The Best Card for Oversees
 

This, which appears, in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on December 20, 2007, explains a problem I had with Bank of America that caused me to switch to Capital One:

Q: How much do banks charge to use a credit card overseas? What is the best credit card to use overseas? Is it better to use a credit card or ATM card when traveling abroad?

A: Visa and MasterCard levy a 1 percent charge, and banks then tack on 1 to 2 percent on top of that. So travelers should expect to pay a 1 percent to 3 percent fee when they purchase items abroad. Capital One is the only bank that doesn't pass the foreign-transactions charge onto consumers. It absorbs the charges levied by Visa and MasterCard, according to Justin McHenry, research director with IndexCreditCards.com, which compiles a chart of those fees. When it comes to getting cash in local currency, your ATM or debit card is the way to go.

McHenry's research indicates Bank of America, Chase, Citibank, U.S. Bank, Wells Fargo and GE Money charge 3 percent to use their Visa or MasterCard cards abroad, including Canada. American Express charges 2 percent. Discover doesn't charge, but it is rarely accepted outside North America.

Hi H,

AFAIK, Visa/MC add 1% to the bank rate rate before they bill the CC.

Capital One doesn't add anything beyond that.

((I))

Capital One doesn't pass on the Visa 1% fee, either. I compared my statement charges, receipts and daily interbank rate and did not see any 1% increase.

My Compass Bank ATM withdrawals -did- show a 1% increase.

I have a Capital One master and I am very happy with it .
Only thing once happened to me and had nothing to do with them, is that the hotel (in Spain) produced a charge in dollars for me to sign, which I rejected. They did not know what to do exactly to come back to the euro original charge, so I took cash and paid them

I have chosen one stop banking by using my credit union. Credit card transactions do have the 1% Visa fee, listed separately, but I am not charged anything for using my ATM card to withdraw money from a foreign bank. I have tested this by withdrawing within 2 minutes the same amount of money from a BNP Paribas bank in France using my CU ATM card and my BankAmerica ATM card. The rate of exchange was exactly the same.