Originally Posted by mahasamatman
I believe what they said is that they will increase their cut from 2% to 3% if Visa eliminates their 1%. The net effect to the purchaser is to keep the total extortion to 3%. That's why I only use MBNA credit cards (they don't charge any additional fee above the 1% Visa fee) or ATM cards (no fees at all) for foreign currency transactions.
You're right. I called FirstUsa and was told Visa used to lay 1% into each transaction, to which First Usa added 2%. Visa now bills FirstUsa in bulk at the end of the month, so no Visa 1% fees are included with each transaction. Instead, FirstUsa charges the customer 3%.