no foreign transaction fee, possible?
 

hello all,

figured it may get more hits in this board that the tips board.

we are going to be going abroad this summer. i dont want to carry wads of cash(used too, yikes!) but my bank charges foreign transaction fee on my credit card. sucks, i know. anyone know of a bank that doesnt? it'd be nice to have access to an ATM where i dont get dinged with FTF every time i withdraw cash abroad.

thoughts? thanks.

sorry, we are canadians so for canadian banks that is.

I have an RBC Avion credit card and don't get foreign transaction fees on that or a debit card from the same bank I use for cash withdrawals There is of course an exchange rate, and I think it is favourable, but can't say for sure. Of course if you use your credit card for cash advances you will be charged interest.

Capital One Visa has no foreign transaction fees.

Capital One.
Andrews FCU Chip & PIN Trekker card. A credit Union in Maryland.

Yhanks!

Capital One Canada is not automatically the same as in the USA. Here, it offers 12 credit cards, all of them MasterCard, according to its website. The one I held (not any more) did charge foreign transaction fees. I am eager to hear of any Canadian credit card that is completely free of any fees.
The RBC (Royal Bank) ATM card charges $3 for a cash withdrawal in the US and $1 for a purchase there. In other countries, a withdrawal in the local currency costs $5. My low-cost Royal VISA credit card imposes a fee on purchases of 2 1/2 per cent above the exchange rate. RBC offers a couple of Avion credt cards but the annual fee starts at $120, according to the RBC website.

eliztravels2 are you sure about no foreign currency transaction fee on your RBC Avion card? I can't find any mention of it on the RBC website. So far as I can tell RBC charges 2.5% over their prevailing rate on all foreign currency charges (obviously not for USD on their USD cards), but you have to search the fine print on their cardholder agreement. Everything else I read indicates that the only cards free of such charges in Canada are minor cards issued by Chase for Sears, Amazon and Marriott. Here's a good article on the subject which explains why the major card issuers in Canada continue to charge this fee and why we are not likely to see this change:

http://blog.rewardscanada.ca/2014/05...ees-hasnt.html

Laverendrye: I'm no currency expert, but I have checked my Visa statement for December when we were in New Zealand and Australia and the exchange was clearly a few cents on the dollar less than I would have been charged if I bought 'real' money at the currency exchange at home which guarantees the best rate. I wonder if the 'prevailing rate' you refer to is like the 'prime' rate for loans often quoted by banks, perhaps reserved for their biggest best corporate customers and seldom if ever available to retail borrowers. There were definitely not any fees in addition to exchange rate.

Autumnrain: Perhaps you are not aware that when using a credit card abroad you should always ensure that you are being charged in the local currency, and let Visa or whomever calculate the exchange. Sometimes hotels or vendors will offer to charge you in US dollars or perhaps your 'home' currency, but this apparently does not work to your advantage. Also, in some places anyone using a credit card, whether local or foreign, is charged a surcharge by the vendor. This was the case in New Zealand. There would be a sign by the cash register and mention by the sales person so we were never taken by surprise by this.

elixtravels2. The prevailing rate is the interbank rate, which is the one usually quoted in the financial pages, so a credit card premium of 2.5% would be the interbank rate plus that percentage. ATM rates vary by bank and are usually a percentage point below the credit card rate but your home bank will usually charge a flat service charge (say $5 per withdrawal) on top of that. Rates at kiosks are typically the inter-bank rate plus 5%. You are right that the interbank rate is rarely available to retail bank customers.

I don't know about RBC, but CIBC and TD don't show the 2.5% premium specifically but simply the rate of exchange used, which turns out to be interbank plus 2.5%. I don't get too concerned about it and regard it simply as the price of convenience.

You are right in your warning to Autumnrain. This practice, known as "dynamic currency conversion" is simply a means of generating extra profit for the merchant, as the exchange rate is invariably higher than the one used by the credit card bank. I always reject this offer. On one or two occasions I have had the merchant offer to accept payment in USD which is a double-whammy.

thanks for the heads up in regards to the "dynamic currency conversion". i dont really like using CC abroad, so this is for the "big things" like hotels, etc. but i think i may just stick to my current cc and chalk it up as the "price of convenience".

Thanks for the clarification, Laverendrye.

I agree that convenience is worth something, and unless you travel extensively throughout the year it makes sense to have the credit card that suits your purposes back home and not worry about the modest costs associated with travel. In my case if I use my CC points wisely it works out to a 2% rebate on purchases anyway.

I also have a Capital one card with no foreign transaction fees. Many cards are heading this way. So, check with your current cards and ask. One of my amex Delta airlines cards also has no transaction fees.

If you are a Canadian, there is one credit card that charges no foreign transaction fee (not to be confused with exchange rate). It is a Chase credit card.
All the rest charge at least 2.5 %. So if you are a Canadian travelling in France you could save $250 if you were to have used the credit card for $10,000 worth of purchases.
Of the Chase cards, the Marriott is favoured for other bonuses.
Of course if you are renting a car and want insurance waived, want double warranty on products, want travel insurance for travel purchased, there may be better credit cards for those purchases. So this is best used as a complimentary card to your stand-by.
If anyone has more current information I would love to hear it.
I understand that Rogers (as in cell phone service, TV, Blue Jays) has one as well.

To girl on the go:
I have Capitol One also but they tell me they don't have a card that does not charge for international purchases. Just wondering which one you have.
Thanks

By coincidence, I just saw a short video today in the Globe and Mail online that lists 3 cards as the only ones in Canada that don’t charge foreign transaction fees: Rogers Platinum MC, Amazon Visa, and Marriott Rewards. Of course each has its own benefits and drawbacks.

Here’s the link: http://fw.to/QIKnLgg

I’ve just signed on for a new offering by Tangerine, formerly ING. It has no annual fee, gives 2% cash back on up to three categories of spending, and charges a foreign transactions fee of 1.5% So if I use it for hotels, meals and entertainment out of the country I end up .5% ahead of the game. It has worked just fine for deposits and full payment on some out-of-the way places for an upcoming trip to Australia. Airline tickets do not qualify for cash back so I’ll use my RBC Visa for airfare as well as day-to day purchases at home and earn flights that way.


The Tangerine card has so far I think been offered only to existing customers and will have a widespread roll out at a later date.

hatterna, I have the Quicksilver cash back card from Cap one and it has no annual fee and no foreign transaction fees when used internationally. I got it specifically to go to Europe a few years back because of the no foreign transaction fees. I thought all their cards had that?

Capital One Quicksilver is not available in Canada. As eliztravels2 noted, the only cards available in Canada without a foreign currency fee are the three mentioned in the Globe video. The reason why most Canadian-issued credit cards charge such a fee are given in the article I posted upthread a year ago.

Interestingly, that article referred to two Sears cards without a foreign currency fee. These were issued by Chase, but were bought late last year by Scotiabank and the cards were discontinued as of this January.

If you're interested in no international service fees on atm cash withdrawals TD has All inclusive account which costs 29.95 a month unless you carry a balance of $5000 or over, then no fees at all. I love it.

I have the amazon.ca card. It is nice to not have the transaction fee, but I hate the card otherwise. They are constantly denying transactions for fraud purposes. It has gotten to the point I only use it when I travel. They were also really weird about not raising my credit limit when I asked. It is pretty low and I am financially sound so have no idea why they refused.