Originally Posted by
peetahvw
Just a few more datapoints completed a trip through Australia and New Zealand recently. And noticing some odd figures in the forex rates on my Chase CSP Visa - particualrly when it comes to payment credits/refunds...
In Melbourne, my hotel accidenitally charged me for parking, and as elite I was entitled to parking and they refunded the charge immediately.
Purchase:
Trans Date - 1/22
Post Date - 1/24
AUD Total - 40.80
Rate - .805147058
US Total - 32.85
Refund:
Trans Date - 1/22
Post Date - 1/24
AUD Total - 40.80
Rate - .788235294
US Total - 32.16
In New Zealand I purchased a bungie jump and they accidenitally charged me for the pre-paid picture rate, as I didn't want any photos they immediately issued a refund for the difference.
Purchase:
Trans Date - 1/30
Post Date - 1/31
NZD Total - 180
Rate - .729833333
US Total - 131.37
Refund:
Trans Date - 1/30
Post Date - 1/31
NZD Total - 20
Rate - .721500000
US Total - 14.43
I'm not ready to put on my tin foil hat yet, but it seems very odd to have a less favoritable to the consumer rate for refunds. Particuarly as the refunds all took place within minutes of the initial charge, and posted on the same day. To add to this, at no time did any other purchases during my 2 week travels ever reach the lower "refund" rate (AUD ranged from .82380000 to .794117647 and NZD ranged from .75000000 to .729833333) I'd love to hear some other people's experiences with returns...
What is happening is that for purchases, Visa is using the AUD to USD (or NZD to USD) buying rate, whereas for refunds it is using the selling rate for the same day. The selling rate will always be lower than the buying rate, as that's the built-in margin on foreign currency exchange.
You can check the rates yourself if you go here:
http://usa.visa.com/personal/card-be...calculator.jsp
For buying rate, select My Card Is In USD and My Transaction Was In AUD, with a 0% bank fee, and for date enter the post date (as opposed to transaction date). It should return something very close to what's on your statement.
For the selling rate do the same except this time put My Card Is In AUD and My Transaction Was In USD. Then whatever number it spits out, the selling rate is 1/x and again this should be very close to the number on your statement.
I wasn't aware that that's how refunds in foreign currencies are treated. Conceptually it makes sense but yeah it sucks that you are worse off through no fault of your own!