foreign exchange fee for US$ transactions!

[Carolinian Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Carolinian]

Credit card fees from some issuers constantly become more assinine. On my US Bank Visa account, I recently noticed a foreign fee for a transaction in US dollars. This was actually for topping up my $ based Skype account. I have a second one in euros. Even through the transaction was in $, I was assessed a foreign exchange fee. When I called US Bank, they told me that they had recently started charging the foreign exchange fee on any transaction where the merchant was located outside the US, no matter if it was in US dollars. Bizarre. They claimed many other banks were doing the same, which they may very well be, as such scams usually make the round of most banks once they start.

This may impact you even if you are not travelling. If you make an internet purchase and the office submitting the billing is located overseas or say in Canada, you are likely to pay this ripoff fee. From now on, unless I know an internet merchant is located in the US, I will pay with my Cap One card which had no foreign fee.

[Keitht Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Keitht]

We now have a sort of similar problem in the EU. The VAT rate charged is that of the country in which the company is based, not the rate in your own country. As it's not always clear what country a company is based in this can certainly lead to confusion.

[bnoble Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close bnoble]

It sounds a lot more reasonable to pay the seller's VAT than it does to pay a foreign currency fee when both the instrument and the transaction are denominated in the same currency!

[Carolinian Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Carolinian]

Just encountered another version of this new fee, this time on an ATM with a Wachovia account. Generally, due to the currency exchange fee and the $2.00 non-Wachovia ATM usage fee, I avoid using my Wachovia ATM card over here, and stick to my credit union card which does not rip me off in that fashion. One exception is that when I am at the US Embassy on business, I use their ATM to take funds out in dollars, which in the past has not incurred the 2% exchange fee. Guess what, NOW it DOES! What a rip-off! I will now shift that account to a second credit union that many of my expat colleagues use. Rip-off Wachovia can get stuffed as far as I am concerned.

[swilshire Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close swilshire]

I have a Capitol One credit card that I keep locked up except when we travel out of the country. They seem to be the best regarding fees for foreign use.

Sheila