Capital One Credit Card in Paris??
 

Capital One offers credit cards with no international surcharge. Is its credit card as widely accepted in Paris as VISA or Mastercard? What has been your experience?

My Capital One card is a Visa card, and is accepted any place Visa is accepted.

My Capital One card is also a VISA card. No problem with it!

I used it everyday for a month with no problems.

My Capital One is a Master Card, it works as any Master Card, Same if it happen to be Visa

Let them know you are traveling abroad. They like to know and will give you a spcial number should you have any problem.

Capital One works just fine - Visa or MasterCard.

As mentioned, do phone with your travel dates and get the international number (you can call collect).

There is no such thing as a Capital One Card - that's just the issuing bank (like Chase or Citibank) and what you get is either a Visa or MC - depending on what you ordered. And yes - Visa and MC - from any bank - are both widely accepted.

Out of curiosity I googled Capital One. They list a number of different cards. I ordered the only one that mentioned the "no charge on International purchases"..It is called the Capital One Platinum Prestige card. That doesn't mean that the others don't do the same, but this one has it in their ad. Mine is on its way.

Most of my cards are Chase or BOA and AMEX. I will take the Capital One card along with others and give it a try.

When you go to Capital One website to choose a card, you'll get a page with all the varieties. Each one has a disclosure page, and each one mentions 'international transactions fee - none'.

I got a Capitol One Visa card especially to use for International Travel as they have no foreign exchange fees. I used mine for a week in Paris in April and then in Ireland in May with no problems. I was also in Denmark in May and noticed that some stores and restaurants in Copenhagen tag on a 5% fee if you use any credit card which I had not encountered in Europe before. Anyone else run into that? As one poster said, be sure and let your credit card company know where you are travelling to.

We've had Capital One for years and no problems abroad. I have M/C Platinum (no international fees) and hubby has Visa.

Just make sure you alert them ahead of time that you are going to Europe.

Do make sure you alert them ahead of time when you travel. On our first try at using the Cap One Visa card in Mexico, our charges were refused because we hadn't alerted Cap One in advance. Luckily our daughter was able to contact the company and let them know that we were indeed traveling. You have to dial the Cap One 800 number but then ask for the <u>fraud department</u>. Otherwise you'll be transferred around all day and in the end its the fraud dept. that takes care of this issue.

Yes, I agree with the above post. Make sure you speak with the Security Dept. Last fall while still in NY, I gave my card number to the school where I was going to take French lessons so they could take a deposit. I called Cap One, explained and they said fine. Needless to say the next day I get an email from the school that my cc was rejected. I called back to Cap One and then was transferred to the Security Dept. and all was straightened out. Why didn't they do that the first time? ;-)

&gt;...some stores and restaurants in Copenhagen tag on a 5% fee if you use any credit card which I had not encountered in Europe before. Anyone else run into that?&lt;

Yup. As long ago as 1978.

Small businesses can't afford the 5% CC charge.

((I))

I have also encountered the surcharge for credit card use in Denmark, but I can not recall seeing that anywhere else I have traveled in Europe, including the UK, France, Italy, Spain, Greece, and Portugal.

Companies can charge a fee for CC use in the UK.

Re: calling credit card companies prior to trip...I have always called them with dates and countries. I had one experience upon arriving in Nice and giving a card that it was blocked..used another..with time difference had to call them later. They had just failed to note it on the account. So...what I now do..call them twice a few days apart to see if has been noted on the account! Always something..........

After seeing an article on the Fodors site, I got a Capital One card for my trip to Paris in May. Even though I didn't plan to use the card often, it's nice to have as a backup. I ended up using it a couple times and was happy to see no surcharges on the bill!

I have a Capital One Mastercard I've used for years for a lot of my international travel and charges because of the no foreign transaction fee. I always do call their security/fraud dept. before a major trip -- however, I use that card on the internet to buy things or make hotel reservations in other countries, and it's never been declined for that reason, when I haven't notified them. Maybe they are used to me having a lot of foreign charges, I don't know, but they've never declined my card for just one foreign charge.

For example, I just used it online a couple weeks ago to buy a concert ticket in Switzerland for July, and they processed that one transaction with no problem.

We used our Capital One Visa in France (Paris and the Dordogne) in May. Never had any problems, but as one of the above posters said, call a second time to make sure they actually noted your trip on your account. The first person we talked had failed to do so. In my experience, their customer service is not great.

This showed up today:

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com...reditCard.aspx

Great article with all the right info. Thanks, Gracie.

I returned from Paris last week. I took a Capital One credit card along with 3 others and my euros. I only used the Capital One card. I have received the statement with all the charges and no added fees!

Be sure and call them prior to leaving with all your information. They ask that you call their Fraud Dept. They actually ask for more infomration than I have experienced with others.

We called Capital One to let them know of our trip to Italy in October. No problem until the final day of our trip when the card began being rejected. Phone calls as soon as we got back to the States straightened it out, but why they just arbitrarily decided to stop the thing after 9 days, who knows?

Possibly they keyed in the ending date incorrectly.

I learned several years ago to call a 2nd time several days after the first call to make certain that they had the correct information. I always do that now.

It was not Cap One who made the boo boo that time..it was Chase. I always call twice now.

Did you talk with the Capital One Fraud dept. or just a customer service rep? With Cap One it is necessary to contact the Fraud Dept.

bookmarking

A reminder that entities (CC companies, hotels, bureaux de change,etc..,) make money two ways when it comes to currency transactions...fees AND/OR exchange rates. So when you see &quot;no fees&quot; that does not necessarily mean that you did not pay to convert currency. The only way to know your total cost is to add up the fees (if any) and the currency exchange rate delta between the official exchange rate and the rate used for your transactions.

I arrived home from Paris just last night and trust me -- the Capital One Visa I took with me worked all too well. I just checked my account at their website and the charges are already there for me.

I called Capital One customer service as I boarded the flight at DFW and informed them of my plans, and they noted everything in my account. No worries!

Moments ago I talked with the Capital One center about this fee. Just a warning to all Canadians that Capital One charges a 2.5% surcharge on all international purchases. Certainly worth noting if you are considering one card over another.

Hi all, this is European Novice's husband again with a report on credit/debit transactions in Paris and London. Prior to our journey, I checked with several banks and found that Capital One No-Hassles does not add any conversion fees besides the 1% from Visa/Mastercard and pays a 1% reward, so it is essentially a wash. I was a bit concerned about it being a swipe and not a "chip" card, but it does not appear that any US issuers have chip cards. We also carried an American Express card as a backup, but were reluctant to use it as many have reported inflated exchange rates.

I also noticed several comments regarding additional fees on credit card purchases converted by a third-party known as "DCC". Apparently, some merchants were sold on simplified foreign currency conversion at the point of sale, but travellers noticed that their card issuers were still treating these "preconverted" transactions as foreign and tacking their own conversion fees onto what were ostensibly USD amounts.

To make our travels easier, we purchased prepaid passes for Paris transportation as well as Oyster cards for London, so we wouldn't have to face an argument with a pass machine, potentially in a language we had not mastered (French, that is).

I also notified my card issuers of our travel locations, dates and ATM maximums and asked for the names of "partner" banks that would charge no additional transaction fees.

As it turned out, we had no difficulty at all presenting the Capital One swipe card at bistros, gift shops, museums and hotels. Every location had a hand-held swipe reader and it worked like a charm. Only one location (a Paris hotel) offered to charge in USD but made no fuss when I asked to charge in Euros svp. Exchange rates for charges were nearly identical to ATM exchanges.

Our ATM story is a bit different. We had no problem using our ATM card in Paris, once we found the partner banks. In London, it was a bit different. First, as I noted the last time I visited London, about 20 years ago, half of everything is broken. One lift out of service, nearest bus stop closed, plumbing trouble and so forth. We found ourselves passing the partner banks as we watched from the bus window, our paths taking us away from those spots. When we did happen on a partner ATM, the machine was out of service. Two others were out of cash. Finally, we found one that would accommodate our request. Unfortunately for us, this particular machine was mounted low for accessibility and dispensed cash from a slot at the bottom. We had never encountered one like this previously and as soon as we realized where the cash had exited, the machine sucked it all back in. No further transactions that day, our limit was reached and we would not easily reach this spot again.

When we no longer needed the remainder on our Oyster cards, we went to an Underground station agent and asked to refund the reamaining balances. The agent claimed these were "prepaid" and could not be refunded, but we insisted as these were normal Oyster cards. After "asking" the other agent, he checked the balances and we received the remainder.

It turns out later that we had to cancel plans for which we expected to need that cash and could have made use of the Oyster card again, but that is another story. If you lose your cash at an ATM as we did, note the time and address and contact your bank's fraud department the next day to file a dispute for a failed transaction.

All in all, our clumsiness aside, you should have no problems using US issued swipe cards in Paris and London. Just check with your card issuers first about fees.

That's interesting that you managed to find a hotel in Paris that used DCC, I've never heard of a place in Paris that did. It isn't a matter of the merchant being sold on the conversion at the point of sale, they are doing it intentionally as a revenue source. They aren't stupid, they know they make money on it. That is the only reason they are doing it.

I don't think Capital One even charges the 1 pct Visa/MC fee.

I have been offered DCC in Paris on occasion (at an Hermès boutique, for one), but I've never been pressured or hassled when I declined.

I have had the CapOne Platinum mastercard for years and have always used it. They have recently also sent me their new Venture card..it is Visa. It is supposed to give you more 'points'. All their cards are without transaction fees.You may run into some small places that you have a problem with along with vending machines etc. I take other cards, too..just to have spares.

Always call and give travel dates and countries. Good to call twice. They sometimes do not note it on account!