Originally Posted by
joejones
Yeah, it's officially called a 為替手数料 but you don't "see" it on your statement unless you do the math and compare to bank rates. (In comparison to American cards' fees, which are usually a separate line item on the statement.)
I think that
all US-issued credit cards list the forex fees separately (at least MasterCard, Visa, and Amex) due to previous class-action lawsuit settlements and possibly recent regulatory changes. They get listed separately on the statement as a service charge, much as an annual fee does.
Do American "no-fee" cards use the market rate?
Yes. Because of the above, the actual market forex fee is used, and if there's any "vig" added, it's listed separately. So, a 0% forex fee credit card really is 0%. They are becoming more popular. It's not a bad way for Americans that live abroad that still have some income or assets in USD to spend it in the country they live: use the credit card locally in the local currency, which gets converted to USD at no charge, and then use USD to pay off the card. Voila: conversion of money into local currency with no forex fee.