MilesBuzz! - What's the Best No Foreign Transaction Fee CC?

I've paid more than $400.00 in FTF's in 2011. What's my best CC direction? Thanks for any info.

What's a foreign transaction fee?
Apart from the slightly exploitative exchange rate that AMEX/VISA/MC applies I have never been charged for using a CC anywhere in the world apart from the fee for cash advances.

I've paid more than $400.00 in FTF's in 2011. What's my best CC direction? Thanks for any info.

There are quite a number of cards dont have forex fee now.

It depends on your objective on what to earn from your spending before you can say which one is best for YOU.

Several Chase offerings (airlines and hotels affinity cards and its own inhouse cards) are 0 forex, ditto the Citi Premer Card that earns TYPs which offers 25% discount when redeem for flights that are revenue tickets which earn miles. AMEX also eliminates forex fee on the Plat and Cent cards.

Of course the infamous "What's in your Wallet?" Capital One cards are all 0 forex fee.

I have used Capital one venture/regular platinum CC and amex platinum CC this summer when I was traveling trough Europe. No fees, and worked great. You do need to call them in advance though. Amex platinum card has a hefty fees, so capital one may be cheaper (and its visa) .

Also, I always keep two cards - a) Visa has more acceptance than Amex, and b) as a back-up if one card declines transactions due to fraud alert. There is no specific workaround for the latter. It generates in random locations and for sizeable amounts of transactions, and you have to call them back to approve.

I have heard Chase BA cards also come with no fees, but I haven't used them though.

What's a foreign transaction fee?
Apart from the slightly exploitative exchange rate that AMEX/VISA/MC applies I have never been charged for using a CC anywhere in the world apart from the fee for cash advances.

google is your friend since your address is not US-based, you may want to google it if you want to know.

Chase Marriott also does not have foreign transaction fee. It has a promotion going on right now for 50k pts and 1 free night and annual fees waived.

What's a foreign transaction fee?
Apart from the slightly exploitative exchange rate that AMEX/VISA/MC applies I have never been charged for using a CC anywhere in the world apart from the fee for cash advances.

Nope, many cards, both Amex, Visa & MC add on 3% or more to the converted forex amount as a somewhat hidden profit center. This is a relatively recent developmet (started maybe 20 years ago with a few and quickly grew as the card companies realized the customer mostly didn't understand how they were getting cheated). In the last year or two a few cards have been offered that drop the forex charges with this being touted as a great new thing. While not bad, it is really just going back to the way things used to be.

Likely has a lot to do with bankers' fear of the new Federal Financial Protection Bureau.

b) as a back-up if one card declines transactions due to fraud alert. There is no specific workaround for the latter. It generates in random locations and for sizeable amounts of transactions, and you have to call them back to approve.

I find calling the card issuer before leaving and giving them my dates and cities that I will be in helped in avoiding fraud alert and having transaction declined.

google is your friend since your address is not US-based, you may want to google it if you want to know.

Cheers Happy, Googled and I am amazed. As owner of CCs from 3 different countries I presume this must be a mainly USA thing. I am amazed the Americans let their banks get away with it.

Cheers Happy, Googled and I am amazed. As owner of CCs from 3 different countries I presume this must be a mainly USA thing. I am amazed the Americans let their banks get away with it.

Actually the 3% used to be a hidden thing in the "exploitative" exchange rates used to convert the foreign currencies to billing currency.

It is the result of several class-action lawsuits to make the banks disclose this charge from hidden to a separate line item.

Now the exchange rate is fairly close to the average intra-bank rate of the posting date of the transaction.

So the net net is, if your card has 0% forex fee, you are not being gouge any more because the exchange rates are more aligned to the true rates instead of an inflated rate.

But your cards that are outside US may still employ a very inflated exchange rate when it comes to convert the charge to billing currency.

Oh, the class-lawsuits also would refund the cardholders the gouging amount AFTER all the lawyers fee etc ... The suits were several years ago and the forms for us cardholders to file our claims were at least 2 if not 3 years ago.. and of course we still haven't seen the final settlement amount yet... At the end of the date, may be we each get a few bucks back... :rolleyes:

I remain unconvinced Happy. I saw a Helm Bank (Colombia) LanPass Visa card a couple of years ago that stated "No additional fees for foreign currency transactions"

That got me thinking that that was a sound thing to be on the lookout for someone like me that spends in different countries, however in Colombia I have failed to find a card that does apply additional forex fees over and above the 1 (ish) percent that MC, Visa or Amex charges. I always ask the bank if I am interested in applying for the card and they look at me like I am from a different planet. It takes 3 or 4 attempts to manage to explain what I mean because the concept is lost on them.

I check the T&Cs of my UK cards and keep an eye on exchange rates and always seem to get a fair deal

For this reason I wondered what the OP meant, like I said, I definitely don't have any cards that apply such a fee. But I just remembered, the BA UK Amex card has a 3.75% fee.

I promptly didn't apply for the card, but got a Peruvian Interbank Amex card and once again upon asking, they confirmed that apart from the exchange rate difference, there is no additional fee. After a couple of thousand dollars worth of spending on it in the UK last month, that seems to be true, fairly reasonable exchange rates.

I really do think that the issuing bank adding an additional fee on top of that charged by MC/Visa/Amex is something that is not widespread the world over.

I for one am certainly not taking a 3% hit on any of my CCs

I have been a completely useless nuisance in this thread but thanks, it has been an eye opener

Chase Marriott also does not have foreign transaction fee. It has a promotion going on right now for 50k pts and 1 free night and annual fees waived.

The Chase Marriott black signature card was the one I recently used in France and Switzerland. No forex fees. It was great.

Bobette

Chase has Marriott, Hyatt, IHG cards 0% forex fee, some versions of CO / UA cards and the BA card also 0% forex fee. Sapphire Preferred, the in house card and may be other in house cards are 0% forex fee.

Citi Premier card is the only one 0% forex fee among all Citi cards I believe but I may be wrong.

AMEX Plat and Cent are 0% forex fee. Sadly SPG is not.

The no longer available ex-Schwab now FIA Visa is 0% forex fee.

C1 cards are 0% forex fee since inception.

The options are a lot more than just a year ago.

Which one to choose is up to the individual to evaluate which card's reward program fits better to his own need. The best one for person A may not be the best one for person B.

I just called to verify forex fees on Amex Hilton HHonors (basic brown card) and Chase Marriott Visa (non-premier).

Amex CSR was particularly curt about the 2.7% fee. When I asked why I would use that card outside the U.S., she replied, "The fee comes with the card. If you don't want to pay the fee, then use one of your other cards". Thanks, bit**, I most certainly will.

Chase CSR was more friendly, but did state that the fee applies to the non-premier Marriott card. Premier cards are exempt from forex fees.

Future trips have me using the Chase BA card exclusively outside the U.S.

As owner of CCs from 3 different countries I presume this must be a mainly USA thing. I am amazed the Americans let their banks get away with it.
I really do think that the issuing bank adding an additional fee on top of that charged by MC/Visa/Amex is something that is not widespread the world over.
No, it's not a mainly USA thing.

Foreign transaction fees have been universal since the last decade in Asia as well. Ever wonder why "no foreign transaction fee" being advertised as a nice "feature/benefit" of certain CCs? ;)

As I recall, in the mid-1990s, issuing banks used to "absorb" whatever fees International MC/Visa/Amex imposed on international charges, usually from 1% to 3%. And staring in early 2000s, you'd find most banks bill foreign transaction fees as standalone charges in the billing statement. If you like, you can dig up more discussion about this fee in the other master thread on foreign exchange:

Best card for foreign exchange? (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/milesbuzz/401958-best-card-foreign-exchange.html)

There's also another shorter thread about cards that charge no foreign-transaction fee (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/milesbuzz/581789-cards-charge-no-foreign-transaction-fee.html) back in 2006. You should just be glad that none of your chosen cards in whichever countries haven't implemented foreign transaction fee. Consider yourself lucky.

Personally, I like the Chase Priority Club card for overseas spending because I'm not a big spender, the $49 annual fee pays for itself with the annual free night certificate, and although the rewards are underwhelming (though decent at restaurants) it has no foreign exchange fees and is a VISA.

The Chase BA and Sapphire cards are also pretty good no forex cards.

I plan to stay away from Capital One, heard too many horror stories, and hate the spam!

Chase BA Card is the best

[QUOTE=Happy;16785371]Chase has Marriott, Hyatt, IHG cards 0% forex fee, some versions of CO / UA cards and the BA card also 0% forex fee. Sapphire Preferred, the in house card and may be other in house cards are 0% forex fee.

The other thing to note on most non-FX fee cards is that they carry an annual fee. That said, Chase seems to be waiving for the first year in most cases.

Just switched my "regular" Chase MC to the Chase Sapphire Preferred (Preferred gets no FX fees, while regular Sapphire still charges fees). By switching an existing card, you can keep your current rate (if it's good and you want to), avoid having to open a new account--and I got the fee waived for the first year even though it wasn't a new account. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the bonus points for a "new card". Also, Sapphire Preferred lets you convert 1:1 into a miles/points program (like CO, BA, etc.).

If you don't mind opening a new account, the Hyatt GP and Marriott Rewards do offer an abundance of free nights or points, potentially worth $1K+ depending on where you use them. Of course, the Chase BA card that was offering 100,000 bonus miles was kick a**, but that offer is gone as of a month or so ago.

As many have said, it all depends what perks you want besides the no FX fees. If you like being able to put your points directly into airline/hotel programs--then avoid Capital One. Depending if you find it a benefit or a drawback that all your points/miles go directly into one hotel/airline program, then the Hyatt, UA, BA type programs are great or terrible.

Good thing is, there are lots of options. If you spend more than $3K per year overseas, there's no reason not to get a no FX fee card. The $90 saved in FX fees pays for--in most cases--any annual fee which, of course, you may be able to negotiate away in later years.

Very pleased with my flexible Chase Sapphire Preferred.

I have the Chase BA, and I'll use that for a trip to Scotland in August because of the lack of foreign transaction fees. I have to admit, however, that after deciding to pass on the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, another card with no forex fees, I'm reconsidering my decision based on the recent earning enhancement for travel and restaurant spending.

This card now earns 2 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar spent on those two categories and has a 7% annual bonus on UR points for all spending done during the year: effectively, you're earning 2.14 points per dollar spent on travel and restaurants. Given that the Ultimate Rewards program now has airlines that participate in all three major airline alliances (Korean, BA, and CO) and that Hyatt is a hotel partner, I think this card is attractive, even given that it has an annual fee.

I like my Capital One Venture card a lot... no forex fees and double points on every purchase. Rewards can be redeemed retroactively...

OP'er back. After reading the comments I'm leaning to Chase Sapphire Preferred. Would have leaned to Amex Plat but I just purchased AC membership in May so that benefit would be diluted. Has anyone had success getting an annual fee waiver on Chase Sapphire Preferred after the first year? Or is it too new to know?

OP'er back. After reading the comments I'm leaning to Chase Sapphire Preferred. Would have leaned to Amex Plat but I just purchased AC membership in May so that benefit would be diluted. Has anyone had success getting an annual fee waiver on Chase Sapphire Preferred after the first year? Or is it too new to know?

Too new to know.

Chase is also not known to waive annual fee. Though lately we have seen some miles retention offer on UA card but no one ever reports getting Chase waive annual fee.

I agree about the IHG card's $49 annual fee is more than offset by the annual free cert. Also the 10% rebate on award redemption is nice. but earning rate is dismal. It is a good card for foreign transactions to avoid forex fee but not a good card for your regular usage.

There's the Continental Presidential Plus too. If you figure the annual fee is really paying for a PC membership, it's free, and you earn EQM and RDM on those foreign purchases.

(there are plenty of other threads to discuss the recent changes to this card, no need to bring all that here)

No, it's not a mainly USA thing.

Foreign transaction fees have been universal since the last decade in Asia as well. Ever wonder why "no foreign transaction fee" being advertised as a nice "feature/benefit" of certain CCs? ;)

As I recall, in the mid-1990s, issuing banks used to "absorb" whatever fees International MC/Visa/Amex imposed on international charges, usually from 1% to 3%. And staring in early 2000s, you'd find most banks bill foreign transaction fees as standalone charges in the billing statement. If you like, you can dig up more discussion about this fee in the other master thread on foreign exchange:

Best card for foreign exchange? (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/milesbuzz/401958-best-card-foreign-exchange.html)

There's also another shorter thread about cards that charge no foreign-transaction fee (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/milesbuzz/581789-cards-charge-no-foreign-transaction-fee.html) back in 2006. You should just be glad that none of your chosen cards in whichever countries haven't implemented foreign transaction fee. Consider yourself lucky.

I have never closely examined how this thing works (if anybody is interested I'm more than sure it's described in some detail in MC's and Visa's annual shareholder reports), but my understanding always was that neither MC nor Visa ever instituted any foreign transaction fees by itself - any fee you're being charged goes directly to your credit card issuer's bottom line. Both companies certainly have some (very reasonable) spread on exchange rates it uses to convert currencies one into another to cover its currency risks - as of today (07/24) for Visa this spread was 0.4% and exchange rates are transparent and published daily in the internet (for Visa http://usa.visa.com/personal/using_visa/consumer_ex_rates_us.jsp). So your bank has no discretion at what exchange rate the transaction will be converted. So it doesn't seem that banks are really so generous as to "absorb" these fees. It's more like with luggage fees - first everyone universally introduced them and then everyone started to present returning back to basics as a huge marketing deal.

With AmEx the situation is different though - it has always explicitly stated (through inclusion of your CC agreement) that it is "hiding" substantial exchange rate spread (for cards I had either 1.5% or 2.5%) in your exchange rate. That's why you will always never see a foreign exchange fee on AmEx branded credit cards even if not issued by AmEx itself (i.e. FIA cards).

That being said, suggestions made in this forum should not be taken as apples to apples comparison - even though both AmEx Platinum and Chase BA Visa have no transaction fees, it's almost certain that USD amount of charge for the same EUR-nominated purchase will be higher on your AmEx card than it will be on your Visa card.

Unrelated to that fact, even if foreign transaction fees may not be entirely USA banks inventions, it is certainly not a world-wide practice. In Russia where banks charge you for many things we take for granted in the USA (how about $100 annual fee for no-rewards no-cashback debit card?), foreign transaction fees are almost non-existent.

With AmEx the situation is different though - it has always explicitly stated (through inclusion of your CC agreement) that it is "hiding" substantial exchange rate spread (for cards I had either 1.5% or 2.5%) in your exchange rate. That's why you will always never see a foreign exchange fee on AmEx branded credit cards even if not issued by AmEx itself (i.e. FIA cards).

My SPG card highlights foreign purchases and separates out the fees. Are you saying there is an additional fee built-in?

My SPG card highlights foreign purchases and separates out the fees. Are you saying there is an additional fee built-in?

What I've done is when I was in Europe about a couple of weeks ago I made two different puchases on the same day and paid for one with my FIA AmEx and for the other with CapitalOne Visa (both cards don't have formal foreign exchange fees) and when transaction posted compared X-rates used. The one used by AmEx was about 1% worse. And I know that this 1% comes directly from the following language in my FIA AmEx CC agreement "American Express (1) converts charges made in foreign currencies to U.S. dollars using a rate selected on the business day prior to the day on which the charges are processed by American Express and (2) applies a 1% commission to the converted amount."

Note that it says "American Express converts", not "FIA card services converts".

On the same time X-rates used by Chase OnePass MC (that has a 3% FT fee) before that fee was substantially the same as the one used by a no-FT CapitalOne Visa.

So in my case AmEx did "hide" 1% into X-rate, but it did it in full agreement with my CC agreement.

As far as SPG AmEx goes - its T&C language is somewhat vague so I cannot answer your question but I suggest that someone who has this card and a Visa card experiments in the same way - makes separate purchase on two cards at the same day and compare X-rates used before FT fee comes into consideration.

What I've done is when I was in Europe about a couple of weeks ago I made two different puchases on the same day and paid for one with my FIA AmEx and for the other with CapitalOne Visa (both cards don't have formal foreign exchange fees) and when transaction posted compared X-rates used. The one used by AmEx was about 1% worse.

the fia amex is not a 0% forex card.

My SPG card has both a HIDDEN fee in the exchange rate AND a separate 2.7% fee. Altogether, it was a whopping 5xx% extra when you added the inflated portion and the separate charge together.

The card had only ONE charge, Avis rental we used in France because we enrolled in AMEX premium rental car coverage.

The charge was in Euro, translated to USD at an exchange rate of 1.489 while the XE.com showed historical rate for the transaction date and the posting date were at 1.45 to 1.46 intrabank average midpoint rate.

And we also were billed $8.94 fee.

Needless to say this would be our first and last time to use it aboard.

On the odd side, AMEX did not bill the $19.95 premium that it always billed on the same date the rental car was returned, when rented in North America. I dont know this is a good thing or a bad thing - what if we need to file a claim, are we covered or not?!

Next time we would use our 0% forex Citi Premier or other 2 0% forex cards even for rental car and just rely on the 0 cost rental car coverage because it is primary anyway when rented internationally.

The other card we used for this trip was the ex-Schwab now FIA card that is 0% forex fee. The exchange rates used by FIA are very close to the XE historical rates and it was 1.453 on the date AMEX charged at 1.489.

I will say with the forex fee and the inflated exchange rate, the extra point earned by paying SPG stays aboard using SPG card would not be worth it - as you are essentially paying to "buy" the extra point when you can save 5% cash if use a 0% forex fee card to pay for your SPG stays - it still earns you 1 SPG point per $, but you are not gouged an additional 5xx% in real cash.

FWIW, other AMEX branded but not real AMEX cards, such as Citi's AAdvantage AMEX card, does charge 3% forex fee, but the exchange rate is not inflated - it is very close to the XE historical rate for the corresponding date.

the fia amex is not a 0% forex card.

what do you mean? From my point of view any card that doesn't charge forex fee as a separate line item on your statement is a 0% forex card by definition.

A 0% forex card can still inflate your exchange rate though.

what do you mean? From my point of view any card that doesn't charge forex fee as a separate line item on your statement is a 0% forex card by definition.

A 0% forex card can still inflate your exchange rate though.

Not in the case of Citi Premier, ex-Schwab now FIA, or Chase IHG (Priority Club) cards that we have used for international transactions. All have exchange rates not any higher than 0.2 to 0.3% than historical midpoint interbank rates, and sometimes actually lower.

Pentagon Federal (penfed.org) has only 1% forex fee and offers 1% cashback.

Lots of good info here (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/milesbuzz/401958-best-card-foreign-exchange.html) and here (http://www.flyerguide.com/wiki/index.php/Credit/Debit/ATM_Cards_and_Foreign_Exchange). it's been discussed for years already.

I have three major cards: One in Canadian dollars, One in US dollars and a HSBC Premium in HK dollars with my HK HSBC account for Asia and EU spendings.

The catch is that each card needs to be paid in their currency so it might not be workable solution for everyone.

I have read that in China, AMEX would not let the merchants to use DCC which could save you 5-10%. So in my next trip to China I may use my Hilton AMEX than the Capital One Venture Card. Any thought?

I have read that in China, AMEX would not let the merchants to use DCC which could save you 5-10%. So in my next trip to China I may use my Hilton AMEX than the Capital One Venture Card. Any thought?

Maybe I don't know the customs there, but can't you just request to pay in the local currency? If I ever get charged DCC I request they run it back in the local currency, and if I'm at a place I know or believe will run DCC I tell them to run it in the local currency before hand.

I have read that in China, AMEX would not let the merchants to use DCC which could save you 5-10%. So in my next trip to China I may use my Hilton AMEX than the Capital One Venture Card. Any thought?

Maybe I don't know the customs there, but can't you just request to pay in the local currency? If I ever get charged DCC I request they run it back in the local currency, and if I'm at a place I know or believe will run DCC I tell them to run it in the local currency before hand.

PRC is not the only place in SE Asia where merchants are trying to use DCC on the customer. DEMAND that you be charged in local currency.