Don't be deceived by their marketing - Capital One is NOT a good card for international travelers. Yes they have no foreign transaction fees, but that doesn't do you any good if your card doesn't work.

Background: I work from home and typically spend 5-7 months abroad every year. I have a cheap US cell plan for when I'm in the US, but when traveling abroad, I use a cheap foreign SIM/plan. Big savings on cell service without the need for expensive international plans or roaming.

The problem: Capital One Mastercard is a fine card when using the physical card - it will work anywhere MasterCard is accepted. However, if you ever try to use the card on a website where you manually type in your 16 digit card number, expiration and CVV code - it generates a pop-up from MasterCard that wants to send you a OTC (One Time Code) as a text message to your US number. But what if you're not using your US number at the time? You have no way to receive the code. It doesn't give you any other option to receive the code. Not email, not a different international number, not an authenticator app like Google/Microsoft Authenticator. You're basically screwed. And don't bother trying to call customer service - there is NOTHING they can do. Its MasterCards Fault they'll tell you. Out of our control. Yet if you try to call MasterCard - "Sorry we're just the transaction processor, contact your card company." Circular finger pointing with you left screwed over.

I know this may be a small issue for people who keep their US number when outside US, but for travelers like me its a deal breaker.

Buyer Beware.

So pretty much the title and probably a dumb question. The capital one website says I can use my savor card with no issue internationally with no foreign transaction fees. So if I'm traveling through Qatar and I want food at the airport I can just swipe my card as normal and it just charges automatically in local currency? Or does it convert into dollars or something?