[QUOTE=anthonyanthony][QUOTE=STAM4NICK]Does all this foreign currency fee stuff apply to credit/charge cards only, or does it also apply to debit cards as well.
Good question. My guess would be that if you use the card as a Visa/MC in a signature transaction, then Yes, you will get charged the 1% Visa/MC fee AND the 2% Citi transaction fee.
But if you use the card in an ATM or debit transaction involving a PIN, then you might escape the the fees since your transaction is handled by the cheaper ATM networks (Cirrus, Plus, Maestro, Star, etc) and thus may escape the 2% transaction fee. I'm not sure if Cirrus, Plus, Maestro, Star, etc. also have a 1% conversion fee of their own.
I suspected the same as well. That is just more money right out of my bank account then, rather than onto Credit Card, where it can at least be disputed before the money has been deducted. But now I wonder, if I use a debit card, get the 1% Visa/MC fee, and it is my Citibank debit card, will I get 2% on top of the 1% so a total of 3%? I always find the foreign exchange rates via an ATM the best, so if I use my card I use at the ATM (i.e. a debit card with MC and Citibank for example) would I get that better exchange rate if I used it as a debit for a purchase. (We all know that AMEX/Visa/MC all get us with a determined by them bad exchange rate then add thier own percentages.)
That is an other good question if Cirrus, Plus, Maestro, Star and NYCE etc... have their own foreign currency conversion fees i.e. 1% when used in PIN based transaction, but how many of us use PIN based transactions? The banks obviously charge a fee to us when using out of network ATM's for cash, who in turn probably get charged by Cirrus, Plus, Maestro, Star and NYCE etc... most of the time.
Thanks for your reply.