Originally Posted by
Majuki
Travelex routinely offers DCC with its ATMs but I don't know why the Revolut card would not have offered DCC.
I recently used a Travelex ATM at LHR. I didn't get a DCC option for my US-based ATM card, and wasn't even charged a small fixed fee as I would be accustomed to from a network ATM.
My colleague then used the same machine, and he got hit with the DCC option. So, why didn't my ATM card offer DCC? I think it was because I have an ATM-only card, not a "check card" or "debit card" - that is, my card has the Plus logo on the back meaning it will work on the Visa ATM network, but not a Visa or MasterCard logo, so it can't be used as a credit card. What may happen is that for DCC cash withdrawals, Travelex submits the transactions as purchases, paying the discount rate for purchases out of their 8% conversion rate, and keeps the rest. By having a card that didn't allow for credit card transactions, they couldn't even ask for DCC. Yet another reason I'm happy to have an ATM-only card for all of my accounts.
Originally Posted by
AllieKat
Travelex has an entire business model around DCC. The fee shocks me though. I thought their ATMs were all fee free (DCC being their profit)
I also suspect that their model involves paying a premium lease fee for the space to the landlord, perhaps even a small percentage cut of the 8%, in return for an exclusive. There's no other explanation for a facility like LHR to have *only* Travelex ATMs and not any (that I could find) from the many prominent local banks.