On Sept 12, after having read numerous complaints about Amex charges, I decided to make an experiment. I made two purchases in Israel, within 15 minutes of each other, one using my Bank of America Visa and the other my Amex.

Amex wound up charging me $0.2286 for each Israeli shekel I charged.

Visa charged me $0.2252 for each shekel, but I found a second charge on my bill. I inquired about it and received the following reply from Bank of America:

Thank you for your inquiry dated 9/15/04 regarding Regular Checking -
We apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced.

The item that posted to your account on 9/14/04 is a foreign currency conversion adjustment of 2%. The 2% foreign currency conversion adjustment will be charged for each purchase made with a Check Card in a foreign country. The new adjustment is in addition to the 1% charge currently assessed by Visa, which is included in the original transaction amount. The 2% adjustment will be listed separately from the original transaction.

If we may be of further assistance, please contact us again by e-mail.
Thank you for choosing Bank of America.

This new charge now means that when I am using my Bank of America Visa I am paying $0.2296 per shekel -- more than what Amex costs.