mcnyc

FYI - we have to different MBNA issued credit cards: I have WorldPoints, my mom has an old converted EAB credit card. Both cards were used in Asia just last month, neither card was charged the atrocious 2%. It seemed as if we weren't even charged the Visa/Mastercard 1%. The horrors!

However, my brother's MBNA card (strangely, also WorldPoints) definitely charges 3%. And let me tell you, it may not sound like it, but it is a lot!

Christina

that's kind of interesting, mcnyc -- I don't understand it.

I knew they had different arrangements for different branded cards, but the terms online I checked are for the standard MBNA cards, not branded, and you are asked to apply based on them fully disclosing the terms on there. Worldpoints was one I looked at, so how can one person have the surcharge (mcnyc's relatives) and not others?

Well, maybe they do just include it in the paperwork you get when you apply and include things that aren't online (at which point you can cancel it), but that doesn't seem like any way to do business. I still have my AAA Visa, anyway, so wouldn't be applying for any other MBNA card, I just wondered what the situation was.

rkkwan

I have a Worldpoints MBNA card associated with a major university's alumni assocation. I hardly use the card, but when it was only charging me 1% it was the primary card I used overseas. Now, it's 3%, and I just don't use it. AE (2%) is the one I use if I can.

111op

AE only charges 2%? Didn't someone say that AE charges more? Like 5% or something?

Or maybe I just misremembered.

Travelnut

I used an MBNA card for two purchases in Sept '05 - the extra transaction fee was added as a separate line; I don't remember if it was the full 3% or 2% but they definitely charged me more than the former Visa 1%.(the "type" is a M/C "Elite" that earns points).

I cheated them all out of their lousy 2-3% fees by using my debit card for everything else (max. fee of 1%).

Sue4

For my May '05 trip I very pointedly did not use my Citibank AAdvantage card, which I always have to get the FF miles. I used my MBNA AAA card and MBNA LLBean card, neither of which charged the 2%. Maybe they do now - who knows??
I don't trust any of the banks!

mcnyc

I think MBNA will get more confusing as time goes on, mainly because of Bank of America's business practice of imposing that criminal extra 2% fee. We are a little dumbfounded that while my card and my brother's MBNA card are the same brand, they charge differently. We've yet to figure out why. Needless to say, he's not using HIS MBNA abroad.

AmEx charges a 2% foreign fee, not as good as 1%, but not as bad as 3%. I carry mine as a backup.

Bank issued credit cards are a <b>HUGE NO NO</b> as they charge the full 3% fee (which includes the MC/Visa 1% charge). I do admit to carrying one as a backup, should plan A (MBNA) and B (AmEx) fail. Fortunately, I have not any need for a plan C. Let's keep it that way.

I don't depend on the terms and conditions of credit card applications online, as they do not disclose everything until you've been approved.

Now, if we can only get over Capital One trying to screw us over about a year ago...because it seems they're the way to go for a feesless purchase abroad.

clevelandbrown

You are wrong in stating that bank-issued credit cards are A HUGE NO NO.

I have bank-issued credit cards that provide better terms (1% network fee) than any of the cards you tout, and there is another bank that even eats the 1% fee imposed by the network.

My experience is that web-sites occasionally will show the costs of overseas usage, but if they don't show it, that doesn't mean there are none. Every US bank I have dealt with provides this information in the cardholders' agreement they send us, and when they change the terms, they send us a new or amended cardholders' agreement; apparently many of us don't bother to read these, and would rather get our information from anonymous posters, who may or may not know what they are talking about.

I'm surprised by how many posters here have multiple cards that appear to duplicate each other. I know the card issuers are relentless in sending out solicitations, but who needs a whole deck of mastercards?

Christina

I'm with you, clevelandbrown, I'm surprised at the number of cards some people have also, and some people say they never use some of them. I've had credit card companies threaten to cancel cards if you didn't use them enough, they just don't want the administrative costs. I have had other charge cards automatically cancelled if I didn't use them often enough, but those were store cards.

I only have two -- one Visa and one MC, and that's all I want. I just wouldn't want to keep track of them all, and if you are getting any perks from them (I get cashback or points on both), it makes more sense to consolidate. I do like having one of each, as once I had a problem in London when the entire MC network went down, and I could only use my Visa. I think it's good to have different kinds in that regard.

In any case, I think we have evidence that MBNA does indeed charge an extra foreign transaction fee on some or most of their cards, and that article by Frommers was wrong by stating they didn't charge one (which is what I thought).

JJ5

Thanks for posting! I have a World Points MBNA and will be careful. So far I've never had the 3% taken in Europe.

mcnyc

Clevelandbrown: Just out of curiousity, which bank cards do you carry that don't charge the 3%? I know for a fact that Citibank, Chase, and Bank of America charge this fee, to me at least.

I must agree with you though, people should read their cardholder agreement. Never trust the fine print.

Dare we ask how many cards each person holds?

clevelandbrown

I have my cards from USAA Federal Savings bank. Many people have also posted that credit unions have a like deal, but I would check on the specific credit union to be sure. Also, I've read that CapitalOne (I think) not only doesn't add to the network charge, they actually pay it themselves so your cost is nothing, but some people have mentioned other difficulties with that bank; since I don't deal with them, I cannot give a definitive answer.

While no percent or one percent is better than three percent, if you apply those figures to the amount many of us spend overseas, we are not talking about big bucks, and it may very well make sense to stick with a bank, even though they charge a higher percentage on overseas transactions, because of other factors.

Despite what some posters have said, it is certainly possible, indeed even likely, that the bank does have higher costs tied to overseas transactions than domestic transactions, and if they choose to recover some or all of those costs from those of us who do those transactions, that is their business. While cost accountants insist that expenses be associated with revenues, it is common business practice that a company, be it bank or store, will take a loss in one area and make it up by charging more in another area. That is up to them and I know of no law that requires them to reveal those practices to their customers, nor their competitors.

Also, anyone who calls a clerk in customer service and demands an explanation that the clerk certainly would not have is behaving foolishly, and moreso when they complain that they have been gouged and misled and lied to. If the clerks weren't trained to try and be so accomodating, they would simply say &quot;this is our charge; I don't know why it is this percentage instead of that, any more than I would know why we are offering fixed rate mortgages at x%.&quot;

xyz123

I don't accept banks have higher costs for overseas transactions but for domestic ones....banks have higher costs for transactions at diamond merchants than for the corner fast food chain yet there are no surcharges....

This 2% surcharge is a rip off plain and simple...the bank provides no service for it and tries to tell us it's for foreign currency fluctuations when they do not participate one iota in the foreign currency transaction.

In that sense it is a sham and quite frankly would have been still born if moronic people did not immediately switch banks when Providian first introduced it...then several banks followed suit and when people continued to march like lambs to the slaughter house, they had won.

Remember when AT&amp;T began their credit card business and began offering credit cards guaranteed not to have an annual fee for life and people actually began migrating to this card..suddenly annual fees began disappearing. Today other than the airline reward cards, nobody should be paying an annual fee for a mastercard or visa card. If your bank continues to charge you one, simly pick up the phone and tell them you would like to close the account because you can go to Citibank for a card without an annual fee. Watch how fast the customer service rep will say to you, oh of course we will waive the annual fee. Why...because people would not pay the annual fee if they had an alternative. Now they have an alternative with these fees but many people are too stupid to understand what's going on...I have heard people say well the fee is charged by mastercard and not by visa not comprehending that neither mastercard or visa has anything to do with this 2% fee, it is the bank that does it.

There is no defence for the banks on this one no matter how much you want to believe in free enterprise, it is a near criminal fee to charge me for no service being provided and I will never be convinced otherwise.

JJ5

I agree. It is not accident that banks and insurance companies own the biggest buildings in the world. I'm all for the free enterprise system, but that's a fee they &quot;can&quot; get, so they try.

I have never paid the annual fee to anything, nor service charges of this type either- but cancel that card if not removed immediately. And I have very few credit cards, never more than 2 that I use.

kayd

One excuse I've heard for the banks' bonus percentage is that they get more challenges to foreign transactions and those transactions are more difficult to resolve.
I can believe that this is true because I have challenged only 4 or 5 transactions in 25 years of using AmEx,Visa,MC and two of those were foreign. In other words, half of my challenges have been for foreign transactions although foreign transactions amount to less than 1 percent of my lifetime credit card transactions.
What I have a hard time accepting is that the banks need to add a whopping 2 percent to every foreign transaction; if they said 0.25 or 0.5 percent I might be more willing to swallow it.

crckwc

I used my MBNA World Points Platinum Plus Visa in UK, Ireland and France in September and October this year and no transaction fees were added. I wish I had used this card more since it turned out to have the best net transaction rate.

JJ5

That's the same one I have, crckwc and with the same result. Hope it stays that way.