Originally Posted by drbond
Due to everyone saying that Capital One does not charge the 1% FX fee, I decided to carry it with me to Italy and compare the charges on three different cards on 10 different days. Capital One not only does not add 3%, in almost all charges it came up to 6% over the FX posted rate. No they do not add it as a seperate line item, but when they do the conversion it comes out 3-6 higher than the posted FX rate.
Called Capital One and they said they use the posted rate plus their handling charge....
What specific CapitalOne card do you have? When did you get it? Were you using it for purchases or cash advances? If purchases, did the merchants convert the charges to dollars before processing them? If not, are you sure you were doing your math using the interbank rate for the correct day? I've had nothing but good experiences with my CapOne No Hassle Cash Rewards Visa for foreign currency purchases overseas.
What were the other cards you were comparing?
When you were told about this "handling charge," did they go into more detail? How much is the handling charge? Whose charge is it? CapOne is required to disclose all this if you ask them. If you didn't get that information the first time, would you mind calling them back and asking again? The more information we can gather here the better recommendations we can provide.
And remember that if you haven't traveled abroad recently, you should always give your credit card company a ring before heading overseas to double-check your current fees.