What I hope to see again is the foreign-currency cost for a transaction AND the equivalent in dollars.

I posted on this topic in Traveler's lounge last week and got no responses. MBNA has increased their fees to 3% and I can't get CapitalOne to acknowledge their fees without signing up for a card.

My understanding is that VISA corporate charges a 1% fee then the banks can add additional. MBNA was at the minimum 1% for years, but effective mid-May raised to 3%. Citi and Chase list 3% on their websites as does Bank of America. US Bank is also 3%.

You have to take it in perspective. Is 3% worth it for the protection a credit card gives you in some retail transactions? Is it cheaper than the interest rate on cash advances? Do you want to carry your ATM card too?

AmEx is selling a 'travelers check card' which is a prepaid card. Not only does it have the same 3% fee, but it costs $14.95 to buy, $5 each time you add value, and you can only put $2750 on it at one time - is your credit card better than this.

It is not a scam - it's just a profit center for the banks, particularly for people like me who pay balances in full each month so don't pay interest charges.

pb and j,

You say they "simply slipped it in" to their terms & conditions. Do you know any cc company who would actually highlight an additional fee that they charge? In blaring print? They didn't fool you, you just didn't notice it.

Shame on you, not them!

Can someone explain what the 1% fee that always was charged how that was shown? Was it rolled into the exchange rate?

Putting mine and my husband's CC statements next to each other... Both showed the original transaction amount and the USD amounts so we could calculate the exchange rates. They were either exactly the same or very close. But his had a fee for the month equal to 3% of the USD value of his foreign transactions. So his is costing 3% more than mine.

Well, while I agree that this isn't a "scam," I'm surprised no one has highlighted how ridiculous it is that the banks charge anything at all. The way I understand it, Visa or MC charge a 1% fee for the currency exchange. That's perfectly reasonable. What's not, however, is the bank adding an additional 1-2%.

Contrary to what some posters claimed, this is not justified as a fee for a service. The banks receive the charge in US dollars (thanks to Visa/MC), just like any domestic transaction. They don't do anything differently and are therefore only charging it because the public doesn't notice or make a big stink about it.

I would be interested to hear more about the idea of Visa/MC charging the full 3%...that's a new one.

Mel...it's called added profit.

I'm with PB&J on this one. If it turned out to be a sneaky (but disclosed in fine print) 3% surcharge on fanny pack purchases, the rest of you would all be up in arms over it!

?

I guess that was supposed to be funny?

Loki ~ Nope, not at all. I never, ever use a fanny pack, so would have no need to purchase one.

The point of my post is to make others aware of this situation.

I, personally, am outraged. Others, apparently think that it's just fine or that I'm at fault. Thanks for that.

However you slice it, it's still a big increase in fees and that's just crap.

This is not new news. If you read over on the Fodors Europe forum this is discussed near daily. Not all but many credit card issuers have added this new fee, and no I do not consider it a "scam" just an unfortunately change in standard business practice.

pb and j,
Traditionally, the 1% currency conversation fee charged by VISA would have not broken out on your statement. It was bundled in with the transaction price.

If your upcoming month-long trip is to Europe,please be aware of what's known as "dynamic currency conversion". This one has also been discussed in detail on the Europe board.
What happens in dynamic conversion is the merchant will convert your Euro or Pound Sterling VISA purchase into dollars at the point of sale. The merchant is required by VISA to ask your permission to do this but sometimes that requirement is conveniently ignored by the merchant.
DO NOT allow a merchant to ring up your sale in dollars, because the merchant can use whatever exchange rate he chooses. The merchant gets to pocket any profit from the conversion and you still get socked with VISA's 1% charge plus whatever extra percentage your VISA card issuer tacks on.
Read what VISA has to say about dynamic conversion
http://corporate.visa.com/pd/consumer_ex_faq.jsp#faq4

pb_and_j - I don't see fault being placed anywhere, nor should it be. CC companies have increased their fees (or are stating them differently at least) and you don't like it. You don't have to like it, but you either have to live with it, find CC companies that don't do this, or don't use credit cards. It's not a scam, it's just a fee associated with doing business with them.

All business charge you for using their products and services, and costs change from time to time.

As I said before, I can understand getting the word out about this (though as has been pointed out, it's not news). But you don't seem to want to accept that it's just business, not a scam.

Ah, well. Whatever you want to believe is fine - others have clarified the "scam" issue already.

pb&j

I agree that it's an outrage...and that it's a junk charge.

But it is legal and you were informed about it.

The easy "solution" is to use ATMs and pay in Euros ..not on a CC.

pb and j,
Thank you for pointing out the fees to those who were not aware of them.
I think that what some of us, at least, wanted to explain is that the fees aren't new but have been around for some years.
What IS new is that the banks have been required to disclose these fees.

As mentioned, many people going nto Europe prefer the ATM/cash method.

Thanks for the tip on dynamic currency conversion. May I call that a scam?

My trip is not to Europe and so I don't spend anytime in the Europe forum. I didn't know any of these recent changes until I came back from Canada and had I not gone there I wouldn't have known about it until I got back from Australia. Again, that's why I posted this, to let others know.

You would probably have done better posting your message as warning rather than calling it a scam

x_x_x - you say that the fees aren't new. I agree that there have always been fees, but I put mine and my husbands statments next to each other and we are paying the same exchange rates, just he also has an additional and new fee tacked on. When my bank follows suit, it will indeed be a new fee, not just a reporting change.

There is no way I know for sure that in the past your (and your husband's ) credit card escaped that hidden 1% fee that VISA imposed, but if you did manage to escape that 1% then you are ahead of the game.
I googled to see if I could find an achieved article that explains some of the history of the lawsuit that forced the banks to disclose their foreign currency fees.
Here's one from July 2001
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/cc/20010716a.asp
And another from April 2003 http://consumeraffairs.com/news03/conversions.html

I totally agree any fee over the 1% fee charged by VISA is pure gravy for the card issuing bank. The conversion has already been done by VISA; so the extra 2% is money collected for nothing.