Some correspondence from my credit card company. The question was about currency conversion fees for purchases made in the UK. Are these fees, on whole, average or below average?<BR><BR>"the currency conversion rate is made up of the wholesale rate plus 1% added by Visa or<BR>MasterCard and 2% added by First USA"<BR>

Sadly, those fees are the standard ones for credit card purchases in "foreign" currency that involve a currency exhange. The vast majority of US credit cards follow that policy. However, there have been a number of posts here recently regarding some banks that issue credit cards without that extra 2% charge. If you do a search you could easily find them, or someone will list them here for you. Apparently any card that offers frequent flyer mileage for credit card use will have those charges.

Unfortunately this probably is average, but you can do better. When I went to Europe last summer, I got a VISA through my credit union that charged only the 1% fee and not the additional 2%. You can find cards like this through some banks too. Since it was a 2 week trip and we charged several thousand, it made a difference. There are a number of questions on this board related to this. Try searching for "credit card".

Mike,<BR><BR>As everyone says, this topic has been literally "beat to death" lately.<BR><BR>However, Capitol One and MNBA do not add <BR>on the extra 2% "do nothing for it" fee.<BR>With my Capitol One Visa, I do get FF miles. I pay an annual fee of $17.00. The FF miles are good for most airlines.<BR><BR>Get rid of any card that charges an extra 2%. At least don't use it in Europe. The extra 2% can add up quickly and it is the same as stealing the money from your wallet.<BR><BR>Dick<BR><BR>

We have an MBNA card that we use primarily on our international trips, we found it to have the lowest fees. You can get a no-fee MBNA Mastercard from Barnes and Noble that has an added bonus of 1% back in book rewards. It helps pay for the travel books!

check today's wall street journal (4/23). good article w/ specific charges by card company