiple  accounts. Bhd,aed,usd,gbp,sar,eur.   Its great for usd transactions and there is no  fee to convert bhd to usd.

Many banks say no conversion fee. But what they actually  do is give a lower a conversion  rate that is lower than the mid market rate. So essentially  they charge no conversion  fees. They take it from the exchange rate. And if you do math comes of as roughly  2 to 3 percent. Depending on currency.

The cardy ex card is great only for usd.  Bhd to usd is a fixed rate and you don't lose any money converting from bhd to usd and usd to bhd.

All other currency in the card the forex rates to convert aren't the midmarker rate and not worth it.

Hi Guys. This is just an update on the foreign currency accounts and cards. If anyone is looking for a very easy option with almost no fee other than a nominal conversion fee,

I have been using ILA bank(ABC bank associate) account cards for a year,

• One can open multiple currency bank accounts in 8 currencies.(BHD, USD, CAD, EURO,GBP, AED, SAR & KWD).
• To begin with, the opening is an online and digital BHD account with CPR, and you can get a digital debit card or a physical one.
• No minimal balance requirement
• Then, one can open all other currency accounts with zero balance- total 8 accounts
• All eight accounts are linked to the same debit card, and the same card deducts money from a respective account based on the currency swiped/transacted. I used it in the USA/amazon USA, and it charged me in USD and deducted from my dollar account & used in CAD, and deducted from the CAD account.
• Flexibility- You can load the money in a BHD account from any bank account via Fawr or Fawri+, and from there, internally transfer it to a foreign currency account as required (1 USD =0.377879BHD ) and use the debit card.

I hope if someone is looking to use a card for overseas travel & expenses, I feel this is a good and economical option.

Thank you

Best