Originally Posted by
alanjrobertson
Is that a fee-free Mastercard? Remember many card providers that charge fees (usually 2.75% or thereabouts) don't quote it explicitly, but instead just alter the exchange rate to reflect it - this might be why the Amex rate on the face of it looked better.
That is what I was trying to say
The Amex and Mastercard rates were the same once the 2.99% was applied to the Amex rate.
All it means is that MasterCard did their GBP/USD trade at a different time of the day from American Express; the GBP/USD rate goes up and down all day. It doesn't mean that MasterCard's rates are always better or always worse. Figures from one day don't prove anything. You need to know what rate each card network got from its bank and then what markup it applied (if any) before adding a retail percentage to an individual card holder.
Not by 3%. Looking through the two statements, the Amex rate is always better, until the 2.99% charge is applied, which is the bulk of the difference between the two rates. As
alan says above, the Mastercard is wrapping its charge up in a lower rate, whereas Amex isn't. When you apply the 2.99% charge to the Amex transactions, the two rates a very similar. It would be interesting to compare a Post Office Mastercard/Nationwide card £/$ transaction to a "normal" Mastercard/Amex.