BAWAG P.S.K. review

The card charges an annual fee of €24.94, the main cost of keeping it open. The site median annual fee is €0 and the highest is €167.70, so this card sits well above a typical no-fee card.

The reward type is cashback and the rate reads up to 15% cashback on account maintenance fees. The money comes back against the account maintenance fee rather than against individual purchases, so the card pays for being held open rather than for heavy spending.

Foreign purchases cost 1.5% in conversion. The site median for currency conversion fees is 1% and the highest is 10.5%, so this card sits mid-field. Paying in the currency of the country you visit avoids the charge.

It is a charge card rather than a debit card, so it works on credit instead of straight off a current account balance. That suits people who want the listed purchase protection, and suits less anyone wanting a card that spends only what they already hold.

Approval asks for good credit, a normal bar for a bank charge card in Austria. Applicants with a thinner file sit in a different part of the market, and the €24.94 fee applies on top of meeting that bar.

The card comes from Bank für Arbeit und Wirtschaft AG, a bank based in Austria whose history goes back to 1922. The issuer is therefore a long-established bank rather than a new financial technology name, and the account sits with a named legal entity.

The card lists purchase protection, contactless payment and 3D Secure among its extras, so contactless and mobile wallet payments come as standard alongside purchase protection. Purchase protection is the item that touches what you buy rather than how you pay for it.

The site's overall score for BAWAG P.S.K. is 3.1. On currency conversion fees it sits at position 91 of 181 brands, in the middle of the field rather than among the cheapest or the dearest.