Comments on: List Of Credit Card Foreign Currency Transaction Fees

By: Dylan in Warsaw

Dylan in Warsaw — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 21:25:34 +0000

Capital one seems like a great deal - and I got their Platinum Cash Card for the specific reason that they said they did not charge a foreign currency transaction fee. But then when I started to make charges overseas, I saw that the amount actually charged is approximately 1% higher than the published rate in the WSJ.

What’s with the discrepancy? The answer is buried in their legal conditions and terms: “For international transactions, MasterCard’s currency conversion procedure includes use of either a government mandated exchange rate, or a wholesale exchange rate selected by MasterCard for the processing cycle in which the transaction is processed, increased by an adjustment factor established from time to time by MasterCard. The currency conversion rate used by MasterCard on the processing date may differ from the rate that would have been used on the purchase date or cardholder statement posting date.”

Best I can tell is that they use the adjustment factor as a type of foreign currency transaction fee. If not - what’s with the discrepancy?

By: Sal

Sal — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 23:45:51 +0000

We travel a lot and have been using CapitalOne for the last few years, after being burned with high overseas transaction fees on our regular Visa (MBNA/Bank of America). CapitalOne has been driving us crazy with unannounced blocks on any transactions with an overseas business, even though we go out of our way to notify them in advance. Each time we call them and wind up talking to several different people before the problem is corrected. Sometimes we think the problem was corrected and find out later that it wasn’t. We are now looking for an alternative solution, because CapitalOne’s practices are out of control and too much to put up with.

By: Russ

Russ — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 16:33:57 +0000

The answer would be to eliminate Credit Cards altogether. We all carry a cell phone so using the WAP portion - we can do the transaction less than the CC charges. Since it is PIN driven no lost ID or CC fraud. It’s great for the merchant since the transaction would no be subject to charge-backs.

By: jim

jim — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 19:29:24 +0000

I have made severla purchased from “overseas” retailers over the years. On a recent purchase I noticed the next month a finance charge. Since I pay my CC payment each month in full I called BOA. They stated FTF are billed as advanced cash billing and that the interest is compounding. I told them that was crazy and cancel my card. They agreed to waiver this fee. Next month if there is a fee this card is bye bye……any suggestions for a CC that will not do this????

By: JA

JA — Sat, 31 May 2008 01:26:30 +0000

CapitalOne is also extremely slow in posting large transactions, which means you can be left with no available credit for weeks while traveling. I recently had an $8k hotel bill for a large business group I was traveling with. When I paid the hotel CapitalOne immediately reduced my available credit by the $8k, but I couldn’t pay my credit card bill until this finally showed up on my account a week later. Then, when I immediately paid the bill off in full on-line, fraud put a 2 week hold on my payment because it was too large. End result, for 3 weeks I couldn’t use my card while traveling, even though I had previously set aside enough money to pay off my full credit card balance immediately. Not a good solution when you’re overseas and you need a card you can rely on! I’d rather pay the fees and have a functional card.

By: PG

PG — Wed, 21 May 2008 14:27:29 +0000

The CapitalOne card seems like a good deal, but they refused to honor a charge I made to buy airline tickets, and by the time I had straightened it out I had to pay an additional $500 because the prices went up at the end of the week. Unlike many other cards, CapitalOne does not tell you when it is going to refuse a charge (for example, Bank of America will take the charge and then call you), so even if you tell them ahead of time they can decide to leave you stranded. As a result, I may pay a higher fee, but at least my card works.

By: Jill

Jill — Wed, 21 May 2008 10:25:56 +0000

I tell my overseas visitors to New Zealand about this all the time and they often look at me like I’m crazy. “Our credit cards are an extension of us. Surely they wouldn’t bite us!” I’ve linked to you in some travel tips I’ve posted and hope your info will bring clarity, or at least stimulate good questions before people buy up large.

Jill

By: Ken

Ken — Mon, 12 May 2008 19:01:47 +0000

Anyone have luck negotiating with their credit card company to temporarily wave the foreign transaction fee?

By: Kelly

Kelly — Thu, 08 May 2008 16:46:04 +0000

Discover has struck a deal with UnionPay, a Chinese credit card, so that Discover is accepted all over China. It is actually now more widely accepted than Visa or MasterCard. I know this because I am on a month-long trip to China and Hong Kong and researched what card to use before I left. Sometimes the merchant might not know what to do with the card, but you just need to tell them it is a UnionPay card.

By: Raymond

Raymond — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 06:56:57 +0000

No problem Mike. These credit card companies definitely don’t do a good enough job of advertising these foreign transaction fees. But then again, why would they want to spoil a good thing for them…

By: Mike Marvin

Mike Marvin — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 21:43:43 +0000

Thank you for your post. I have been using the wrong Visa card when I have a Capital One Visa card on my wallet. I have been charged 3% for all transactions…From now on Capital One is the one I will be using