kybourbon

>>>Now I always get charged in the native currency, but I think I did a test last Fall with my AMex in Barcelona and had it charged in USD.<<<

Unless they've changed policies recently, AmEx doesn't participate in DCC.

***It's important to note that DCC transactions currently apply almost exclusively to MasterCard and Visa. If you use an American Express card, your life is simpler and in some cases cheaper. AmEx is a closed system, without all the intervening banks and processors. The company adds a flat 2 percent currency conversion fee to overseas transactions and, aside from one merchant account, has "not had demand from merchants or cardholders for DCC," said spokeswoman Christine Elliott. (Discover Card doesn't add a fee for any foreign transactions, but is accepted in very few countries outside the United States.) ***

Christina

I'm not sure what you are suggesting, that the charge wouldn't go through or what. An Amex customer service agent specifically told me to use it as a way to avoid their exchange markup, so why would they be instructing their agents to say that? This happened just a couple months ago.

And on my card, the rate is 2.7 pct and it was on the prior Amex I had, also (which was a Skymiles, now I just have the Blue Cash one). I know Amex doesn't charge 2 pct. Maybe they do on some cards, but I've had 2 different Amex type cards over many years, and it has always been 2.7 pct on both.

Uma

Had an interesting experience at Hotel Rey Juan Carlos in Barcelona last month. Since I've always been charged in euros, I didn't think twice about giving my credit card for the light dinner we had in the lobby bar. Our server returned with the bill charged in dollars. Told him immediately I wanted that changed to euros. He said it was impossible, so I took the bill to a manager who agreed with the server. Told him to give me a credit and I paid in euro currency. Left me with a bad taste for the hotel. Got my statement yesterday and they did, indeed, issue a credit.

xyz123

Uma...just to clarify. You wanted them to void the transaction not issue a credit although in your case you probably used a cc without the dreaded 3% foreign transaction fee and since the credit and purchase were within minutes, there was't enough time for the currency to change. If you card has the asinine should be illegal 3% foreign transaction fee, the 3% is added to a charge and subtracted from a credit! Like I said, in your case it probably didn't matter but...

there is no way in whatever I will ever let a merchant pull this garbage on me and pay in cash. Period. Look at what I said above. Circle the amount in local currency, cross out the amount in your currency and write local currency not offered and sign next to it. Then when you get home, dispute the charge. Either, if it's a small amount, your bank will credit you for the difference or they will have to charge back the transaction hopefully causing the merchant a fine. If enough people do this, this scam will disappear.

xyz123

One other quick item to note. Amex is no longer a closed system. Many banks who offer mc and visa also offer Amex cards and they have their own individual policies regarding foreign transaction fees and many people are just not aware of the differences involved. For example, I have an American Express card offered by FIA, the successor of MBNA a subsidiary of Bank of America attached to my Fidelity Brokerage account or better stated pushed through Fidelity. It is an Amex card, it has a 1% foreign transaction fee (although it might be, I'm not sure a foreign currency transaction fee) but the card offers me a 2% rebate on everything I buy deposited directly into my Fidelity brokerage account. To the person giving the story of how a customer service rep went through this with him or her, perhaps you were not speaking to Amex but a csr from a bank offering your Amex card.

As I said, I am pretty sure, Amex itself does not allow dcc and on most amex cards issued by Amex (and they're not the same thing) the foreign transaction fee is 2.7%

greg

Now ATMs also participate in this scheme! I went through CDG last week, and the only ATM machine in the departure secure areas I could find was a Trevelex ATM. Starting with the initial screen until just before "ok", it wanted to give an impression that only way to get Euro from this machine was to participate in DCC and pay ~10% premium. Just before the last step, there was a button at a corner of the screen, as if it was a reluctant capitulation to a regulation requirement offering DEBIT WITHOUT CONVERSION, which then "warned" me of fees charged by my bank as if what I did was an uninformed act! I thought it was a deceptive way to construct the screen sequence. I checked my bank activities later to verify that no DCC took place.

Uma

xyz, I used my Chase Preferred which has no foreign transaction fees. He had actually already put the charge through in dollars. So just told him to credit me back in dollars. Paid the original euro amount on the bill in euro currency. What bothered me most was them lying. The server did give me a credit receipt and then complained that I was taking up too much of his time! Didn't trust that the credit would actually go through so was prepared to dispute the charge with Chase when I got home. Glad I didn't have to.

Huggy

Hr