Originally Posted by
chuckisduck
I bet this has been stressed, but be wary of exchange rates being skewed in replacement of straight up percentage fees. On a recent work trip to Sydney, the hotel worker tried to run my Citi Corporate Master card as USD instead of in AUD.
That's
Dynamic Currency Conversion, a sore spot for many of us.
ETA: Even though there are other threads about this, I want to comment a bit more here. You're supposed to be able to choose your transaction currency whenever DCC is offered, but this doesn't always happen. Rather, the front line people at DCC establishments get so used to it that they don't have a clue how to process in local currency. Upon my return from my last international trip, I took up this issue with Schwab and both of the lawyers that lead the CCF class action law suit. The lawyers told me that, while DCC sucks, it's not as clear a case as CCF and the numbers are smaller. Meanwhile, the Schwab guys had no clue what I was talking about.