Originally Posted by
alemdohorizonte
Perhaps the reason that the "Temp Auth" amount is different than the actual charge posted to my statements for the first three cards (Cap One, Cap One & Schwab) is because the banks use a different date to calculate the charge that posts on the statement than that from when the charge authorizes.
I think this is correct. Also, the authorization amounts aren't always the same as the actual charge. If you compare the authorizations on your Schwab account for domestic purchases, you'll see they don't always match up.
Also note that the $14.64 actual charge posted to the statement on the first three cards (Cap One, Cap One & Schwab) is almost exactly 1% more than the OANDA exchange rate from the "Transaction Date" date calculation ($14.50) for those charges. Not sure if this is relevant as I haven't seen a 1% charge in the Schwab ever before.
The oanda.com rate is the "average" rate for that day according to them. It's entirely possible that the rate Visa actually got in the currency markets when they converted the charge (as I'm pretty sure Visa does the conversions for CapOne and Schwab) was 1% different from oanda.com's average rate.
I am very surprised that the Chairman Amex was the lowest (I was expecting it to be the highest) but perhaps this is a result of the lower exchange rate from the earlier "Transaction Date" of the charge on this card.
I'm surprised, too, but I'm pretty sure rate volatility explains it. It would be interesting to see how it stacks up in a long series of similar tests.
Thanks so much for doing this!!!