I'm not very savy when it comes to financial matters, but (fortunately) my DH is. I printed out a number of threads from Fodors concerning using credit cards in Europe and who charges what and such for him to look at before we leave next week. In going over various cards and charges, he discovered that Nordstrom Visa only charges 1% (which is Visa's fee) and they have no other fees or discounts added on in converting Euros to dollars. Thought this would be helpful information for many of you.

i knew i loved nordy's ...thnx...

That's great, but there are plenty of credit cards that don't charge a thing, like all of the ones that I use. This is certainly useful information but not exactly fabulous info.

Hey, artlover, thanks for taking the time to post this. I simply don't have the time to investigate these and do appreciate your information.

St Cirq, why don't you tell us what cards you use and give us some really stellar, fabulous help?

St.Cirg,

Yes, please tell! I'd love to be able to tell my husband he was wrong about something (he claims they all charge either 1% or discount the transaction, which they claim isn't a charge, but costs 1-2%).

St. Cirq:

I will do this as politely as possible and in all due respect for your misinformation but....

You are wrong. Every credit card passes along the 1% service charge of MC/Visa whether they tell you so or not. Actually they will be required to do so as that was what the law suit in California was all about. They receive a charge through the Visa/MC system that has had the 1% service charge of Visa/MC added to it so they are not about to lose money by lowering what the Visa/MC system charges them. Just because some customer service rep tells you there is no charge doesn't mean there is no charge. Example...the UK£ is today trading about at $1.70 US. So you go in and buy something for £10 in London. The international credit card system will convert this £10 to about $17.17, the extra 17 cents being the 1% charge of MC/Visa. Believe me your bank is not going to revert it to $17, they simply pass along the $17.17 and may or may not tell you the exchange rate or bury the 1% in the exchange rate. Of course, many of the banks add another $.34 and charge you $17.51 (some even charge the 2% on the converted amount compounding the 2% fee...not a big deal of course to you as an individual but a rich source of fee income for the banks with millions of such transactions).

Of the big credit card banks, MBNA and Capital One do not add anything to the 1% Visa/MC fee but some of their customer service reps still tell callers there is no fee for foreign conversions. That is they put on no fee for foreign conversions; it has already been jacked up by 1%.

The additional fee usually of an additional 2% is added to the amount converted by Visa/MC making a total of 3%.

I don't know if Nordstrom Visa is an entity unto itself or is affiliated with MBNA or Capital One.

There are other banks, usually small credit unions or smaller banks that do not charge an additioinal fee but they all pass along the 1%. Except they don't tell you in the exchange rate they are doing so.

So sir would you please tell us which bank is giving you a 1% discount off of what it pays MC/Visa on foreign charges.

Capital One doesn't have any upcharges or surcharges. Best of all you can earn frequent flyer points with Capital One. MBNA is another one that doesn't have any upcharges or surcharges, but you don't earn frequent flyer points.

xyz123, I agree with you regarding Capital One and MBNA.

Well before anyone gets all super excited about the Capital One airline points you may want to know the restrictions which come with that program: 21 day advance purchase, must stay over a Saturday, no open-jaws itineraries allowed, no foreign flag carriers allowed, and the awards levels are somewhat higher than many of the airline frequent flyer programs.
As to that 1% that "Visa" supposedly charges..if there are any charges they are from the bank which issues the card, not from "Visa" as some sort of separate entity.
But that's beside the point. I'm still waiting to hear about all these "no charges" cards that St. Cirq is supposedly carrying but it looks as if there are just some "travel secrets" that are ever going to be revealed!

I think St Cirq was talking about 0% APR and did not realise that artlover was talking foreign currency transactions.
It is easy to be fooled by 0% commission. We had one example of a company this summer who tried to tell us it was commission free but all they do is give you a lousy exchange rate!

To JonJon

You stated "As to that 1% that "Visa" supposedly charges..if there are any charges they are from the bank which issues the card, not from "Visa" as some sort of separate entity."

I hope it is not semantics. Yes, all charges on credit cards are determined by the bank, not by Visa or MasterCard. I keep reading from some ignorant people how visa is better than mastercard (or vice versa) because visa charges less. That is, as you stated, absurd.

However, pls read my post about this foreign currency surcharge. Both Visa and MasterCard basically use the interbank rate which is far better than the tourist rates you often see in the nespapers to make foreign currency exchanges. To this rate, both visa and mastercard add a 1% fee for this service which is probably justified. The bank then passes this charge along to its customers on the statement. So yes I guess you can say it is the bank making the charge. But trust me, visa indeed does impose the 1% charge. The variations occur because some banks then impose an additional 2% charge...the important point being some banks but not all banks.

"there are plenty of credit cards that don't charge a thing"

I, too, am waiting for StCirq to remove foot-from-mouth and provide us with the "fabulous" info we ALL seem to be missing. Could you PLEASE list ALL your free-fee cards, StCirq? If you can show me a bank that works for free then I'll show you a bridge I can sell at a great price.

carnie

To Leslie,

We have a MBNA World Points M/C that allows us to earn freq.flyer miles, and there is no annual fee. When I asked Capital One they told me that there is a $19 or 20 annual fee for their mileage card.