Cathay Pacific USA internet booking triggered foreign transaction fee
#16
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I'm sure Visa, MC and Amex incur fees for settling USD amounts outside US, repatriating or remitting USD to make up differences.
But only MC passes it on.
Interchange is not directly affected by the country of the cardholder. I understand it has more to do with the country of the merchant - the issuer gets the merchant's home interchange rate, which may be higher or lower than the US.
I see little justification for the fee.
But as noted in fatwallet it's not something you can chargeback against.
I'd use cards with known foreign transaction fees sparingly for foreign-based merchants, in case they pull something like merchant country processing (even if the amount in cardholder currency is correct) to save costs.
But only MC passes it on.
Interchange is not directly affected by the country of the cardholder. I understand it has more to do with the country of the merchant - the issuer gets the merchant's home interchange rate, which may be higher or lower than the US.
I see little justification for the fee.
But as noted in fatwallet it's not something you can chargeback against.
I'd use cards with known foreign transaction fees sparingly for foreign-based merchants, in case they pull something like merchant country processing (even if the amount in cardholder currency is correct) to save costs.
#17
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It has a lot of possibilities that I don't even bother to discuss.
My simple suggestion - can you "KINDLY" ask Citi to waive the fee as a one-time courtesy?
And next time - please use something else.
A fee can't be disputed, as it was assessed by Citi, not CX.
My simple suggestion - can you "KINDLY" ask Citi to waive the fee as a one-time courtesy?
And next time - please use something else.
A fee can't be disputed, as it was assessed by Citi, not CX.
#18
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I was talking about disputing the entire transaction if they charged OP in HKD instead of the USD quoted
#19
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http://www.credit.com/blog/2009/04/f...nsaction-fees/
I had a similar experience. 3% foreign transaction fee on my USD purchase on britishairways.com. I called Citibank first and they asked me to talk to the airline. I talked to the airline they say it is the bank that charges it and they have nothing to do with it. When I found this post, I called Citibank again and was told that they cant do anything about. I talked to the supervisor who was trying to talk me into accepting the charge. I gave them 2 options either waive the fee or close the account. The supervisor talked to her manager and they waived the fee as a one time exception.
#20
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#21
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Agree
http://www.credit.com/blog/2009/04/f...nsaction-fees/
Don't use that Citi card unless you're absolutely sure the merchant and all payment intermediaries are USA-based.
http://www.credit.com/blog/2009/04/f...nsaction-fees/
Don't use that Citi card unless you're absolutely sure the merchant and all payment intermediaries are USA-based.
P.S. I'm very glad that I posted this topic here. Learnt a lot about charges for foreign transactions involving airlines. I will make sure to get a CC like Chase Sapphire preferred for foreign transactions. Still waiting for it to go 50K bonus points
#22
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Who exactly passes on the charge? Is it Citi or Amex? The reason I'm asking is, I have purchased another ticket for my wife on BA.com using my Amex Biz Gold (issued by Amex USA). Statement has not been printed yet. So, I can't say for sure whether there will be a charge or not. I don't think it will show up in online transactions either. Have to wait another 10 days to receive the monthly statement.
P.S. I'm very glad that I posted this topic here. Learnt a lot about charges for foreign transactions involving airlines. I will make sure to get a CC like Chase Sapphire preferred for foreign transactions. Still waiting for it to go 50K bonus points
P.S. I'm very glad that I posted this topic here. Learnt a lot about charges for foreign transactions involving airlines. I will make sure to get a CC like Chase Sapphire preferred for foreign transactions. Still waiting for it to go 50K bonus points
Every card association charges slightly differently in each country
(e.g. in HK only MC imposes an 0.8% charge http://www.hongkongcard.com/forum/fo...ow.php?id=5987
in AU, both Visa and MC does this http://www.nab.com.au/wps/wcm/connec...e/15/8/#sect3c)
But in both HK and AU, Amex (as a card association) does not impose charge.
I'm not sure about the US
But from the limited fee tables I can see
https://secure.cmax.americanexpress....s/BlueAECB.pdf
https://secure.cmax.americanexpress...._Agreement.pdf
I don't see Amex imposing foreign transaction fee for US cards
Only individual banks apply it as a bank-imposed fee
Edit 2 Sep: Amex does assess 2.7% fee on it's own cards for foreign transactions (whether currency conversion occurred or not) save for corporate and personal Platinum and Centurion.
Last edited by percysmith; Sep 2, 2012 at 6:51 am
#23
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Who exactly passes on the charge? Is it Citi or Amex? The reason I'm asking is, I have purchased another ticket for my wife on BA.com using my Amex Biz Gold (issued by Amex USA). Statement has not been printed yet. So, I can't say for sure whether there will be a charge or not. I don't think it will show up in online transactions either. Have to wait another 10 days to receive the monthly statement.
CX > Citi
BA > AMEX (If any)
By the way - the card associations which the card is issued under (like Visa, MC, AMEX, etc.) does get some portion of foreign transaction fee you pay to your issuer.
#24
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The foreign transaction fee is not based on currency used, but where the transaction is processed. There is no other way to get around it but find yourself a 0% forex fee card for such transaction.
#25
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I'm not sure about the US
But from the limited fee tables I can see
https://secure.cmax.americanexpress....s/BlueAECB.pdf
https://secure.cmax.americanexpress...._Agreement.pdf
I don't see Amex imposing foreign transaction fee for US cards
Only individual banks apply it as a bank-imposed fee
But from the limited fee tables I can see
https://secure.cmax.americanexpress....s/BlueAECB.pdf
https://secure.cmax.americanexpress...._Agreement.pdf
I don't see Amex imposing foreign transaction fee for US cards
Only individual banks apply it as a bank-imposed fee
Chase has MANY affinity cards and its own house cards now are 0% forex fee. All hotel cards, BA, and a version of UA card are 0% forex fee, so as Sapphire Preferred.
Citi's Premier and Prestige cards have 0% forex fee.
And of course the old standby of Capital One, plus some minor issuers.
There is no reason why a US consumer does not get AT LEAST one to two cards that does not charge forex. Our household has 8 such cards!
#26
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Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_1_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9B206 Safari/7534.48.3)
AMEX DEFINITELY imposes forex fee on most of its cards except the PLAT card but while it has 0 forex fee, the rate AMEX uses to translate the value is notoriously BAD. The forex fee when charged, is 2.7% versus the 3% standard for MC / Visa.
Chase has MANY affinity cards and its own house cards now are 0% forex fee. All hotel cards, BA, and a version of UA card are 0% forex fee, so as Sapphire Preferred.
Citi's Premier and Prestige cards have 0% forex fee.
And of course the old standby of Capital One, plus some minor issuers.
There is no reason why a US consumer does not get AT LEAST one to two cards that does not charge forex. Our household has 8 such cards!
Forex = foreign exchange?
What about foreign transaction on Amex own cards below plat?
Originally Posted by Happy
I'm not sure about the US
But from the limited fee tables I can see
https://secure.cmax.americanexpress....s/BlueAECB.pdf
https://secure.cmax.americanexpress...._Agreement.pdf
I don't see Amex imposing foreign transaction fee for US cards
Only individual banks apply it as a bank-imposed fee
But from the limited fee tables I can see
https://secure.cmax.americanexpress....s/BlueAECB.pdf
https://secure.cmax.americanexpress...._Agreement.pdf
I don't see Amex imposing foreign transaction fee for US cards
Only individual banks apply it as a bank-imposed fee
Chase has MANY affinity cards and its own house cards now are 0% forex fee. All hotel cards, BA, and a version of UA card are 0% forex fee, so as Sapphire Preferred.
Citi's Premier and Prestige cards have 0% forex fee.
And of course the old standby of Capital One, plus some minor issuers.
There is no reason why a US consumer does not get AT LEAST one to two cards that does not charge forex. Our household has 8 such cards!
What about foreign transaction on Amex own cards below plat?
#27
Join Date: Jul 2008
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Posts: 693
The customer does not know. Even an US-based airline would have processed transactions in overseas center. DL has done that - for certain flights, like flights originated from Europe, even purchased on DL website for a DL flight, billed in USD, got charged the foreign transaction fee.
#28
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AMEX charges forex fee on all its cards below PLAT.
It is even a STICKY!
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credi...tion-fees.html
#29
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Happy - just want to point out us non-US FTers do not commonly associate "forex" with foreign transactions where *no* currency exchange has taken place.
In HK, we do have foreign transaction fees, if the card network is MasterCard. This is assessed at 0.8%. This has most commonly been assessed on HKD transaction on HKD Mastercards processed by Paypal out of Singapore. Foreign currency transaction (that is, with exchange of currency) is assessed at approx 1.95% for Visa and MC and 2% for AE.
In Aus, foreign transaction and foreign currency is generally assessed at 3% tho some banks charge differently for foreign transaction and foreign currency e.g. National Australia Bank charges the former at 2.3% and the latter 2.5%.
I understand in the US that foreign currency are assessed at the same fee as foreign transaction so both fees are being referred to as foreign transaction now
http://www.creditcards.com/credit-ca...ng-up-1267.php
http://creditcardforum.com/blog/amer...ansaction-fee/
I appreciate current US practice but please appreciate using "forex" to refer to foreign transaction fee without conversion (exchange) is likely to cause confusion to a non-Us reader. Just my $0.02
In HK, we do have foreign transaction fees, if the card network is MasterCard. This is assessed at 0.8%. This has most commonly been assessed on HKD transaction on HKD Mastercards processed by Paypal out of Singapore. Foreign currency transaction (that is, with exchange of currency) is assessed at approx 1.95% for Visa and MC and 2% for AE.
In Aus, foreign transaction and foreign currency is generally assessed at 3% tho some banks charge differently for foreign transaction and foreign currency e.g. National Australia Bank charges the former at 2.3% and the latter 2.5%.
I understand in the US that foreign currency are assessed at the same fee as foreign transaction so both fees are being referred to as foreign transaction now
http://www.creditcards.com/credit-ca...ng-up-1267.php
http://creditcardforum.com/blog/amer...ansaction-fee/
I appreciate current US practice but please appreciate using "forex" to refer to foreign transaction fee without conversion (exchange) is likely to cause confusion to a non-Us reader. Just my $0.02
Last edited by percysmith; Sep 2, 2012 at 7:06 am
#30
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I'm not sure about the US
But from the limited fee tables I can see
https://secure.cmax.americanexpress....s/BlueAECB.pdf
https://secure.cmax.americanexpress...._Agreement.pdf
I don't see Amex imposing foreign transaction fee for US cards
Only individual banks apply it as a bank-imposed fee
Edit 2 Sep: Amex does assess 2.7% fee on it's own cards for foreign transactions (whether currency conversion occurred or not) save for corporate and personal Platinum and Centurion.
But from the limited fee tables I can see
https://secure.cmax.americanexpress....s/BlueAECB.pdf
https://secure.cmax.americanexpress...._Agreement.pdf
I don't see Amex imposing foreign transaction fee for US cards
Only individual banks apply it as a bank-imposed fee
Edit 2 Sep: Amex does assess 2.7% fee on it's own cards for foreign transactions (whether currency conversion occurred or not) save for corporate and personal Platinum and Centurion.
In fact, it has happened to other FTers before: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...-abroad.html#7
Last edited by percysmith; Sep 2, 2012 at 7:07 am