Originally Posted by
MaxVO
That's good to know. I'll test if this still applies next time I'm overseas. Lately I noticed that AmEx joined Visa and MC in being "creative" in their own FX conversion. For example, they quoted me one rate on a pending airfare purchase, slightly delayed settlement, and ultimately used a much worse rate. When I checked Oanda, I found that there was indeed a brief rate srike in the 3 days of interest, and AmEx used the absolute worst rate to charge me. In the past, AmEx claimed that FX conversions in customer accounts are not used for the bank's benefit. Under the new management I'm seeing it's no longer the case.
I suspect the delay in posting the charge resulted in the lower FX rate....sort of how, when you do a chargeback on an international charge, you may actually lose money since the refund is issued at whatever the current rate is, not the rate that was in effect when you made the initial charge.