Jursano

I just received notice from AMERICAN Express that it is increasing the
"conversion commission" applied to foreign charges from 2.2% to 2.5%. Does
anyone know if Visa and Mastercard do the same thing, or what their rates
are?
Joe

Juliana L Holm

Jursano <[email protected]> wrote:
    > I just received notice from AMERICAN Express that it is increasing the
    > "conversion commission" applied to foreign charges from 2.2% to 2.5%. Does
    > anyone know if Visa and Mastercard do the same thing, or what their rates
    > are?
My husband's Visa just decided to levy a 3% charge, as did my Master
Card. Probably depends on the Bank.



--
Julie
**********
I could be wrong. My experience is limited to my experience.

Check out my Travel Pages (non-commercial) at
http://www.dragonsholm.org/travel.htm

JohnT

"Jursano" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    >I just received notice from AMERICAN Express that it is increasing the
    >"conversion commission" applied to foreign charges from 2.2% to 2.5%. Does
    >anyone know if Visa and Mastercard do the same thing, or what their rates
    >are?
    > Joe
I believe that both Visa and Mastercard apply a 1% charge to the memer Bank.
The Bank then (usually) adds their own commission ad the rate depends on the
Bank and the Country.

JohnT

Frank F. Matthews

JohnT wrote:

    > "Jursano" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    > news:[email protected]...
    >
    >>I just received notice from AMERICAN Express that it is increasing the
    >>"conversion commission" applied to foreign charges from 2.2% to 2.5%. Does
    >>anyone know if Visa and Mastercard do the same thing, or what their rates
    >>are?
    >>Joe
    >
    > I believe that both Visa and Mastercard apply a 1% charge to the memer Bank.
    > The Bank then (usually) adds their own commission ad the rate depends on the
    > Bank and the Country.
    >
    > JohnT
    >
    >


In any case it is still quite a bit better than the rates charged at
various money changing booths.

Donald Newcomb

"JohnT" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > I believe that both Visa and Mastercard apply a 1% charge to the memer
Bank.
    > The Bank then (usually) adds their own commission ad the rate depends on
the
    > Bank and the Country.

Master Card and Visa do the currency exchange at about 1% over interbank
rate. Some (but not all) banks then add a "just because" fee on top of that.
This fee is pure gouge and has nothing to do with any service performed by
the bank. If your bank charges this fee, tell them to keep their *#&% card.

--
Donald Newcomb
DRNewcomb (at) attglobal (dot) net

John Smith

There is no blanket Visa or MasterCard fee. It depends on the specific card
and card issuer. You to check on the exact card you have or want to get.



"Jursano" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    >I just received notice from AMERICAN Express that it is increasing the
    >"conversion commission" applied to foreign charges from 2.2% to 2.5%. Does
    >anyone know if Visa and Mastercard do the same thing, or what their rates
    >are?
    > Joe
    >

Donald Newcomb

"John Smith" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > There is no blanket Visa or MasterCard fee. It depends on the specific
card
    > and card issuer. You to check on the exact card you have or want to get.

There is but it's hidden in the exchange rate. It's about 1% over interbank.
The issuing banks sometimes add on an extra gouge to punish their customers
for being stupid enough to use their card overseas.
--
Donald Newcomb
DRNewcomb (at) attglobal (dot) net

John Smith

"Donald Newcomb" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > "John Smith" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    > news:[email protected]...
    >> There is no blanket Visa or MasterCard fee. It depends on the specific
    > card
    >> and card issuer. You to check on the exact card you have or want to get.
    > There is but it's hidden in the exchange rate. It's about 1% over
    > interbank.
    > The issuing banks sometimes add on an extra gouge to punish their
    > customers
    > for being stupid enough to use their card overseas.
    > --
    > Donald Newcomb
    > DRNewcomb (at) attglobal (dot) net
Yes, so the total amount is still going to vary based on the specific card
you use. There is no uniform charge over the 1% that every Visa or
MasterCrad has some have ). Some have another 2% and some have a
transaction fee dollar amount in addition to the 1%.

Hatunen

On Fri, 25 Mar 2005 20:48:59 GMT, "Frank F. Matthews"
<[email protected]> wrote:

    >JohnT wrote:
    >> "Jursano" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    >> news:[email protected]...
    >>
    >>>I just received notice from AMERICAN Express that it is increasing the
    >>>"conversion commission" applied to foreign charges from 2.2% to 2.5%. Does
    >>>anyone know if Visa and Mastercard do the same thing, or what their rates
    >>>are?
    >
    >> I believe that both Visa and Mastercard apply a 1% charge to the memer Bank.
    >> The Bank then (usually) adds their own commission ad the rate depends on the
    >> Bank and the Country.
    >>

    >In any case it is still quite a bit better than the rates charged at
    >various money changing booths.

Obviously, the card issuers know that.

************* DAVE HATUNEN ([email protected]) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

EvelynVogtGamble

Jursano wrote:
    > I just received notice from AMERICAN Express that it is increasing the
    > "conversion commission" applied to foreign charges from 2.2% to 2.5%. Does
    > anyone know if Visa and Mastercard do the same thing, or what their rates
    > are?

I've never paid much attention, frankly - I look upon
whatever they charge as a necessary evil, an unavoidable
cost of world travel. (So I pay it, and don't worry about
it - if travel gets too expensive, then I'll just have to
stay home.)

Go Fig

In article <[email protected]>, Juliana L Holm
<[email protected]> wrote:

    > Jursano <[email protected]> wrote:
    > > I just received notice from AMERICAN Express that it is increasing the
    > > "conversion commission" applied to foreign charges from 2.2% to 2.5%. Does
    > > anyone know if Visa and Mastercard do the same thing, or what their rates
    > > are?
    > My husband's Visa just decided to levy a 3% charge, as did my Master
    > Card. Probably depends on the Bank.

My AA CitiBank card just sent me a notice about this... 3%.

jay
Sat Mar 26, 2005
mailto:[email protected]

Donald Newcomb

"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > I've never paid much attention, frankly - I look upon
    > whatever they charge as a necessary evil, an unavoidable
    > cost of world travel. (So I pay it, and don't worry about
    > it - if travel gets too expensive, then I'll just have to
    > stay home.)

I'm sure your bank appreciates your business. Do they send you a birthday
card?

--
Donald Newcomb
DRNewcomb (at) attglobal (dot) net

AcornMan

It depends on the bank, not the card. There was a lot of discussion
about this on the forums at creditboards recently and it seems that 3%
is pretty much the standard these days. I discovered that the VISA
card for my home equity line of credit does not have any charge at all
though, so I've decided to use that in Europe this summer.

On Fri, 25 Mar 2005 13:08:41 -0500, "Jursano"
<[email protected]> wrote:

    >I just received notice from AMERICAN Express that it is increasing the
    >"conversion commission" applied to foreign charges from 2.2% to 2.5%. Does
    >anyone know if Visa and Mastercard do the same thing, or what their rates
    >are?
    >Joe

Donald Newcomb

"John Smith" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > Yes, so the total amount is still going to vary based on the specific card
    > you use. There is no uniform charge over the 1% that every Visa or
    > MasterCrad has some have ). Some have another 2% and some have a
    > transaction fee dollar amount in addition to the 1%.

John,
I cheked on this before my trip to Italy last year. What I read then was
that Visa (which is the card I use most) sets the daily exchange rate for
each currency. This is about 1% over the interbank rate. You don't see any
specific charge for this fee: It's reflected in the exchange rate. My credit
union just posts the transaction to my account with no additional fees.
However, some banks think that anyone who travels overseas is just loaded
with money, so they add an additional 2% or 3% just to gouge the customer
for no extra service. There were several threads about this subject on r.t.e
about May of last year.

Now, since then, the Visa website has become much less specific about the
subject and I can't relocate that information. So, if you tell me that there
was a policy change effective, say Jan 1st. of '05, then I guess I'll just
have to contact my credit union and get the new information. So, exactly
when did the policy change?

--
Donald Newcomb
DRNewcomb (at) attglobal (dot) net

Paul

I just checked my Visa Mileage Plus card issued by Bank One. 3%!!!!! Our
contribution to the U.S. economy while traveling abroad. #$%&(#@)!

Paul


"AcornMan" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > It depends on the bank, not the card. There was a lot of discussion
    > about this on the forums at creditboards recently and it seems that 3%
    > is pretty much the standard these days. I discovered that the VISA
    > card for my home equity line of credit does not have any charge at all
    > though, so I've decided to use that in Europe this summer.
    > On Fri, 25 Mar 2005 13:08:41 -0500, "Jursano"
    > <[email protected]> wrote:
    >>I just received notice from AMERICAN Express that it is increasing the
    >>"conversion commission" applied to foreign charges from 2.2% to 2.5%.
    >>Does
    >>anyone know if Visa and Mastercard do the same thing, or what their rates
    >>are?
    >>Joe
    >