PSA - most US credit cards now charge 3% for foreign transactions
 

I was pretty shocked and kind of outraged when I found this out very recently. The only cards I know of that don't charge 3% are Amex (2%), CapitalOne (1% still... for now at least), and cards issued from credit unions. Visa and MC charge 1% so there's no getting around that, but 3% is just offensive.

Just a heads up for those of you who haven't heard about this yet. I always relied heavily on CCs when traveling, now I have to see how this stacks up against our ATM cards (some have hefty fees for overeas use too!) for our upcoming trip.

I have a visa issued by Nordstrom (nordstrom bank) that still charges just 1%. According to the customer service department, they do not plan to raise that fee in the near future, despite what other card issuers have been doing.
I just returned from overseas, and using this card saved me a great deal. My MBNA card used to be just 1%, but that was raised last month.

Citibanc AAdvantage card is 3% (1%MC 2%citi)

I was surprised to, this fee used to get added to your purchase price, now they are separating it out and will show as a finance charge.

I had no idea!

How on earth do we get around that w/o having tons of cash on hand???? ATM fees can get outragous.
When in Oz last, I paid waaaay over on my CC so a had a large credit. Then I ATMed using my CC (got around finance charges) Would this still work?

How do you get around it? You find a card issuer, like nordstrom bank, that isn't adding an additional fee. They charge the 1% visa fee, and that's it.

I figured out what we are going to do...
We have a Costco Amex that charges 2% but you get a 2% rebate on any travel-related charge (flights, cruises, hotels, travel agents, tours), 3% back on any restaurant, and 1% back on everything else.

We also have a Citi Platinum Select Mastercard that charges 3% commission but you get 5% cash back on gas, groceries, and drugstores and 1% back on everything else.

If you have good rewards cards like I do, the commission problem should be moot. Am I missing anything?
Between these 2 cards we should be better off than using travelers cheques and lots of ATM fees.

Hi there,

Just in case there are some UK Fodorites reading this.....

The Nationwide do not charge commison for foreign transactions. What's more, they use the comercial exchange rate (not the tourist rate) when calculating the exchange. The only thing to watch for with the card is that if you withdraw cash your incur a 1.5% cash advance fee (most other cards charge at least 2%) and cash withdrawls have no interest free period (this is the same with all other cards).

If you have a current account with them, you can withdraw cash abroad for free (also using the comercial rate).

We've taken out both, purely for our travels.

Milliemoo

re: CapitalOne, I've received recent offers from them. If I remember correctly, they were showing a 3% International Transaction Charge. Does anyone know of a travel site that lists lower transaction charge cards.

Thanks.

-Dave

Partial answer to my own question at:

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/cc/20050624b1.asp

Shows cards & rates.

-Dave