Comments on: List Of Credit Card Foreign Currency Transaction Fees

By: askmrlee

askmrlee — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:58:51 +0000

Steve,

What you did is take a CASH ADVANCE from your credit card. Capital One and ALL other banks charge you exorbitant fees for this since you are taking an unsecured LOAN. if you need cash, get it from your checking or savings account with an ATM or debit card. As of this writing, Capital One, Charles Schwab and HSBC Premier do not pass through the foreign transaction fee imposed by MasterCard and Visa associations.

Yes it is “buried” in your fine print, but it all fees are disclosed in the box that has a summary of charges that is made available to you when you applied for the card. There may have been changes made to you that came in the form of junk mail or cash advance checks that had a note with a change in terms. Lesson: Always open your mail that comes from the bank, even if it looks like junk.

Here are some other low-fee options.

Fidelity Investment Rewards American Express Cards issued by FIA Card Services (the former MBNA now part of Bank of America) charges a 1% foreign CURRENCY conversion fee (all transactions not in US$). Plus you can get a 2% cash deposit reward to your Fidelity account (brokerage, cash or retirement) in the form of a $50 deposit for every $2,500 in purchases. There are other rewards available, but this is the more valuable one and has the least hassle since the reward is automatic.

The Fidelity smart cash account offers a Visa debit card issued by PNC bank which charges 1% for foreign transactions (all non-US transactions either in US$ or foreign currency) no ATM charges and automatic ATM reimbursements.

I’m sorry you learned the hard way, but we’ve all been bank sucker punched one way or another. Take this as a learning experience and make yourself a smarter consumer in the future.

By: American in Austria

American in Austria — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:57:55 +0000

Thank you for these info’s.
Unfortunately i just learned it hard way. Longer time ago I was using it in Canada ( NIH Federal Credit Union Platinum Visa ) and was never charged for any purchase. Thinking (and knowing from before) that only charge that you should pay is if you do cash advances anywhere. Credit card companies were selling them self as: “we are the best way to spend money abroad, with best currency rate exchange and no fees “.
I guess some chage it, and some were always charging.
Got to worn other students about this too.

By: Ted

Ted — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 13:55:43 +0000

Steve, the answer is what I said here before—get a checking account with a LOCAL bank where you live and establish a relationship. Use your credit card for CREDIT ONLY, as in purchases not to get cash. I can’t imagine EVER using my credit card for a cash advances and always plan that way when I travel. I put cash in my checking account before I depart, then use the debit card at the ATMs for cash withdrawals. When I get home, I present the ATM receipts and my banker refunds all of my ATM out of system fees, thus meaning i pay NOTHING int he way of interest for cash advances as I have none. For other purchases, Capital One covers the credit card fees with their “no fee” card. I feel it’s all about planning, knowing your bank and using local banks not the “big guys” whenever possible.

By: Steve Krulick

Steve Krulick — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 02:53:45 +0000

Capital One DOES charge fees now!

Warning about Capital One!

For several years I used my CapOne business Visa card on overseas trips for purchases AND ATM withdrawals. Although there were limits (usually around $400 per transaction, though the limit was never posted, and the machine might not let that larger transaction go through, but wouldn’t explain why; in Moscow we had to call CapOne’s office from our docked ship to confirm we were not charged when no money came out, but only a “Thank you” from the ATM!), and a cash advance fee, which accrues from the posting date, which ranged from 8-12%, there was no foreign transaction fee, whether Turkey, Peru, Thailand, Russia, Ireland, etc.

I just got back from India and got my PERSONAL CapOne MASTERCARD statement; I had decided earlier this year to open a personal account for vacations, and so used this card for the first time for overseas purchases and ATM cash. Although the purchases had no fees and no finance charges, to my surprise, there was a $10 fee for the first ATM use, and a bit over $11 for the second! And the finance charge accruing for the averaged balance was at 22% APR, with an actual interest for the period of over 50%!

I called CapOne (yep, got someone from a boiler room in India), and he explained that there WERE fees for ATM use, but not for purchases. I told him this never happened to me before, and read details from my previous statements. When it was explained that this was my BUSINESS account, he said that older one didn’t charge fees, but the new MasterCard personal account did ($10 minimum per transaction, or 3%, whichever was higher), plus the additional finance charge accruing each day, even though I didn’t get my statement for weeks afterwards, and wouldn’t pay online for another two weeks (THAT alone is going to cost me ANOTHER $9, as the balance accrues each day until then!), so he had to calculate the higher amount, or else I’d get ANOTHER finance charge when I paid the posted balance off!

As someone who NEVER maintains any CC balance, and ALWAYS pays off every cent each month on ALL my cards, this infuriates me. So, next trip, I will have to use my PERSONAL CapOne card ONLY for item purchases, and my BUSINESS CapOne card for ATM use, even though the finance charge accrual is a HIGHER 24%.

I think I will pre-schedule an online payment for the amount I plan to exchange, so that it’s paid off within a day or two, to minimize the cash advance fee, and then use the internet while traveling to access my account and pay off any further ATM use when it occurs.

But, of course, if any of this fee stuff was in my agreement, it was surely buried in the finest of fine print and NOBODY ever told me the personal card was different than the business card (unless ALL new cards now have the fee and the old one is just grandfathered to be fee-less).

If someone else offered a REAL fee-free card that didn’t charge mafia-level usurious interest on cash transactions, I’d like to know about it!

By: Ted

Ted — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 12:18:12 +0000

We have had our Capital One card for years and years as they used to provide private label/branded card services to TJMaxx. When that relationship ended all cardholders in good standing were offered one of their own cards, which he happily took. Getting cash back is even better than certificates for TJMaxx though that programme is back with a different credit card supplier we won’t use it because that bank (I forget is it Chase? Its one of the big ones) charges fees which we avoid just charging with Capital One’s own card.

By: askmrlee

askmrlee — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 09:18:54 +0000

Nancy, Capital One as of today has online applications, but you must “pre-qualify” for a card.

By: Ted

Ted — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:01:34 +0000

Unhappy… I am sad for you but you did not READ what was said here over & over…There IS a fee (usually 1%) which Master Card & Visa DO charge that everyone DOES pay. The different is what the bank charges ON TOP of that. Most are 2-3% additional. Also to correct, Chase DOES have this fee, so whatever made you believe they do not is wrong. They add a fee on top of the 1% just like Citibank does. ONLY Capital One and a few high-priced/high minimum cards skip this fee. The only other way around it is to use a small bank and make prior arrangements and they will (as mine does) refund it to me after I am billed for it, but that’s the exception and not the rule! Best of luck, but really, do READ all the small print!

By: Unhappy

Unhappy — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 01:52:57 +0000

I got charged 3% with the foreign exchange fee when I open my citi bank Mastercard. I have no idea what it is until I called them. The lady at Citibank there said, “everyone does it, including my own credit card company.” A quick search on the internet reveals that they got sued a few years ago; and that it is not true that “every one does it.” Chase Credit card does not have this fee. Another “customer rep” said, “we have to charge you because that is what master card charged us.” I asked her how much does master card charge them; she does not seem to know the answer. If I understand correctly, they are not just passing on the expense to the customer but making a little money while doing that too. Pure ripping off.

By: Ted

Ted — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 13:07:32 +0000

This is very common nowadays and is unless you use one of the few (Capital One and the others people have mentioned here, most of which require HUGE associated accounts) cards without fees this will be happening more and more. I do business with a Chicago based firm, but they use World Pay which one of THE WORST processors anywhere and they are UK-based so when I use the card there I get a fee, well I did till I change the card to Capital One. At any rate in this case, Id suggest you get with your magazine’s customer service folks, tell them this fee was unfair and ask for compensation. If I were you and as this is a subscription I’d request an extension free to make up for what you got charged. I own several newspapers and we’d willingly give that in lieu of cash refunds and that makes for happy subscribers. Try that instead of being angry at the PC Tools folks. Oh and get a Capital One card!

By: Dan

Dan — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 17:57:41 +0000

It’s one thing to travel to a foreign country and incur fees for ‘foreign transactions’, it’s another to buy something from an internet vendor who has a U.S. business presence and get charged for a foreign transaction. I recently renewed my subscription to PC Tools online and found a ‘foreign transaction fee -finance charge’ on my CitiBank Diamond Preferred card for that purchase because the purchase was processed in Ireland. I was not aware that I was buying this from Ireland nor was I aware that there was a fee if it was.

This is absolutely wrong. At the least, I should have been notified that even though PC Tools has an office if San Francisco, they would be processing the payment in Ireland. I paid for the subscription from the US with US dollars. There should not have been any currency conversion that I was responsible for.

Since there was no way to know that I was actually buying from Ireland, I don’t have any idea how I could have avoided the fee. This is so wrong!

By: Ted

Ted — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 12:40:12 +0000

Funniest part of the your post is you act as though you were not aware Canada is a foreign country! I mean you do state, “…as of June 2009, most major banks started charging fees for “international” use including Canada…” Did you think Canada had become part of the U.S. when no one was looking?????

OK on a more helpful and a more serious note, two suggestions:

I deal with a regional bank here with local offices and they refund me ALL ATM fees and extra charges when I get cash as I travel. I just take the receipts in showing the amounts when I get back, and they credit the account. If you have the ability to use a local bank or make such an arrangement, that trumps ANY deals anyone else makes. It’s the local guys who can do this, so don’t look for any help from the folks at Chase, B of A or Citibank cause it ain’t happening.

As far as Canada, I go so often I have an account at Bank of Montreal which is nationwide in Canada. I just walk in, hand the first teller a large US cheque, have it converted (fee is like $5 for customers paid once) and then go around getting Canadian cash out of any of the Bank of Montreal’s ATMs fee-free. I also use that account for direct deposit of interest from Canadian stocks I own, so that cash is also available to me thru the ATMs fee free.

Capital One is the best deal if you go a lot, but barring that, try one of the above ideas and you can save some cash. Oh and yes, Canada is still not a U.S. state!

By: Rob W

Rob W — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 22:46:54 +0000

Hey fellow travelers. Here’s what I found out the hard way.

I’m currently in Canada for several weeks. We’ve used our CCs in the past overseas with no fees. So I started using my AAA Visa card here for everything. It wasn’t until a conversation with my brother-in-law did he mention the fees. So I used online banking and sure enough, there were fees for every transaction. No need to mention I was upset.

So he said they started using their debit card and incurred no fees (his trip was last year). So I change to using my debit card, which is with Bank of America through Visa. But I go online and check that and THEY are charging me transaction fees, MORE than my Visa CC.

I go back online and find out that as of June 2009, most major banks started charging fees for “international” use including Canada. I also find out that I can use my BOA debit card at Scotia Bank ATMs and there are no fees. So I start using the debit card at Scotia ATMs. But I check online again and THEY are STILL charging transaction fees and even higher amounts.

So my wife in the states calls everyone and here’s what we find out.

My AAA Visa CC charges 2% on all out of country transactions. My BOA debit card charges 3% transaction fees (1% + 2%). But if I use the debit card at the Scotia ATM, where there is supposed to be NO fees, there is now the 1% + 3% equaling 4% fees on withdrawals. The only thing waived by BOA at Scocia ATMs is the $5.00 ATM charge!

So it’s back to using the AAA Visa for now since they only have a 2% fee tacked on. I have an email into CapitalOne to verify the no fee in Canada policy and will check out Schwab as soon as I can.

I’ll let everyone know what happens!

By: Nancy

Nancy — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 05:16:40 +0000

Based on this post and the feedback, I decided to apply for Capital One. Here is the first line on their website:
Capital One has suspended online credit card applications.

By: Ted

Ted — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 11:36:57 +0000

Instead of more regulations, just look at the list: Capital One wants your business. It is obvious that most of the others are mired in GREED and do not. i find the “big NY banks:” the absolute worst for any services and do all I can to avoid Citi and Chase which are what I hear complaints about on fees, returned cheques, overdrafts etc etc, almost every day. The only reason I can’t use a small bank for my cards is that many go thru the big guys to handle it, then even if YOUR bank doesn’t charge, the billing agency does, so you get stuck. I do also use one Midwest bank which refunds fees…last time we were in England and France, they gave back $84 in ATM fees and charges, and THAT’s customer service but we do have all our accounts there and they know us personally even with 65+ offices in 5 states. Big is not better!

By: John Smith

John Smith — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 05:31:03 +0000

ENOUGH!!! Let’s call our senators and representatives -and Obama, and ask for regulation. Just bought an item using paypal -a U.S. -based company to buy an item in U.S. dollars and I still got the Citibank MasterCard Foreign Transaction Fee.

Next we’ll be buying an item (say a Sony TV receiver) at the corner store and be charged for buying from a foreign based company.

Ridiculous. The only way to force this money-addicts (and they still asking for millions from the tax payers to rescue them from their profit-seeking stupidities that almost broght the market to a collapse) is to get goverment involved and regulate the fees they can charge.

Better yet: don’t just call your senator-rep-WhiteHouse, also WRITE them and demand regulation.

Concurrent option: let’s organize and bring a law suit over them (Banks) to refund this Foreign Transaction Fee.

Ugh!!! Turn out you don’t need to be overseas to be charged with a Foreign Transaction Fee…