Just used my sapphire in a foreign country and even tho they say no fees for this I am finding that the exchange rate they use costs me 1-2% more than the one Schwab (sorry wrong cc) Capital One uses Has anyone else noticed this (currency in question is euros)?
is it the same posting date? for the visa cards, the forex conversion should be visa usa's midday wholesale exchange rate for the posting date of the transaction. You can compare the rates using some tools at xe.com which can compare them to the wholesale rates on the posting date. -David
Yes, it appears that "No Fee" credit cards are not exactly so. Check this thread for more data points --> http://milepoint.com/forums/threads/credit-cards-with-no-foreign-exchange-fees.43930/
It appears that chase is using a different conversion (or adding the "hidden" 1%) since my Capital One card is always just about the exact same as the oanda wholesale rate, but Chase isn't! Guess I learned my lesson about using a chase card! Their mileage benefit isn't free I think it is VERY misleading to say there is no forex fee but neglect to mention that VISA charges! C1 is also visa!
Really interesting stuff (and completely overwhelming). Seriously, I'm totally lost. Can someone just tell me which card is best to use in Europe? CSP? Citi HHonors Reserve (chip)? Diners club? (J/K)
Take at least one card with a chip, b/c many cc terminals in Europe don't have magnetic readers. For most travel purchases, hidden surcharges under 1% are not major decision factors. There were a few recent data points indicating possibly higher surcharges on Visa than MC, but the small number of such reports could not give them any statistical significance.
Another point of interest - In Spain and Uruguay I have been asked for my PASSPORT when making a purchase with a nonchip cc. Both were small purchases in supermarkets. The first time I didn't have it with me (of course) and after some discussion I was allowed to make the purchase (Uruguay). The second time I was prepared with a copy of my pp - but was admonished that a copy wasn't good enough - but they allowed the $11 purchase - WHICH CAME ON AUTOMATICALLY ON THE SCREEN IN USD! At an absolutely outrageous rate - about 10%! When I refused to sign the lady showed me a button to choose to be charged in euros. This was in Corte Ingles Barcelona - so be warned. BTW with everyone warning me about robberies in Barcleona (hotel, natives) I am amazed that a store would expect one to actually carry a passport. In restaurants - with much larger charges I have never been asked for a passport.
So, to revive this a bit. Just got back from Japan. We used our Hyatt, Citi Reserve and CSP. I am reconciling our bills, but I was just looking at my Conrad folio. 14,933 JPY = $146.59 as of sale date 5/13. I know that the rate was fluctuating like it was on speed between 99 and 102, but on the surface, this looks like a great exchange rate. 1USD = 101.869JPY Granted, this was a Hilton card used at a Hilton property. Citi from previous experience has never given me good exchange rates.
I dug up one receipt on CSP. We made the purchase at LAOX - electronics store in the Akhibara district. It was made on the 12th, but settled on the 14th according to my statement. 17,044JPY = $167.92 which i believe is ~101.5JPY = 1USD. Close, but seems a bit lower than Citi, but then again, the rates were fluctuating during that period. BTW, the Uniqlo at NRT is a rip off. They forced a 5% visa surcharge on a purchase that we made. It wasn't a DCC as they did charge in Yen, but it was close enough with the surcharge.
I just got back from Japan too! Of note - I took money out of a citibank ATM and got a bad rate (same as the money exchange) - below the interbank rate, but later used Capital One for charges and they were processed at close to the interbank bank (per oanda) without an apparent 1% surcharge. This was my first time using a citibank atm (and my last).
Is Uniglo a shop? I made some purchases at HND shops and they all did not have any surcharge, plus NOWHERE I charged anything did they have a DCC - quite refreshing
Uniqlo is a clothing store. They have them in the states as well. Think H&M but cooler and cheaper. Glad you had. Good experience. Sent from my iPhone using milepoint
We didn't want to use our citi ATM. Was too busy to find an hsbc as they did give a good rate the last my wife went. Citi also charges a fee to use their own machines. Citi NA and citi Japan are different entries for the purpose of ATM usage. I burned a lot of RMB from my last trip to HK. The money I "made" went right back to the money changers. I did find a really good one near Ueno district though. It was giving me 1usd to 100 jpy when it was around 101 or so. Came in handy when out eating and shopping on the streets. Sent from my iPhone using milepoint
The one I used was in the arrivals at HND and the 2 other atms (can't remember the bank) wouldn't accept my card (even tho signs said they should), no other atms' in sight and never knew citi was a ripoff - now I'll avoid them Of note - and perhaps unconnected - one week after this transaction I was contacted by the fraud division of the card I used. Indeed multiple fraudulent charges to the same card! I almost never use this card and it was in my possession all the time - don't know if it was coincidence of something else. Would have been suspicious in Malaysia but Japan????
I just got back from Europe: Barcelona and Paris. I used CSP for everything. I checked the rates on each day I made purchases from July 29th through August 6 and the avg Oanda rate was about 1.327-1.329. CSP charged me about 1.32956 or about which came out to be about ~$0.15 per $100. Not bad. Better than the rates I was getting in Asia.
According to the most recent disclosure, Visa charges customers the highest ForEx rate it can find for the day. MC charges the last rate from the previous day. Someone posted these disclosures in another thread on this forum, which I can't find at the moment.
SingaporeFlier compared the ForEx rate he received on his CC with the ForEx range for the day from Oanda. It seemed to me to be consistent with the most recent disclosure from Visa about how they charge their customers. If that observation is not useful to you, please feel free to ignore it.
Sorry didn't mean to be rude but I was just trying to understand what you posted. Guess that's too far adv for me. :-/
AmEx is rarely accepted anywhere that I went to in Europe. So, that's not much of an option. I think MV70 is saying that MC is a theoretically a fixed rate of exchanged based on the previous day's end rate where as Visa will basically wait for the end of the day that you make the charge and will cherry pick the highest rate that it can "legally/contractually" give you. Unfortunately, I didn't use my Ink Plus/Bold so I don't have a comparison, but I can ask my friend who paid for our dinner to check. If he gets back to me with the info, I will post.
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