In the past I've mainly used Capital One when in Europe for charging. For any charge I can go to XE.com and it will give me the rate charged or the conversion amount from euros to dollars and the exact amount charged to my card will be within pennies of that -- after I add 1% which VISA charges above that rate. .

I now have a Hyatt Visa Signature Card from Hyatt which claims there are NO foreign transaction fees. So I charged a prepay hotel on the card. Online on my Visa account it shows the amount I was charged in US dollars. It is 1.1364 times the Euro amount, which seems high. The date of the transaction was 7/22. If I go to XE.com it shows the rate on that date at 1.089. If I go to the Visa.com site and look up their currency exchange calculator it shows that on that day they actually charge at a rate of 1.09699 which is about a percent higher -- just as I expected. But for some reason, although Chase insists they only charge me what VISA converts it to -- I am paying about an extra 4%. On this transaction alone it is about $30. I have called and spoken to two different supervisors at Chase and both insist that absolutely VISA is the one charging that amount. They say some Chase cards do charge 3% for foreign transactions, but my card absolutely does not and they have simply passed on the exact charge amount in US dollars provided to them by VISA. I called and spoke to a supervisor at VISA who insists that they only charged Chase at the rate of 1.09699.

So who's telling the truth? And what does this tell me? Should I just leave that Hyatt card at home and use my Capital One card? I'd love to be getting Hyatt points over the Capital One rewards.

It's not always the exact same date, of course, the transaction or conversion can be a day or two later than the date you made it. In fact, I think it usually is at least a day later. However, your figures do seem way off. Figures vary slightly depending on time of day and the website you use, also, I use oanda and it shows 1.087 for that date (which isn't that different, of course).

IN any case, I have a Chase Visa, also, but it's a SWA one. I'm pretty sure I've checked it before and it is always about zero fee, but I can check it later tonight or tomorrow and see what it shows as I just used it a week or two ago in Europe, also. I just don't have my original bills on me and the bill doesn't show the original euro amt, so I can't tell without them (I think my Cap One does actually show the transaction rate, which I like).

There shouldn't be any difference in Chase Visa cards regardless of the brand.

okay, I just checked mine out, I forgot I had some receipts in my email. And my Chase bill shows the date it was posted, not just the date it was made, I presume that's what you are using?

I made a charge posted 7/15/15 for 9 euro, it came through as $9.97 which is a rate of 1.108 (official rate that day on Oanda is 1.101).

I made a charge posted 7/5/15 for 30.8 euro which came through as $34.25, a rate of 1.112. Official rate that day was 1.111.

So I'm not seeing what you are on my Chase Visa card.

Well, actually there are differences in Chase Visa cards, and as they told me some of them actually do clearly charge 3% for foreign transaction fees, but they insist mine does not.

Yes, I realize it varies by pennies or fractions of pennies daily, but the rate hasn't been 1.136 for a LONG time now. Clearly someone is adding in around 4 %.

Christina, there are differences among the many dozens of Chase Visa cards. You can get ones with or with our a foreign transaction fee, for instance.

Patrick, I also have the Hyatt Visa card and have never been charged a foreign transaction fee. Call Chase (yes, again) and talk with someone from the Hyatt Visa card... the agents I have gotten from the Hyatt Card have uniformly been excellent. Call the number on the back of your credit card (not the general Chase number) and go over this with them. It does appear to me that you were charged a foreign conversion fee.

Kathie, has your rate always been the XE.com rate plus perhaps 1%? Have you checked religiously? I know in the past many companies have insisted they charge no fees, but use very inflated rates of exchange. This is not unlike those currency exchange booths at airports that have signs "NO FEE", but charge something like 5 to 6 percent above the current rate.

Yes, I called the number on the card and have had four conversations with Chase so far. Twice with agents and twice with "supervisors". They are adamant that they have added nothing to my charge and they only charged the exact amount that VISA determined. Somehow I find it very unlikely that VISA on their website would show an exact rate (to six decimal places) for an exact date and actually charge 4% more than that. I suspect something is wrong with what CHASE did.

One slight issue is that Chase says they can't even see what the actual charge in Euros was -- but it will appear when I get my actual statement -- 28 days from now. But I've also called Accor Hotels (who did the charge) to confirm the exact amount of euros they charged and to confirm they did not charge in dollars.

Oh, one of the reasons I like XE.com is you can enter any date to get the exact rate for that day. But during this process I've also learned that at VISA.com you can do the same thing and get the exact rate they charge on any given date.

Patrick, I do check my credit card statements "religiously." I just looked and realized that the last time I used the Hyatt card overseas was last May in Paris. I used it many times all of the charges were correct (a teensy bit more or less than the xe rate). I was going to use it in Peru, but got a call from Chase while we were in the Sacred Valley that my card had been charged by an online marketing firm in Germany, so they were closing the account and sending me a new card. Instead, I used my United card that also has no foreign exchange charges. And yes, those charges were correct.

Obviously, Chase did something wrong on the charges. It might be that you'll have to wait for your statement and challenge the charges at that time.

Please do follow up and let us know what happens!

I know there are difference in Visa cards but both Patrick and mine specifically state there are no foreign transaction fees, which is why I thought it was an apt comparison. It is the exact same bank and card type (Visa) and both say there are no foreign transaction charges.

"Obviously, Chase did something wrong on the charges. It might be that you'll have to wait for your statement and challenge the charges at that time.

Please do follow up and let us know what happens!"

I'm afraid you're right. But since our trip is actually within the next month, there's no way to know before we go if 3 or 4% is going to be added or not. So I'm guessing it's either take our chances, or leave that card at home and use Capital One instead.

Meanwhile Chrisine forgive me, but I don't get your "there shouldn't be any difference in Chase cards" and " I know there are differences in Visa cards" especially since I was talking specifically about the differences in Chase Visa cards.

I don't know that it will do any good, but it may be worth trying to get this issue escalated at Chase. Call them, tell them what you've said here - your card is not supposed to have foreign exchange charges, but it obviously did. You will leave the card at home unless you can get this taken care of before you go off on your next trip.

Kathie, you've just repeated exactly what I told two different Chase supervisors today, along with exact quotes of amounts, charged rates, and Visa quoted rates. These were lengthy and detailed conversations which led nowhere except insistence that Chase charged exactly what Visa charged them. There was no explanation as to how 1.09 became 1.13, except for them repeating such nonsense as "the rate can change daily" even when I explained I'm quoting Visa's rates for the exact day of transaction stated on my account.

I'm sorry they seem to be so clueless, Patrick.

Maybe it wasn't Chase. Maybe the hotel used dynamic currency conversion, converted the bill into US dollars themselves at an inflated rate, and Chase processed the charge in dollars as presented. DCC is a scam, and you may have been hit with it.

-Maybe it wasn't Chase. Maybe the hotel used dynamic currency conversion-

This could be the answer. What country is the hotel in?

They are suppose to ask, but they don't always do it.

Our Hyatt card was with VISA and never had problems like that. How frustrating for you.

rialtogrl and AJPeabody, I think you may have the answer. My confirmation clearly shows the amount charged in euro, and Accor insists the hotels charge in local currency, but each hotel bills separately, and I'm starting to suspect THEY did the conversion and charged it to Visa in US dollars. I have an email to them checking and expect to tell them to credit in full and recharge in local currency if that is the case.

It seems weird though that Chase cannot tell me what the actual charge was in euros. Maybe that's the reason -- it wasn't done in euros but in dollars? GRRRR.

Well, at least you now have a theory as to how this happened. Hopefully, it will now get clarified and remedied.

HappyTrvlr, the Hyatt Visa cards are all through Chase.

I haven't thought of Dynamic Currency Conversion in ages -- I thought that had pretty well been stopped. No? And I never heard of it in France which is where this is -- I know years ago in Ireland I had to get forceful for them NOT to charge in dollars as they kept insisting it was for my benefit. GRRR.

When I called Accor, they gave me the email of the hotel itself and said it is up to them how to charge, but Accor seemed convinced they would only have charged in euro. I'm guessing if they DID charge in dollars I could "demand" they credit it and rebill in euro? Although I can just see the glares I might get on arrival (here comes that troublemaker from the US).

Yes, if they did charge you in Dollars, Visa should refund you and the hotel can charge it again in Euros. By Visa's rules, they have to offer you the opportunity to have the charge in Euros - they obviously didn't do that.

Alas! DCC is alive and well, though fortunately it has been many years since I was last offered the "opportunity" to have a charge made in dollars rather than the local currency.