[quote]<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Ex Amex Card:
Hmm, looking through my statements from a 3 month holiday in Thailand, New Zealand and America, you are right - they did consistently overcharge me by an average of 2.9%. One Euro transaction I made was overcharged by 4%
Anecdotal evidence (conversations with a couple of friends who hold non-U.S. cards also confirmed some overcharges, but not as egregious as the U.S. card padding).
This is inspite of their terms and conditions (UK issued card) not mentioning anything about a loading of foreign exchange transactions. A bit annoying since the lack of loading was one of the reasons I got the card. Where do they get their rates, I wonder?</font>
The U.S. terms & conditions used to reference a standard methodology... a reaonable person could assume that with Amex's daily f/x volume they get the best rates. I used oanda.com to get historical rates for purposes of disputing Amex and they accepted my calculations.
As an aside, I was first alerted to this problem by the "owner's rep" at a five-star hotel with substantial international traffic. When out on the town to dinner one night, I went to pay with Amex, and he insisted that if I really wanted to pay, I use Visa. He then told me that the hotel's management had been besieged with complaints from hotel guests who thought that the hotel had been responsible for the overcharges. He told me that the hotel had attempted to intercede on behalf of their guests with Amex, but that Amex wouldn't budge (so I was evidently more successful than others in resolving my problem).