Originally Posted by
alemdohorizonte
what are you basing this on? using your logic, most other us mc and visa cards would be surcharging 4% forex rather than the 3% they publish in their ts & cs.
every controlled test we've done here on the board points to schwab being 0% (including my own shoot-out between my schwab visa, citibank chairman amex and cap one visas that you can find detailed in the previous posts in this thread).
can you provide some proof that schwab and cap one are passing through the 1%?
Well if the banks say they are charging 3% then the total forex rate is 4%. Or at least that is the way it was when I read the rules the last time, but the disclosures might have changed with the recent legislation.
Where I get it is that there are two layers of charges. The Visa/MC 1% is generally disclosed in the boilerplate of the agreement while the banks fee is called both there and in the disclosure table.
Again, this might have changed in the last few weeks/month but this is the way it used to be. The fees came from two separate entities (the clearing system ie Visa/MC) and the bank so they showed up in different places.
BTW this was not the case with Amex because they have their own clearing system. The rate they disclose was the total rate.
While it looks like Barclays has changed their fees, at least for new accounts, they went out of their way to disclose the 1% MC fee is the boilerplate and then went on to say they rebated it. This makes sense because they can't eliminate the fee as they don't assess it but can only give it back to you.
Bottom line I guess is you need to read your complete cardholder agreement and see what the total fees are. Even then it is best to call and check. I have a BA Amex from Chase that is grandfathered with 0% bank fee and when I called they gave me incorrect information. It was only after I persisted and asked the to check my individual account, not the general rules, did they confirm I was still on the 0% plan. Likewise when one of my cards increased its fee I never got a notice and I read those things. Good thing I called before a trip where I did a lot of charging.
When I get a chance I'll review the agreements on my card and see if the disclosure rules have changed so that the forex fee in the chart is now the total fee or still only the bank fee and post what I find out.
As for your question regarding proof I'd say review the entire agreement and see what it says regarding the Visa fee. As I said all banks pass it through except for the very few who rebate it.