Conversion fee added to charge purchases
 

Hellow fellow travellers, <BR>Just retuned from a marvelous week in Paris. Loved it, loved it, loved it!!!! Just received my charge bill last night, much better than I had expected, actually got away cheap! But what came as a surprise was the conversion fee added to all my charge purchases. Although it was very insignificant, it was something I wasn't aware of. Thought I'd pass this info on to other travellers, just in case some of you weren't aware of this too. For those of you who have experienced this charge, what other countries do this? <BR>Thanks, <BR>Carol

It's not the country tacking on a fee--it is your bank's agreement with your credit card. Some cards have lower fees than others, depending mostly on the bank or financial institution which issued it.

Thanks, Don. This is the first time I ever incured such a fee. It really was a surprise since we travel to Europe at least once a year. Must be someting new with my charge card company. Bummer. Do you know what banks don't add this fee? Carol

I noticed it this year, too. IIRC, I picked up on it from Consumer Reports Travel Letter or from consumer guru Clark Howard's radio show--maybe both covered it. The general trend was that most banks now have the conversion fee, but some credit unions do not (yet) tack it on. My guess is it is a negotiable fee such as late payment fees, over the limit fees, APR, etc. that a financial institution works out with it's credit card brands.

just curious Carol as to how you are being billed; I know one of my credit cards does add on a conversion fee and I know about how much it is from knowing the approx. bank rate and comparing what I was charged on a day (or comparing to a same-day ATM withdrawal) but my card does NOT itemize anything called a conversion fee, it's just rolled into the exchange rate shown for the calculation by item on the bill noted on the item on the bill (ie, last July when charging on my card in Paris, I knew the official exchange rate was about 7.6F to 1USD and when my bill came in, my credit card converted it at about 7.4F 1USD which I figured out was a 3 pct loss. No notation on the card would tell you they are doing that and I'm sure many if not most clients would just think that was the going rate that day for exchange, whereas I know what they are doing. Does your credit card actually itemize a separate charge as a conversion fee? Actually, that seems kind of dumb from a PR point of view, although more honest.

We just returned on Monday from a trip to London and Paris. I called each of my credit card companies before we left to inquire about how we would be charged on the conversation. There was quite a difference from card to card. So I knew before I went which card of ours there would not be a conversion fee tacked on, and that is the primary card we used on our trip. Check in advance and you'll know exactly who's charging what!

most major banks now add a 2% fee for foreign currency transactions. this fee is in addition to and independent of the 1% fee charged by the credit card company. the fee also applies to debit cards, I believe, and may or may not be itemized on your statement-depends on your bank.

Just called Amex and they charge "up to 2%".

We've been home a week from London and Paris and the Visa bill just came in and I, too, discovered the coversion fee. I was unaware of that also, although I still was glad to use credit cards when possible and not have to hassle with coverting travelers checks!

I guess that's the bottom line: that while the fee is unwelcome, cards are still the way to go in comparison with alternatives.