I just had enough with BA Visa Signature by Chase.

Five days ago, I purchased two tickets on ba.com using the US-issued BA Visa Signature by Chase credit card and last night a hefty $104 and change was charged to my account as a “foreign transaction fee”.

Although, the card is branded as British Airways and customers are targeted with “benefits” such as the ones listed on https://www.chase.com/online/Credit-...d-benefits.htm, there is no mentioning whatsoever that purchase transactions spent on ba.com and BA in-flight would incur “3% foreign transaction fee”. In the cardholder agreement, there is a statement about transactions being made overseas would incur foreign transaction fee, but we are talking about the airline with which the card is affiliated, especially when making purchases from US accessing the ba.com reservation web site.

What is the best way to corner Chase and other similar greedy institutions to disclose to potential and current card customers of BA Visa Signature by Chase card (and other US-issued cards affiliated with non-US airlines) against such practices misrepresenting the strings attached to the “benefits” of spending $$ on BA purchases?

In my view, credit card companies should be required to clearly disclose such hidden fees automatically associated with any advertised benefit associated with airline purchase (such as “Earn 2.5 BA MILES for every $1 you spend on British Airways purchases”) and explicitly disclosing that any British Airways purchases are processed in such a manner considered to automatically trigger “foreign transaction fee” charges by the issuing (i.e. Chase) company.

As the airline (BA) is the one promoting the benefits of the card (and that's how I signed up for it, i.e. on ba.com), I'd argue they have a "vested" interest (any why not an obligation) in protecting the customer by fully disclosing the practice of attaching the 3% (currently) "foreign transaction fee" to any purchase made on ba.com with the airline affiliated credit card.

An online blog discussing similar practices is available at: http://www.creditbloggers.com/2009/0...tion-fees.html .

Sincerely,
-sp